Modulant Biosciences
“I’ve got this thing. Now how do I figure out how to grow it?”
Modulant Biosciences licensed a lactobacillus-based technology with real promise and no fermentation capability behind it. It needed two candidate strains characterized, a dose it could defend, and material on the ground for live animal studies already underway.
Turn a promising licensed technology into a repeatable fermentation process, a measurable dose, and enough material to keep the program moving.
A phased program that characterized both candidate strains from shake flask to 100 L while supplying material for studies already in motion.
Well-characterized production organisms, a real potency assay in place of dry-weight guesswork, and RFPs out to commercial-scale manufacturers.
Thomas Campi, founder of Modulant Biosciences, had a licensing opportunity in hand: a lactobacillus-based technology with real promise, but no in-house fermentation capability to support it.
The organism works by prompting an animal's immune system to suppress myostatin, the protein that limits muscle growth. That creates opportunities ranging from companion animals recovering from muscle wasting to livestock producers seeking improved feed efficiency and lower emissions.
Modulant needed to understand how its two candidate strains performed, translate that performance into a dose, and produce enough material to support live animal studies. It needed a partner that could answer the underlying biology quickly while reliably supplying material for studies already underway.
Modulant didn't need a contract manufacturer. It needed a development partner. The challenge was turning a promising licensed technology into a repeatable fermentation process, a measurable dose, and enough material to keep the program moving toward commercialization.
The Challenge
A promising organism had never been taken through fermentation development, and answering basic biology questions couldn't come at the expense of speed.
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Challenge 01
Two Strains, No Process
Characterize two candidate strains and optimize the process from shake flask to 100 L.
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Challenge 02
A Dose You Can Defend
Establish dosing by quantifying potency directly, rather than relying on total dry weight of powder as a proxy.
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Challenge 03
Material on the Ground
Produce sufficient material to support live dog and cat studies.
The Solution
Growth Curve developed a comprehensive, phased program to deliver against Modulant's priorities while staying on time and on budget.
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Fermentation Optimization
Shake Flask to 100 L
Thoroughly characterized two candidate strains and developed a more productive, industrially scalable process to reduce projected COGS.
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Potency Assay
Measure It, Don't Estimate It
Developed an assay to directly measure the client's target protein in each batch, replacing dry-weight-only dosing decisions with a reliable potency measurement.
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Continuous Supply
Batches That Kept Pace
Produced repeatable 100 L batches to supply enough material for animal studies, while simultaneously supporting a commercial-scale CMO search and tech transfer for long-term production.
What Changed for the Client
The client walked away with detailed knowledge of the strains and process, a real potency measurement, and a body of live-animal evidence, without standing up its own fermentation program to get there.
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Turned two strains into well-characterized production organisms with a defined, repeatable process, as well as data to support which one to scale.
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Acquired a reliable potency assay to take the place of dry-weight guesswork, changing how every future dose and study gets designed.
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Built live-animal evidence, including a chronic-weight-loss case that stabilized and regained weight, fast enough to support a near-term move into broader use.
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Reached the point of issuing RFPs to large-scale contract manufacturers for the next phase of scale-up, with a robust technical package in hand.
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Kept capital pointed at studies and product development instead of equipment and headcount, treating fermentation development as a capability that can be called on when needed.
In my mind there's no way we would be where we are right now, with everything we know about these strains, in six months, had I had to work with someone who couldn't give us this kind of focus.
About Growth Curve
Growth Curve helps synthetic biology teams turn ideas into commercially-viable bioproducts. It operates as an independent development partner with deep experience across microbial systems, with no competing product interests, no academic mandates, and no publishing agenda.
Growth Curve's capabilities span the full path from strain engineering to large-scale manufacturing hand-off, backed by a precision fermentation facility specializing in BSL-1 microbial hosts, including downstream processing and analytics that put decision-grade data behind every claim.