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Jen Keane ’s claim to celebrity is that she grew a brake shoe using bacterium , coaxing the microbes to deposit their nanocellulose textile in the shape of a sneaker . But she ’s kind of over that .
“ I palpate like that sort of miss the gunpoint , ” she told TechCrunch . “ The fiber create by bacteria — like , that ’s not a new thing . ”
That ’s not to say her new inauguration does n’t utilize those same fiber — it does — but it take a different tack , one that ’s more similar to the fashion fabric is made and used today .
Her startup , Modern Synthesis , still use bacteria to farm nanocellulose fiber , but then it harvest and swear out them to make a cooking stove of different materials . The novel approach is more like weave cotton into denim for jean . Her sneaker experiment , on the other helping hand , was a bit like sway a cotton plant plant to fix its fibers into the shape of a duad of pants . coolheaded , but not as easily scalable .
Modern Synthesis ’ character can be manipulated in ways that simple plant roughage can not . They can be spread into a thin , breaking wind - immune picture show or textured to mime high - caliber leather , read Keane , Modern Synthesis ’ CEO . In that way , they ’re more like semisynthetic materials like polyester and polyurethane .
The departure , though , is that Modern Synthesis ’ nanocellulose fabric are ultimately biodegradable .
“ You need your material to last a lifetime or mayhap two , like 100 years . You do n’t desire them sticking around for thousands , which is what most of the synthetic material will do , ” Keane said .
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Because the basic edifice block of the inauguration ’s textiles is cellulose , what ’s left after they ’ve decompose is similar to what ’s found on a forest story . “ It should conduct likewise to other cellulosic material , ” she said . “ Cotton ’s a great example of that . ”
One of the breakthrough that encouraged Keane to find Modern Synthesis with Ben Reeve , the ship’s company ’s chief engineering science military officer , was the ability to create textile using only nanocellulose . Other biomaterials can mimic leather , for example , but some synthetic material might need to be added to the mix to rive it off successfully , she said .
Modern Synthesis buys its nanocellulose from existing producers , which already make the clobber in large quantities for a chain of applications , fromfood additivestomedical implants . The inauguration then processes the nanocellulose to create different materials . In 2023 , for example , it made an contrived leather for Danish fashion brand Ganni , which used it to make ahandbagthat hold no petrochemical .
Keane say the fellowship is working to quintuple production at its pilot plant . Modern Synthesis recently close up a $ 5.5 million financing rhythm , the fellowship only told TechCrunch . The beat was led by Extantia Capital with engagement from Artesian and Collaborative Fund .
Though gym shoe , habiliment , and handbags are likely applications for Modern Synthesis ’ material , Keane is also look into more sci - fi U.S. like smart fabric with embedded electronics and more prosaic ones like car splashboard .
“ Cellulosic materials do n’t run like synthetic substance do , ” she said . “ If you think about car splasher , how it starts to melt when you posture in the sunshine too long . Our materials wo n’t do that . ”
