Here’s Ken’s claim about fame is that she raised a shoe using bacteria, putting together the microbes to deposit her nanocelular materials in the form of a sneaker. But she is a little overdue.
“I feel like that is missing the point,” she told Techcrunch. “The fiber produced by bacteria – like, that’s not a new thing.”
This does not mean that her new startup does not use those same fibers – it does – but it needs a different tempo, one more similar to the way fabric is made and used today.
Her starting, Modern synthesisStill using bacteria to grow nanocelular fibers, but then it harvests and processes them to create a range of various materials. The new approach is similar to weaving cotton in denim for jeans. Her sneaker experiment, on the other hand, resembled persuading a cotton plant to deposit its fibers into the shape of a pair of pants. Cool, but not so easy to scale.
The fibers of modern synthesis can be manipulated in ways that simple plant fibers cannot. They can be spread into a thin, resistant wind or textured to mimic high quality leather, said Keane, general manager of modern synthesis. In this way, they are more like synthetic materials such as polyester and polyurethane.
The difference, however, is that the nanocellular materials of modern synthesis are ultimately biodegradable.
“You want your materials to take a lifetime or maybe two, like 100 years. You don’t want them to stay around thousands, which is most of the synthetic materials,” Keane said.
Because the basic building block of the textile textiles is cellulose, which remains after they have decomposed is similar to what is found on a forest floor. “It must behave in the same way as other cellular materials,” she said. “Cotton is a great example of that.”
One of the advances that prompted Keane to find a modern synthesis with Ben Reeve, the company’s leading technology officer, was the ability to create materials only using nanocellulous. Other biomaterials may mimic leather, for example, but some synthetic materials may need to be added to the mix to extract it successfully, she said.
Modern synthesis buys its nanocellulous from existing producers who already do things in large quantities for a range of applications, of Food additives to Medical implants. The starting then processes the nanocelulose to create different materials. In 2023, for example, it made an artificial leather for a Danish fashion brand Ganni, who used it to make a handbag This did not contain petrochemicals.
Keane said the company is working for a Quintuple production at its pilot plant. Modern synthesis recently closed a $ 5.5 million financial round, the company exclusively told Techcrunch. The circle was led by Extantia Capital with the participation of an Artesian and Cooperative Fund.
Although sneakers, clothing and handbags are probably applications for the materials of modern synthesis, Keane also explores more science fiction uses such as smart textiles with embedded electronics and more prose as cars.
“Cellulous materials do not melt as syntheses,” she said. “If you think of cars, how it starts to melt when you sit too long in the sun. Our materials won’t do that.”
