Bridging biotechnology &

About us

BioFeyn is a life sciences company, applying biomedical technology to make exponential advancements in food systems and sustainability. By working with leaders in aquaculture, agriculture, and cell culture, we’re enabling new solutions to improve both the health of people and the planet.
BioFeyn’s goal is to produce the most sustainable and nutrient-packed protein on the market.
By optimizing existing ingredients that are already proven to be safe and sustainable, we add value for farmers, feed suppliers, and the environment.
Using proven advancements from human biomedicine, BioFeyn is maximizing the impact of often scarce or expensive ingredients to improve animal health, reduce resource use, and minimize waste.
The BioFeyn platform of customizable ingredients delivers precision aquaculture and agricultural solutions where they are needed most.

Aquaculture:

The fastest growing food production sector
BioFeyn’s goal is to produce the most sustainable and nutrient-packed farmed fish on the market. By optimizing existing ingredients that are already proven to be safe and sustainable, we add value for farmers, feed suppliers, and the environment.
UN Global Compact
BioFeyn supports and commits to implement the Nine Sustainable Ocean Principles of the United Nations Global Compact. We pledge to make the Sustainable Ocean Principles part of the strategy, culture and day-to-day operations of BioFeyn.

Sustainability

Positive environmental impact is core to BioFeyn´s business.

Commitment to sustainability

We are committed to building solutions that are as good for the planet as they are for people.
Our sustainability strategy is built on three pillars:
1. Maximizing natural efficiencies in the food system
Many of the most valuable nutrients that go into feed and food never make it to the tissues where they are needed. This is because they can lose their effect over time during shipping or storage, interact with other ingredients to become less effective, or are poorly absorbed during digestion. BioFeyn technology can solve many of these problems, providing a natural solution to improve ingredient integrity and uptake.
2. Minimizing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions
When nutrients aren’t absorbed into animals, they pass through them and wash back out into the environment. In the case of aquaculture, this can lead to pollution and alter marine ecosystems in unintended ways. By reducing the amount of nutrient waste, BioFeyn technology can lighten the environmental impact of farming. BioFeyn is committed to working with the most climate-conscious feed manufacturers, ingredient producers, and farms. As part of this commitment, we are calculating our greenhouse gas emissions to ensure that they are at industry-leading levels. By maximizing ingredient efficiency, we are also lowering the carbon footprint of the salmon farming industry as whole, helping to make one of the lowest carbon agricultural industries even lower.
3. Applying a systematic ‘One Health’ approach
Humans, animals, and the environment are connected and interdependent. Many humans get primary nutrition from animals and animal products. Farmed animals rely on humans for feed and rearing. And the environment provides the right conditions, like clean water and air, for living, thriving, and growth. At BioFeyn, we recognize these connections, and are doing our best to ensure we consider system impacts in our decision-making. This means our products are focused on improving animal health, reducing resource use, and supporting the overall production of wholesome and nutritious fish to human consumers.
Sustainable Development Goals
n 2015 the United Nations introduced a set of goals to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all as part of a new sustainable development agenda. BioFeyn supports these goals and is aligning our own targets with those outlined by the SDGs.
Sustainability in aquaculture
We’re fortunate to be working in an industry, salmon farming, where environmental consciousness is high, and we want to do our part to contribute to its growing excellence. Some of the most sustainability-focused professionals in the world are working to improve the quality and standard of raising salmon. This is because they know, as do we, that when salmon are raised right, they’re part of the solution, not the problem. Salmon are one of the most environmentally friendly sources of nutrition on the planet, providing a virtually unparalleled combination of protein, omega-3s, and micro and macronutrients, while requiring considerably less energy, water, and land than other sources of protein.

BioFeyn platform

While there is no one-size fits all solution, we believe we’ve come up with the next best thing.
BioFeyn has pioneered a targeted, modular, delivery mechanism (what we call a “Feyn”) for compounds and nutrients that can be adapted to meet the most critical needs in salmon farming. Trace amounts of nutrients are surrounded by a shell of other naturally-derived compounds, ensuring better digestion, absorption, and bioavailability. These nutrients are then delivered to the tissues where they’re needed most, helping animals to grow, while improving their health. BioFeyn can reduce the amount of high-value ingredients that are needed, in some instances up to ten-fold. This both minimizes environmental pressures associated with acquiring these important nutrients, like omega-3s, and reduces the pollution associated with unused nutrients that are released back into the environment.

