Anniversary of BRAIN Biotech AG: 30 years for a bio-based future

“For now 30 years, our highly qualified experts at BRAIN Biotech have been committed using nature as a role model to develop solutions and products for sustainable industrial production,” said CEO Adriaan Moelker at a ceremony attended by shareholders, customers, employees and guests from business, associations and local politics. “The concept of the circular economy has built the basis of our business model from the very beginning, and today I strongly believe that we can all be very proud of what BRAIN has achieved over the last three decades,” Moelker continued.

BRAIN Biotech was founded as a technology spin-off by a team of scientists from the University of Darmstadt. The discovery and characterization of specialized microbial strains and enzymes, the search for bioactive natural products and protein engineering formed the basis of the company's activities from the very beginning. Accelerated by the IPO on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in 2016 and several acquisitions, the company developed over the years into a provider of integrated solutions in the field of industrial biotechnology and expanded its enzyme product business. Today, BRAIN Biotech AG is the parent company of the international BRAIN Biotech Group with fermentation facilities in the UK and additional production sites in continental Europe and the US. In addition to the product business with specialty enzymes, the group offers research-intensive custom solutions based on enzyme technology, strain development, bioprocess development and natural product screening.

CEO Adriaan Moelker sees the Group now entering the next phase of evolution with the development of its own genome editing technology. “Our current activities in the field of genome editing, in which around 20 employees are working with great dedication and success, form the basis for our future competitiveness. We are building our own CRISPR technology platform and developing an attractive business model to license the technology to industrial partners and for novel therapeutic applications. The market potential is significant, as this technology forms the basis for many biotechnological innovations in the fields of nutrition, health and the environment,” said Adriaan Moelker in his speech.

Dr. Martin Langer, Managing Director of BRAIN Biotech at the Zwingenberg site, added: “Zwingenberg is the nucleus of the BRAIN Biotech Group, which is now successfully positioned internationally. We develop innovative solutions and products for sustainable production both for our partners and for our Group companies. BRAIN operates at the heart of the bioeconomy and is therefore ideally positioned to participate in the growth of this key industry and to make a significant contribution to sustainable industrial processes.”

The ceremony was accompanied by a one-day symposium: Under the theme “Biotech the Future”, customers and business partners discussed the diverse applications of industrial biotechnology in four moderated panels. An evening event for the employees rounded off the 30 year celebrations.