Alpha-lactalbumin is a highly functional milk protein rich in essential amino acids. It is easy to digest and is linked to immune and cognitive development benefits. Bovine α-lac is currently used in infant nutrition, functional food and health-focused applications. 21st.BIO is optimizing the Novonesis-developed strain for industrial fermentation, scale-up, and commercialization – enabling companies around the world to bring precision fermented α-lac to market and with the ambition to be cost competitive with its bovine counterpart.
Today, producing α-lac from bovine milk is costly and inefficient, making it one of the most expensive dairy proteins on the market. About a thousand liters of milk must be fractionated to obtain a kilogram of α-lac.
“Alpha-lactalbumin is incredibly valuable, but current supply from cow’s milk is limited. It is challenging and costly to extract at scale, which is why current supply is mostly reserved for the very high-end infant formula market,” said Thomas Schmidt, CEO of 21st.BIO, in a press statement. “Through precision fermentation, we make production more efficient, sustainable, and – most importantly – available to many, not just the few. On top of this, we are able to produce α-lac of high purity, an important parameter for infant nutrition.”