Advancing tissue culture in tree species for use in climate adaptation, breeding, production of cultured tree products

FORAY bioscience Inc. Phase I USDA-NIFA-SBIR-009301 Topic 8.1 2023PI: Dr. ASHLEY BECKWITHCEO FORAY bioscience IncE-mail: ash@foraybio.comAdvancing tissue culture in tree species for use in climate adaptation breedingproduction of cultured tree products1 Project SummaryDemand for forest products is growing but global forests are shrinking by ~15 billion trees per year.Sourcing inefficiencies exacerbate challenges of sustainably meeting increased demands. Improvedsourcing strategies can preserve access to tree-sourced goods while supporting the retention of forestresources.FORAY bioscience is generating forest-sourced products without felling trees. FORAY's cellculture-based production capitalizes on selectivity and tunability producing only what is needed ina controllable format. The company's innovative platform yields translatable solutions for treeculturing difficulties. MeanwhileFORAY's culture technologies facilitate the growth of complexcultured materials. Tree-free sourcing improves yields reduces processing and alleviates strains onthreatened species. With cell culture FORAY reduces turnover processing and waste in forestsectors and downstream industries.To date forest biotechnology centered on whole plant improvements focusing on growth orcomposition alterations to improve yields and processing efficiency. Despite remarkable advancestwo challenges persist. Whole-plant modifications are limited by the need to retain plant survivaland resilience. Secondly regulations can impede widespread implementation. FORAY's culture- based approach is uninhibited by these constraints. FORAY's production of cultured metabolitespolymers and materials is accomplished through rapid tree-free cultivation.To realize lab-grown goods FORAY is building a multi-part platform improving culture in non- model species shortening development time and cost. The platform includes a database library andoptimization system designed to accelerate research while improving outcomes. Phase-I goals willimprove culture success rates and data availability across species. Phase-II goals reduce optimizationtime and cost accelerating product development and commercialization of FORAY's platform andtreeless products.