Pheronym®

This year Pheronym hosted its second UC Davis AI Institute Fellow. We were delighted to see how third-year undergraduate student Willow Jungling, developed skills to be an independent scientist. Like many undergraduate students, Willow did not have the opportunity for hands-on laboratory training in the past three years due to COVID-19 shutdowns. This summer was Willow’s first laboratory experience.

We were impressed by Willow’s enthusiasm for learning. She improved her skills so fast. For example, within four weeks of the fellowship, she was able to plan and start her own experiments relevant to AI Institute goals with guidance and feedback from all of us.

We were glad that our experiences were mutual. Here is what Willow wrote about her experience. “1- I enjoyed being in a hands-on learning environment. Being able to watch somebody complete an experiment and then replicate it on your own is an amazing learning experience. 2- I enjoyed the independence. After training for a while, I was able to be independent and work on my own for select experiments. I feel that this allowed me to grow my confidence working in a lab setting. 3- I enjoyed learning about in vitro and in vivo fermentation. Being able to work with both types has allowed me to see the pros and cons of each.”

We have loved watching her progress. We look forward to seeing Willow do great things.

This is our first step to scale-up the nematode pheromone manufacturing. We learned a lot from running this fermentation at ABPDU at Lawrence Berkeley Lab.  We are very grateful for such a supportive ecosystem.

They learned a lot this summer, and we have loved watching their progress. Liam Morris, a second-year UC Davis student, spent the summer with us as our business intern. He helped us prepare newsletters, create blog posts, organize our customer relationship management system, and much more. Liam was also interested in lab work and gained some experience in our lab. He is a true entrepreneur.

He also felt that this was an excellent experience for him. Here is what he had to say about his experience he liked about communication: “1- Preparing a quarterly newsletter using MailChimp, analyzing how well the newsletter performed using analytics, and making suggestions for future newsletters to be more effective. 2- Creating blog posts detailing events and news articles featuring Pheronym for the company website. 3-The opportunity to work in both a business and lab environment.”

We look forward to seeing Liam do great things.

We are thrilled to be among the four companies selected to present at the ACS BIOT Shark Tank.

Dr. Fatma Kaplan, our CEO, will present Pheronym’s technology in front of the sharks at the ACS BIOT Shark Tank.
https://www.traditionrolex.com/15

Join us at the ACS Fall 2023 on August 16, 2023 at 6- 8 pm in room Foothill G1 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco.

Pheronym’s co-founder Karl Schiller will present our technology at ACS Fall 2023: Chemical Angel Network: Investing in Chemical Businesses, organized by the Chemical Angel Network in San Francisco, California, on August 15, 2023.

The event will showcase updates from the Chemical Angel Network as well as presentations from various companies in the chemical industry. 

Pheronym is honored to be among the few selected presenters at this event.

Join us in person from 2:00 to 5:00pm in Hall B/C at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco on August 15, 2023.

By Mark Anderson, SACRAMENTOINNO / Sacramento Business Journal, July 12, 2023, 02:51pm PDT

Woodland-based ag-tech startup Pheronym Inc. won a $1 million Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Science Foundation.

The money will be used to scale up commercial manufacturing of the company’s approach to pest control that doesn’t use chemical pesticides. Keep Reading

This second NSF Grant will fund the final steps to scaling the commercialization of the company’s patented nematode pheromone extract for crop biocontrol 

Woodland, California – July 11, 2023– Pheronym, an ag-biotech pest management company, has been awarded a second non-dilutive National Science Foundation (NSF) SBIR for $1 Million.  The grant will fund the final steps to scaling commercial manufacturing of their sustainable, eco-, and climate-friendly approach to pest control. The target pests include Thrips, a globally important pest that developed resistance to chemical pesticides. Other target pests include orchard pests like thrips, pecan weevil, citrus weevil, peachtree borer, appletree borer, and turfgrass pests such as leatherjackets and white grubs.  To date, Pheronym has been awarded $1M in non-dilutive grants for their breakthrough work in enhancing crop biocontrol with Nematodes.   

Once a small business is awarded a Phase I SBIR/STTR grant (up to $275,000), it becomes eligible to apply for a Phase II (up to $1,000,000). Small businesses with Phase II funding are eligible to receive up to $500,000 in additional matching funds with qualifying third-party investment or sales. All proposals submitted to the NSF SBIR/STTR program, also known as America’s Seed Fund powered by NSF, undergo a rigorous merit-based review process.

“After years of proving the efficacy of our patented approach, we are ready to take the final step in scaling production to make our solution commercially available,” said Dr. Fatma Kaplan, CEO of Pheronym. “Our natural approach to pest control will be better for people and our planet – it’s time to get it out in the field so it can make a real difference for farmers and consumers alike.” Keep reading.

Our CEO, Dr. Kaplan, is presenting Pheronym’s technology at the LEEP Demo Day 2023 organized by Chain Reaction Innovations in Chicago, IL, on June 7.

The event will showcase 20+ startups from the DOE Lab-Embedded Entrepreneur Program (LEEP), including Chain Reaction Innovations at Argonne National Laboratory, Innovation Crossroads at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Cyclotron Road at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and West Gate at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Pheronym is honored to be among the amazing startups and be part of the Cyclotron Road program at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Listen to our pitch in person on June 7, 2023, at 4:30 PM, at the Sheraton Grand Chicago Riverwalk in Chicago, IL.

Stop by our booth to talk to us at 6 PM.

If you missed the LEEP demo day, you can listen to the Pheronym’s technology on youtube.

Pheronym is presenting our technology at 1 Million Cups. Join us on Wednesday, April 12 from 8:30 to 10:30 AM to learn more about our technology at Agstart Incubator, Woodland, CA.

Dr. Kaplan is honored to be among the amazing panelist on a webinar by the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) free online webinar, “Together in Innovation: Agricultural advances.

Expert panelists covered:

• Valuable resources innovators can use to protect their intellectual property (IP) and secure funding for their enterprises
• The challenges women innovators face and overcome in agricultural innovation
• Entrepreneur organizations and funding sources

If you missed the webinar on Feb 28, you have a second chance.

A brief highlight of the webinar and how Pheronym utilized USPTO sources is on Medium.