Puna Bio opens unique biological research center in Latin America

The Argentine startup, Puna Bio, which develops solutions for agriculture based on extremophile microorganisms, has opened a research center located at San Pablo University. Extremophile microorganisms are captured in the Puna ecoregion, which is a biome located in the central Andes Mountains in South America. Puna Bio invested US$150 million to restore a three-story building and equip it with ″unique technology,″ said the company.

According to Franco Martínez Levis, CEO of Puna Bio, there are already 17 researchers working at the center, and the company aims to continue increasing its number of employees, which currently stands at 25 people in its operations. ″We have a fully equipped and automated greenhouse to evaluate products before field testing on crops, such as soybeans, corn, wheat, beans and sugarcane,″ he said. 

He added that the ″characterization and evaluation of extremophile microorganisms, the development of products and formulations, first scaling before the production phase, and investigations on mechanisms of action″ are carried out at the center.

These unique microorganisms enable crops to grow in extreme and degraded soil conditions, and through biotechnological development, the company has managed to formulate a solution for agricultural and fertile soils that increases productivity and reduces carbon emissions.

The first product developed by Puna Bio was a biofertilizer for soybeans, Kunza Soja, which has far surpassed the results obtained by commercial products used in some 90% of soybean production in Argentina and Brazil. In more than 30 field trials carried out by external agronomists during the 2020/21 and 2021/22 and 2022/23 campaigns, results, such as an 11% increase in yield, were obtained while a commercial inoculant based on Bradyrhizobium only achieved an increase of 3%.

In this context, the Tucumán Research Center intends to ″consolidate the commitment and support to developing new similar products,″ said the company. ″In the laboratory, we carry out the first analyses of all extremophiles - bacteria, fungi and all the microorganisms we use,″ Martínez Levis said, adding that evaluations of growth promotion, product development and formulations are being carried out. 

″We have research capacities in microbiology, molecular biology, bioinformatics, plant physiology and biotechnology, among other specialties,″ he added.

He then announced that the company is finalizing the assembly of an ″infection chamber.″ This equipment will enable the next phase for Puna Bio, which is the launch of pathogen biocontrollers, especially biofungicides. ″These investments help to promote research by Conicet (National Council for Scientific and Technical Research) and universities,″ he further said.

″The possibility of providing capital through a public-private partnership and bringing basic science to applied science, generating real solutions for producers, giving them better tools and not wasting Argentina's enormous scientific potential, is very important for the country,″ Martínez Levis said in conclusion.

(Editing by Leonardo Gottems, reporter for AgroPages)

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