Grant: CCI Applied Research and Development Grants

Materials Future Labs (MFL) engineers microorganisms to create a colourful range of organic pigments that are sustainably produced, fully biodegradable, and easy to substitute into existing manufacturing processes. Headquartered in Waterloo, Ontario, Material Future provides a solution to the environmental concerns associated with synthetic dyes, of which globally, over 7.3 × 105 tonnes, used mainly in the textiles industry, are produced yearly. MFL has developed a microbial strain and process for producing violacein, a bis-indole pigment formed by condensing two tryptophan molecules. It is a high-value, dark purple pigment targeted for the textiles industry. Recent research demonstrated that improved and innovative fermentations and downstream processes could increase yields of violacein and related pigments. New avenues of research for the industrial partner's pigment production goals as MFL's proprietary strains are related to J. agaricidamnosum. MFL's current liquid-liquid extraction pigment isolation process is effective but not amenable to large industrial-scale production. For the proposed research, MFL will engineer three additional colors (light purple, light green, and dark green) by making genetic changes in violacein's metabolic pathway and determining the productivity at the bench scale. The overall goal is to bring new sustainable dyes to market. In collaboration with Lambton College, the objectives are to develop three new colour-producing microbial strains via genetic engineering, determine the effect of minimal media on pigment production, determine the effect of novel inducers on pigment production, and develop a spray-dry-based process for pigment isolation. This project will help the MFL team understand the feasibility of using the proprietary microbial strains to produce natural dyes, as well as provide the ability to deliver gram-scale samples produced at Lambton College to potential customers. In addition, with the growing clean label trend in Canada, MFL could address the need for natural rather than synthetic dyes to colour textiles, as multinationals lack natural colourants for the textiles sector.