Endophytes: Microbes Living Inside the Roots and Shoots of Plants

At Intrinsyx Bio, we are commercializing 3 decades of the leading academic research in the plant microbiome. Our endophytic microbes cause crop plants, grasses, ornamental plants, and trees to fix Nitrogen (N2) directly from the atmosphere into ammonia which helps improve nutrient use efficiency, supplement synthetic fertilizer requirements, and increase chlorophyll.  These microbes live in leaves, stems, roots and don’t require a nodule.  They also mobilize insoluble phosphorus (P2) from soil into roots, and help with phosphate mobility from the roots into the shoots.

  • Increases crop yield and quality (mineral nutrition and Brix)

  • Decreases nitrogen fertilizer requirements

  • Decreases phosphorus fertilizer requirements

  • Increases crop drought, flood, and salt tolerance

  • Diverse endophyte products: seed treatment, foliar, in furrow, granular

Endophytes living inside of plant cells

Endophyte crack entry through roots

Microbial Solutions

It is well established that conventional nitrogen fertilization is only 30-50% efficient, in terms of what the plant utilizes.

The rest is lost to the environment and may result in significant pollution. Another consequence of these fertilization practices is negative impacts on plant beneficial microbes. At Intrinsyx Bio we aim to resolve this.

The Nitrogen Dilemma

A major component of the Modern Agriculture revolution has been the deployment of synthetic fertilizers, which have largely contributed to the huge improvements in crop yields over the last several decades. Nitrogenous fertilizer production accounts for approximately 2% of global energy consumption.

An unintended consequence of these modern inputs has been significant negative impacts on soil and plant microbial communities and a concomitant decrease in nutrient use efficiencies.

Nitrogen Fixation

Over every acre of farmland exists about 45 tons of nitrogen in the air, more than enough to grow any crop.  The problem is nitrogen in that form is not directly available to all plants; at least not until now.

Our collection of natural symbiotic microbes enable plants to fix nitrogen directly from the air inside the plants.  This allows plants in general to operate like legumes.  Our microbial inoculants reduce farming costs, enhance yields and help the environment.

Increased Yield and Quality

We have conducted third party validated greenhouse and field trials in over 20 types of plants, with consistently impressive results across the board.

These microbes offer their plant hosts many benefits, including increased N and P nutrient acquisition abilities which increase their size and subsequent yields.

Smart Forestry Biology

These microbes were first discovered in trees growing in nutrient poor conditions in the forests of the Pacific Northwest.

We are currently trialing with large players in the forestry industry in the Pacific Northwest and the Southeastern United States. Greenhouse trialing to date has shown astounding increases in plant growth and health.

Meet Our Board of Directors

We have brought together some of the world’s leading researchers of plant endo-symbiotic microbes (true endophytes) to deploy a groundbreaking  and well-characterized microbial endophyte collection. Through endophyte application, growers have substantially increased yields above crops grown both in optimum soil nutrition and in nitrogen deficient soils. Our crop endophytes even increase yields under high abiotic stress-saline soil or drought conditions. We believe our products will play a key role in ensuring the sustainability of global agriculture in the 21st Century.

Greg Thompson
Greg ThompsonCEO
26 years experience in Life Sciences, Food Ingredients, and Energy sector with companies such as BASF, Verdesian Life Sciences (Co-Founder), White Energy, and PureField Ingredients.

Greg has 7 years of experience as a CEO helping to lead by working collaboratively with shareholders, customers, and team members at growing and transforming high-potential companies.
He has over 16 years with Private Equity and investment firms such as Stephens, Paine Schwartz and Strategic Value Partners in PE backed ventures and have been directly involved in over $1B of acquisition and capitalizations.
Has executive experience working with small, medium, and large scaled companies ranging from $10M in revenue to $65B in revenue.

Arshad Mian
Arshad MianFounder and CFO
30 years managing NASA Biology research projects in collaboration with industry and international agencies

Arshad Mian is the founder of Intrinsyx Bio and of its sister company Intrinsyx Technologies. He has been involved in Space Biology research projects for NASA for over 30 years, including managing multi-million dollar projects in collaboration with Fortune 100 companies, multiple NASA centers, and international space agencies.

