Company Profile

Paris-based Deinove is a french company dedicated to the discovery and development of novel microbiological technologies and their application to the field of bioenergy. Founded in 2006, the company specialized in the development of breakthrough industrial microbial processes for the production of 2nd-generation biofuels, chemical commodities and compounds of industrial interest using Deinococcus and other radio-resistant bacteria.

Biofuels ambition

Seeking solutions to ensure the future sustainability of energy is not only motivated by its diminishing reserves but also by the threat of global warming. One of the major consumers of fossil fuels and contributors to greenhouse gas emissions is the transport sector. In measures to tackle these problems the EU and U.S. support bioethanol production in order to partly replace oil in transport fuels. Bioethanol production by 1st-generation methods involves the fermentation of sugar to ethanol by yeast. Several limitations in this technique stimulated the U.S. Department of Energy to publish a report in 1998 identifying opportunities to improve the process, in which the characteristics for the “ideal” microbe for biofuel production were outlined. Scientists have since been working on genetically engineering an “ideal” microbe without remarkable success, attributed to the fact that characteristics such as high temperature, solvent and pH tolerance for example, result from combinations of numerous genes, making their identification and manipulation extremely difficult.

AN INNOVATIVE APPROACH BASED ON DEINOCOCCUS

To Tackling this problem, Deinove has chosen a different approach. Deinove’s competitive advantage is founded on its innovative approach to developing a “super-microbe” for industrial fermentation: Deinococcus sp. After having found not only an extremely robust and resilient bacterium that survives extreme temperatures, pH and chemical solvents, the company is capable of altering the bacterium’s metabolism and enhancing the production of specific chemical commodities, such as ethanol, much more easily than in E. coli or other micro-organisms.

Deinove’s technologies enable the development and operation of more cost-effective and more environmentally friendly 1st generation ethanol production processes. Deinove’s programs also focus on the production of 2nd-generation biofuels (lignocellulosic ethanol, butanol, ethyl butyrate, etc.) from lignocellulosic raw materials. By developing a bioprocess that allows lignocellulosic biomass to be digested and utilized by the same bacteria, costs due to enzymatic hydrolysis and by-product treatment could be greatly reduced.

Deinove has shown that Deinococcus sp. “naturally” present most of the characteristics of the “Ideal Microbe”for producing ethanol cost-effectively and is developing novel industrial processes that harness the natural and engineered bio-diversity of Deinococcus and other super-resistant genera. Deinove’s proprietary processes could provide a powerful alternative (from industrial and environmental perspectives) to yeast, E. coli, Clostridia and many other micro-organisms used in industrial processes.

BUSINESS MODEL

The company’s business model is based on exploitation of the capital discovery (made by Professor Miroslav Radman) of the mechanism molecular that enables the bacterium Deinoccocus radiodurans to “resuscitate” itself following the destruction of its genome. Miroslav Radman is one of the world’s leading biologists and has been a member of the Cell and Molecular Biology section of the French Academy of Sciences since 2002. Furthermore, he was the first Frenchman of Croatian descent to be admitted to this prestigious institution. Professor Radman was awarded the 2003 INSERM Medical Research Prize for his work on the mechanisms of genetic modification, DNA repair & mutagenesis and the evolution of species. 

FINANCIALS

Deinove has deliberately chosen a novel, out-sourced operating mode – a core management structure and exclusive, long-term collaborations with a network of internationally acknowledged research groups. Deinove has raised €3.4 million in equity and recently gets a €6M Oseo grant. Partners in the project are a European company specialising in ethanol production, and two academic labs, the CPBS (CNRS/University of Montpellier 1) and the LISBP (INSA Toulouse/CNRS/INRA)

Sources & INFORMATIONS

Source : Deinove website

Contact : Manager, CEO, Director : Jacques BITON