National Science Foundation Awards Phase I Small Business Innovative Research Grant for Engineering Cellulase Enzymes

In Washington, the National Science Foundation has awarded a Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase I grant to Protabit, LLC, a Pasadena-based spin-off of the California Institute of Technology. The grant will be used to engineer cellulase enzymes for production of biofuels from non-edible corn stover biomass. Protabit is the developer of Triad, a computational protein design software platform that used to generate new enzymes for experimental evaluation.

It was the product of research by leaders in the field including Prof. Stephen Mayo, chair of the Division of Biology at Caltech and a co-founder of the company. Dr. Barry Olafson, CEO and Co-Founder said, “We are pleased to receive this grant from the NSF, which will enable Protabit to accelerate its development of novel cellulases for second generation biofuels. Triadís computational capabilities will provide a rich source of high-performance enzyme sequences for evaluation and testing. Our research seeks to help reduce Americaís dependence on foreign oil without impacting the global food supply.”

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