Ahsan Ali
Ahsan AliCo-Founder & COO
Managed science collaborations with federal agencies and Fortune 100 companies

Ahsan Ali has spent the last 6 years managing the day-to-day operations of the startup. Prior to this, he was the Business Development Lead for Intrinsyx Technologies, a company that has spent almost 2 decades supporting NASA’s Space Biology Research Program. Ahsan’s background is in biotech, logistics, and economics. He has successfully negotiated and managed collaborations with federal agencies and with several Fortune 500 companies in the aerospace, high tech, and agricultural sectors.

Dr John Freeman
Dr John FreemanCo-Founder & CSO
Led Agricultural R&D teams at USDA-ARS, Purdue, Colorado State, CSU Fresno, NASA

Dr. Freeman III has an extensive background in plant molecular biology, biochemistry, and microbiology. He has led research teams in developing applied technologies and in R&D for the agricultural and environmental industries at Purdue University, Colorado State University, USDA-ARS Water Management Research, CSU Fresno Center for Irrigation Technology, CSU Fresno Biology Department, NASA, Phytoremediation Phytomining Consultants United, Intrinsyx Technologies, and now at Intrinsyx Bio. Dr. Freeman has published numerous research articles in these fields in top tier journals and written multiple invention disclosures and patents. He has written grants for both government and academic institutions resulting in millions of dollars in funding for research.

Dr Nigel Grech
Dr Nigel GrechBoard Member
Has been associated with agriculture for the last 30 years in production research, agricultural chemistry, plant biostimulants, plant breeding, processing and commercial farming.

Nigel was born in the United Kingdom, he spent over 10 years as a senior researcher and Group Leader at the Citrus and Sub-tropical Fruit Research Institute in South Africa before taking up a research position at the University of California. He is a seasoned veteran in the fields of Plant biochemistry, Plant Nutrition and Plant Pathology and has numerous patents and publications in this field. . Dr. Grech has successfully developed and licensed multiple technologies that formed the foundation of successful national and international businesses, of which some have been the recipient of prestigious honors such as the EPA’s Green Chemistry award.  An expert in agricultural chemical and biological formulation, Dr. Grech has successfully developed and deployed novel patented product platforms for both the agricultural and horticultural sectors and established successful entities to commercialize these technologies. Dr. Grech sits on several company boards. He was a co-founder, past board member and former Executive Vice President of Science and Technology at Verdesian life Sciences, one of the largest independent plant nutritional companies in North America Dr. Grech foundational current interests are in agricultural adoption of green chemistry and biological platforms. Integration of biological inputs into pest and crop management systems is an increasing necessity in agricultural systems globally. Nutritional efficiency and carbon farming in both plant and soil systems utilizing novel coordination of chemistry and biology offers significant value from production to consumption.  Dr Grech and his family are also diversified large farmers of Almonds, Citrus and Grapes in the Central Valley of California.

John Haywood
John HaywoodBoard Observer
John Haywood is the Managing Director of Unium Bioscience, a leading UK based agricultural distributor of biological products.

John is a biologist by training, he has spent most of his career in agriculture as a managing director, overseeing technology development and product launches for a number of highly successful crop nutrition companies. In December 2019 John was appointed Trustee Director of Rothamsted Research.

John has always been excited by translating new developments in the world of plant biochemistry and nutrition into commercial products. His professional achievements include developing the first global phosphite seed treatments and introducing Nutri-Phite Technology from the University of California as a biostimulant across broad acre crops in Europe. Since joining the industry more than 30 years ago, John has been driven by the same motivation: to take world-class crop research from scientists across the world and apply it to produce innovative, practical and sustainable solutions for modern agriculture.

Albert Virgili
Albert Virgili Board Observer
Albert Virgili is an Agronomist from the Polytechnic University of Valencia and has developed his professional career of more than 35 years as a specialist in Plant Protection and Plant Nutrition.

Albert was first a Technician of the Plant Protection Service of Generalitat of Catalonia and later at ICI Company and Commercial Química Massó, S.A. where he is the Manager of Agro Business.

The Power of Plant-Microbe Partnerships

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