Development services
You own what we develop.
You set the specification. We develop the strain and the process that scales, then hand over everything your team needs to run it.
How a project works
Pricing
Fixed fee against a defined scope
Timeline
Fixed, staged across milestones
Handover
Strain, process, SOPs and analytics
Rights
Yours in full, royalty-free
Most projects stall between lab and industrial scale
The biology usually works at laboratory scale. The hard part comes after it: a strain that has to hold productivity in a stirred tank, a medium that has to be affordable at tonne scale, a titre that has to survive the move to pilot, and an analytical method validated for the matrix you sell. These are process problems. We solve them by developing strain and process together, from shake flask to production tank.
What we do
Three kinds of project
Strain development and improvement
Selection, adaptation and non-recombinant improvement of non-GMO microalgae strains against the specification you set: target compound content, productivity, growth rate, or tolerance to industrial conditions.
- Screening and strain selection
- Adaptive laboratory evolution
- Master cell bank and characterisation
Fermentation and bioprocess development
Heterotrophic fermentation process design around your strain or ours: media formulation, including media built on agro-industrial side streams, feeding and control strategy, and the downstream route that follows it.
- Media and substrate formulation
- Feeding and control strategy
- Harvest and downstream route
Process optimisation and scale-up
Taking a process that works and making it hold. Titre, yield, and batch consistency carried from shake flask through bioreactor to pilot volume, with every parameter written down as you go, along with the reasoning behind each one.
- Shake flask to bioreactor to pilot
- Cost per kilogram reduction
- SOPs and scale-up parameters
How it runs
Five stages, and you see the result of each one
Scoping call and NDA
You describe the target, the matrix it has to work in and the volume you are aiming at.
Technical proposal
Objectives, success criteria, methods, milestones, timeline and a fixed fee, agreed before anything starts.
Development phase
Laboratory work against agreed milestones, with results reported at each milestone.
Validation
Measured against the success criteria set at the start, at bioreactor or pilot scale where the project calls for it.
Technical handover
Strain, process, SOPs, analytical methods and data transferred to your team, with commissioning support.
What you are buying
Fixed fee, fixed timeline, full ownership
What you get
- A fixed fee quoted against a defined scope
- A fixed timeline, staged across agreed milestones
- Full technical handover: strain, process, SOPs, analytical methods and data
- Commissioning support for your team
What stays yours
- Every project result, royalty-free
- Manufacturing wherever and with whomever you choose
- Free choice of inoculum and media suppliers
- Non-GMO strains throughout
If you choose to license a platform at the end of a project, the development fee is credited against the licence. Rates follow the scope of each project.
Who we work with
Teams with a target, and a reason to own the result
Microalgae producers
Raise productivity on a strain you already run, or develop a fermentation route beside existing photoautotrophic capacity.
Fermentation and ingredient manufacturers
Develop an algal product for tank capacity you already own, with our team as your microalgae R&D function.
Food, supplement and pet nutrition brands
Develop a differentiated non-GMO ingredient to your own specification, and keep the rights to it.
Research organisations and CDMOs
Joint development and R&D collaborations, including publicly funded consortia under national and European programmes.
Before you get in touch
Questions we are usually asked
You do. On a fixed-fee development project the deliverable and the commercial rights to it transfer to you at handover. You keep full rights, royalty-free, and produce wherever you choose.
Yes. Improving or adapting a strain you already own is a common starting point, as is developing a fermentation process around it.
Scope is set jointly in the technical proposal, and the fee and timeline are fixed before work begins, staged across milestones so progress is visible against them.
Development runs in our laboratory at CRIA, University of the Algarve. Scale-up and pilot validation run through partner facilities and CDMOs, so pilot validation happens inside the project.
All strain work is non-GMO, using selection, adaptation and non-recombinant improvement. This keeps clean label and EU regulatory routes open.
Each milestone is a decision point. We report the evidence, and if it points to a different route, we agree the next step with you.
Tell us what you need developed
Send us the target, the matrix it has to work in and the volume you are aiming at. We will tell you within a week whether it is a development project or an existing platform.
PhycoFerm, Lda., Universidade do Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, Faro, Portugal