Danforth Center sprouts its first spinoff: Agrius - Tampa Bay Business Journal:

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will commercialize a processz that produces enzymes used tomake biofuels. The processe was developed here over the past few years by scientists Eliot Herman andMonicaq Schmidt. Their work focuserd on soybean seeds, whichg can produce and store a large numbetof proteins. Herman and Schmidt figured out how to make soybeanxs develop the kinds of proteins useful as enzymezs that break downwood chips, grasses, corn husks and other non-edible plant matter into cellulosicf biofuels such as ethanol.
GeoSynFuels will invest $1 millionj over the next three yearsx to develop the process on a commerciap scale in exchange for a 51 percenty equity stake in The Danforth Center will contribute theintellectuapl property, scientific expertise and research and it will hold onto a 49 percent stake. The centef has royalty arrangements with Herman and It also has a future revenu agreement withthe , which co-owns the intellectualo property developed with federal funds.
Althouguh there is no revenue streamrighyt now, the technology could eventually help Agriux and GeoSynFuels tap into a domestic cellulosic ethanoo market of more than $2 billion, based on federal mandates requiring 36 billion gallone of annual ethanol production by 2022, said Joshuaq Sroge, GeoSynFuels’ controller and vice president of