Investors

University Partners

Our team

A Boston core with international “encapsulation”
The BioFeyn team has broad experience in biological sciences, business, and sustainability. We share a common belief that the solutions of the future will be driven by translational applications of science to benefit planetary health.
Timothy Bouley, MD
CEO, Founder
Timothy has spent more than 20 years working across topics that transect biotechnology, medicine, and the environment. Prior to founding BioFeyn, he established several of the first programs in planetary health at the World Bank, mobilizing more than $1bn for innovation and investment. He has published and lectured widely on the relationship of human health to the environment and served as a regular advisor to governments, financial institutions, and industry. He has held fellowships with the US National Academy of Sciences, Rockefeller Foundation, and University of Exeter. Timothy has degrees in biology, bioethics, geography, and medicine from Tufts, Harvard, Oxford, and Duke.
Taehwan Lim, PhD
Feed technology
Taehwan is a postdoctoral researcher at Tufts University. He graduated from Seoul National University in Korea and majored in food and nutritional sciences focusing on the gut microbiome and microbial metabolites in animal models. He was also a university lecturer in Food Chemistry and Food Processing and Preservation at the same university and researched optimum conditions for maximizing the extraction yield of bioactive nutrients and evaluating the antioxidant activity of phytochemicals. Currently, Taehwan focuses on maximizing the myogenic differentiation of skeletal muscle cells using various food-derived compounds.
Sawnaz "Sunny" Shaidani
Feed technology
Sunny is a PhD student at Tufts University. She graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute with a bachelor's degree Biomedical Engineering and a concentration in Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering. Her PhD research is focused on delivering therapeutics such as chemotherapy, antibiotics, contraceptives, and nutrients via natural biopolymer-based delivery systems, particularly microparticles and nanoparticles, for various applications in local and systemic delivery. She also works on optimizing 3D in vitro model systems to test these delivery systems.
Paolo Decuzzi, PhD
Advisor, Italian Inst. of Tech (IIT)
Paolo is a Principal Investigator and the Founding Director of the Laboratory of Nanotechnology for Precision Medicine at the Italian Institute of Technology. Dr. Decuzzi has published hundreds of papers in international peer-reviewed journals, international conferences, and book chapters, serves on multiple NIH, NSF, ESF, and cofounded several pioneering laboratories for medical applications of nanotechnology. Prior to joining IIT in 2015 Paolo worked in institutions across the US: Stanford, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Princeton, and University of Texas, focusing on nanoconstructs for imaging and therapy.
Onur Hasturk, PhD
Feed technology
Onur is a Fulbright PhD alumnus and a postdoctoral scholar in the Biomedical Engineering Department at Tufts University, working in the Kaplan laboratory. His PhD research focused on micro- and nanoencapsulation of living human cells in silk-based matrices for cytoprotection against environmental stress. His project included chemical modification of silk fibroin and other biopolymers including gelatin and alginate, 2D and 3D cell culture, and injection-based cell delivery. Prior to receiving his PhD at Tufts, he pursued B.Sc. in Molecular Biology and Genetics, B.Sc. in Chemistry (double major), and M.Sc. in Biotechnology at Middle East Technical University in Turkey. His postdoctoral studies include development of novel silk-based materials through chemical modification and recombinant synthesis to investigate cell-material interactions.
Marie-Christine Imbert, PhD
CSO, Founder
Marie-Christine is a molecular biologist and specialist in sustainable finance. Prior to her work with BioFeyn, she founded an addiction treatment application company, SoberLife, a sustainability-focused food start-up, and worked as an advisor to Global Changemakers, a non-profit that fosters social entrepreneurship in youth. She worked for a decade in sustainable investment and private equity at LGT Capital Partners. Marie has a PhD from the MRC-LMB at Cambridge University and separately trained as a Chartered Financial Analyst.
BioFeyn is committed to making a positive impact. Our technology addresses aquaculture sustainability challenges in a direct way by reducing waste and promoting the use of environmentally-friendly ingredients.