In this episode of the Making Sense of Biologicals (MSOB) campaign, we welcome back USDA Agricultural Research Service Entomologist Dr. David Shaprio-Ilan who led the cosmic project. He said the nematodes spent about a month in outer space and the results were very promising. Keep listening.
Pheronym is among the featured companies at the CLSI Breakfast Buzz
Pheronym, a FAST graduate, is among the featured companies at the CLSI Breakfast Buzz, a 90-minute virtual networking event for life sciences startups, entrepreneurs, professionals and researchers.
Come and join us tomorrow!
Pheronym presenting at the Seed Central 5th Innovator Showcase at UC Davis
Come and join us on Jan 21 at 9:55 AM pacific time for our 3 min online pitch.
We also have a company visit on Jan 29 at 10 AM pacific time. Virtually join us and talk to us.
Here is a link to register to seed central event to see the presentations.
Expanding Customer Interviews with Master of Business and Science Students at KGI
The insight we gained from conducting 130 interviews in the agriculture ecosystem for the National NSF I-corps team program and the NSF Beat-the-Odds boot camp was priceless. We learned about our customers’ needs and were able to develop a strategy to focus our product development efforts on specific customers, market segments, and pests. We learned how to address the farmer’s needs, and identify key partners, resources, and more. Despite our 130 interviews, only 55 of them were growers. That is because August and September are the peak harvest time. The farmers were not available to take our calls because they were out in the fields. We wanted to continue our customer discovery and interview more farmers when they were less busy. Luckily, we had the opportunity to sponsor a class project at the Keck Graduate Institute (KGI) Master of Business and Science (MBS) program in Fall 2020. We thought since the harvest is over, farmers would have time to talk to us and with the students’ help, we could interview more farmers. Keep reading to discover what we found.
8 experts identify the biggest hurdles to feeding a warming world
Dr. Kaplan our CEO is among 8 experts identify the biggest hurdles to feeding a warming world featured by C&EN magazine Discovery Report Feeding the world.
You can download the report at www.acs.org/discoveryreports.
Pheronym is among the top 20 promising companies
Pheronym is among the top 20 promising companies developing the future of farming technology, selected by C&EN by ACS in the Q4 2020 Discovery report “Feeding the world”.
The report can be downloaded at www.acs.org/discoveryreports
It was mailed to members with the November 30 issue of C&EN. By the end of February/early March 2021 the report will be posted online, open access to all.
HARNESS PHEROMONES FOR SUSTAINABLE PEST CONTROL
Without some method of treatment, about 12% of crops globally would be lost to plant-parasitic nematodes,” says Karl Cameron Schiller, co-founder and chief operating office of biotech startup Pheronym. To combat these pests, Schiller and his team are developing non-toxic pesticide solutions that pose fewer risks to the environment.
Pheronym has developed two biopesticides that use pheromones to control parasitic nematodes, improve soil health, and protect crops for better yield. Keep reading
Honored to be a keynote speaker at the Society of Nematologist Meeting
Please join me at the SON Virtual Meeting on Dec 16, 2020, at 1 PM eastern time to tell you about “Dynamics of entomopathogenic nematode foraging and infectivity in microgravity.
The results of this exciting project (AstroNematode) recently published in a Nature Partner Journal “npj Microgravity“. To learn more about AstroNematode visit astronematode.com.
Pheronym and USDA Enter into 5-Year CRADA
Focus is on full commercialization of company’s patented Nematode Pheromone Extract of Nematode Dispersal for Crop Biocontrol

Communicating with nematodes for better farming
This amazing video prepared by the Biomimicry Institute and the Ray of Hope Prize explains how Pheronym taps into nematodes’ pheromone communication system for eco-friendly sustainable farming.
We thank the Biomimicry Institute and Ray of Hope Prize.