A discovery platform to optimize the production of nutrient rich food via solid state fermentation of feedstocks relevant to spaceflight.

To address the nutritional requirements of astronauts, Mycsology Foods aims to develop an AI-driven discovery and optimization platform aimed at advancing solid state fermentation (SSF) technology to transform feedstocks relevant to space environments into nutrient rich food ingredients using bacterial and fungal biofilms. Mycsology will benchmark and de-risk our platform through this Phase I STTR project, with an initial focus on the production of vitamin B9/folate by various yeasts, including GRAS, halo- and thermo- tolerant yeasts such as K. marxianus and I. orientalis. SSF is inherently suitable for space flight applications and offers significant advantages over precision fermentation which involves high water and energy consumption and generates multiple waste. Through this Phase I project, Mycsology will generate structured data on biofilm development, stability, and inhibitor tolerance, and overall productivity. The SSF platform will serve as a high-throughput testbed for profiling bacterial and fungal communities that form productive biofilms, with an initial proof-of-concept optimization of protein and folate production. The insights gained will inform the development of robust biofilm-based fermentation systems capable of thriving under resource-limited conditions, such as those encountered during space missions. For terrestrial use, Mycsology has identified solid state fermentation (SSF) as a promising avenue to improve the nutritional value of snack foods and serve as a source of sustainably sourced, cost-effective ingredients to tackle malnutrition. Our beachhead market are food brands and manufacturers within the packaged convenience foods sector. The global protein ingredients market is valued at USD 77.69 billion in 2022 with 0.707 million metric tons of soy protein isolate and concentrate produced in 2021. We expect to capture a significant portion of this market share.

Astronauts on long spaceflights are likely to face a number of nutritional challenges that include loss of body mass, depletion of bodily nutrient stores because of inadequate food supply, inadequate food intake due to low acceptability, increased metabolism because of workload requirements, and irreversible loss or degradation of nutrients in the food supply over long spaceflight. Physiological changes associated with spaceflight including bone and muscle loss, cardiovascular degradation, ophthalmic pathologies and impaired immune function may also be brought about by nutritional deficiencies. A well-designed food system for long duration missions is as critical to crew safety and mission success as the spacecraft itself. Food payloads for existing missions have well defined nutritional requirements designed to support the long-term maintenance of critical organs systems like bone and muscle, provide enough energy for the daily workload of astronauts while also being palatable to consume. While food systems are usually optimized to ensure that astronauts have adequate access to macronutrients, care must also be taken to ensure the dietary availability of micronutrients including vitamins like thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid that are involved in energy metabolism. NASA’s proposed manned mission to Mars is expected to last up to 1000 days. There is currently no food system that can meet the nutrition, acceptability, safety, and resource challenges of an extended Mars exploration mission. Fungal biofilm-based biotechnology, as proposed in this STTR project is expected to play an important role in food provision for extended duration space mission. For shorter duration spaceflights, our technology is expected to significantly reduce launch costs, currently estimated at $12,600 per kilo, by enabling food regeneration on board spacecraft and space stations. Mycsology has identified solid state fermentation (SSF) as a promising avenue to improve the nutritional value of foods. Our platform utilizes various plant material inputs, fungal and bacterial strains with an established history of use in human food production, and minimal downstream processing, to produce shelf-stable ingredients suitable for formulating different food products. The fermented ingredients are higher in protein, and bioavailable vitamins enabling sustainable and cost-effective formulations to tackle malnutrition. For example, Micronutrient deficiencies (MNDs) affect children the most, stunting their physical and mental development. While new parents are concerned about adequate nutrient intake of their small children interviews with parents, teachers, and caregivers have found that they face serious challenges reaching their goals because of the difficulty of finding convenient, non-animal derived high-protein foods that are natural, low in sugar, and appealing to children. Recently, an analysis of 651 foods widely available in the infant and toddler sections of the 8 of the top 10 most popular grocery stores in the US revealed that 60% do not meet any dietary standards set by the WHO. Our beachhead market are food brands and manufacturers within the packaged convenience foods sector. These types of foods make up a large portion of both adult and children’s diets and there is a critical need to supply nutrient rich products to combat nutritional deficiencies. New product development and reformulation of existing products are two opportunities to work with food developers. Given that parents are highly willing to pay a premium for quality clean label products that have low environmental impact with high nutritional value, manufacturers and brands are motivated to source cost competitive ingredients that align with these consumer demands.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.