Latest news with #KathrynPolkoff
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Scientists make groundbreaking discovery that could solve major issue with modern agriculture: 'We've spent thousands of years breeding the animals'
The biggest source of methane, a heat-trapping gas that contributes to our warming planet, is, by and large, agriculture, which produces 3.55 billion tons of methane per year, according to Our World in Data. Methane produced by the digestive processes in the stomachs of livestock, such as cows, contributes a large part of this number. Scientists have been trying to solve this methane problem for years, and finally, a new American startup might just have an answer. Hoofprint Biome is an innovative startup created by Dr. Kathryn Polkoff, an animal scientist, and Dr. Scott Collins, a bioengineer. The startup has an almost glaringly obvious solution to reduce the methane that cows produce while improving the animals' bioavailability. When cows feed — typically on food that is hard for nonruminant animals, like humans, to digest — the food travels through the stomach's four-part compartment, first entering the largest of all, the rumen. Because of its capacity, the rumen stores ingested liquid and food for digestion, and it is also where the food becomes fermented by the microbes in the rumen. This fermentation process creates methane, along with other gaseous by-products, that becomes expelled through the cows' belching, or burping. In approaching the methane problem, the scientists studied the source of the methane production. "It's a very specific subset of microbes that are making the methane," said Polkoff, according to a TechCrunch article. These microbes steal any nutrients from the cow that have not yet been absorbed, creating methane gas. To address this, the scientists created probiotics and natural enzymes to suppress these microbes and limit methane production. These additives would help regulate the cows' microbiome while encouraging the production of beneficial bacteria in the stomach to enhance their nutrient absorption. According to TechCrunch, the startup aims to achieve a 5% feed efficiency that would help reduce the amount of heat-trapping gas emitted by the agricultural industry. Reducing planet-heating gas pollution improves air quality and human health while slowing the rise of global temperatures. The startup has garnered $15 million in investments alone in its first major round of funding. "We've spent thousands of years breeding the animals to make them as efficient as possible and to increase the yield, but there have not really been that many attempts to change a microbiome," Polk said, per TechCrunch. "That'd be like if you were engineering a car but had never changed the engine." Do you think gas stoves should be banned nationwide? No way Let each state decide I'm not sure Definitely Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Rumin8, an Australian startup, has created a similar methane-reducing supplement that also enhances milk production in dairy cows. Although limiting methane production from cow belching is progress for a cleaner and cooler planet, it is only one part of the equation. Reducing dependence on dairy can significantly cut down on the amount of methane that the agricultural industry produces. Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the latest innovations improving our lives and shaping our future, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Business Post
29-04-2025
- Business
- Business Post
US biotech raises $15m to reduce cattle methane emissions with Irish state among the backers
Tech Series A raise for Hoofprint Biome has been led by Sean O'Sullivan's SOSV through its Ireland Biomanufacturing Fund, which is backed by the Irish state Hoofprint founders Kathryn Polkoff and Scott Collins,
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Hoofprint Biome boosts cow nutrition while slashing methane burps
Sometimes, answering a long-standing problem is a matter of finding a new perspective. Take methane from cows: For years, people have been trying to eliminate the gas from cow burps in an attempt to limit the livestock's impact on the climate. But they haven't made a dent. That's in part because they were looking at the issue from the perspective of a climate scientist, not a farmer. Kathryn Polkoff, co-founder and CEO of Hoofprint Biome, has been thinking about the problem more like a farmer, though. 'The first time I heard about this methane problem was animal science 101,' Polkoff, who has a PhD in animal science, told TechCrunch. It wasn't in the context of climate change, but of animal health and productivity. Polkoff and her co-founder Scott Collins have stumbled upon a novel way to modify a cow's microbiome using enzymes, slashing methane while boosting the nutrients available to the cow. That discovery has netted Hoofprint a $15 million Series A round led by SOSV, the startup exclusively told TechCrunch. Other participating investors include AgriZeroNZ, Alexandria Venture Investments, Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund, Breakthrough Energy Fellows, Good Growth Capital, Ponderosa Ventures, and Twynam. The new round will help the company trial its enzymes on farms. 'We've spent thousands of years breeding the animals to make them as efficient as possible and to increase the yield, and but there have not really been that many attempts to change a microbiome,' she said. 'That'd be like if you were engineering a car but had never changed the engine — that's where all the energy comes from.' Hoofprint's feed additive tweaks the microbiome in a cow's rumen and suppresses the growth of microbes that generate methane, a potent greenhouse gas that warms the planet 84 times more than the same amount of carbon dioxide. Rumen is a 'hodgepodge assembly line,' said Po Bronson, the SOSV general partner who led the firm's investment in Hoofprint. The stuff cows eat tends to be very hard to digest and extract nutrients from. Over the millennia, cows have evolved alongside a complex microbiome in the rumen that helps break down the forage, releasing nutrients in the process. The cow absorbs some of those nutrients, but not all. Another group of microbes steals some of those nutrients to drive their own growth at the expense of the cow's, generating methane as a byproduct. 'It's a very specific subset of microbes that are making the methane,' Polkoff said. Hoofprint's enzyme suppresses those microbes. The startup will use yeast to make the enzymes, similar to how other industrial enzymes are made, including those used in cheese, detergent, and other products. For Bronson at SOSV, the fact that Hoofprint's enzymes are derived from the rumen itself was key. One previous methane-reducing product, Bovaer, faced a wave of disinformation when a large food company announced trials in the UK in December. He doesn't think that Hoofprint will face the same backlash. 'The core concept is that their product is a natural protein. They degrade just like any other protein an animal would eat. They're sort of natural to the rumen.' Hoofprint is targeting a 5% improvement in 'feed efficiency,' Polkoff said, or how many more pounds a cow can put on for a given amount of feed. By improving the efficiency of a cow's rumen, Bronson is confident Hoofprint will be able to succeed with farmers where other startups have failed. 'Knocking down methane is table stakes,' he said. 'To make it a more productive thing is what they will pay for.'
