Osprey Biotechnics harnessing bacteria for more purposes

Osprey Biotechnics chief operating officer Vincent Scuilla and president and CEO Lauren Danielso with pepper plants in one of their labs. Among other products, they are developing beneficial bacterial for agricultural applications.

Last Modified: Saturday, June 1, 2013 at 4:52 p.m.

Osprey Biotechnics is low-key and likes it that way. So do not expect the local grower of helpful bacteria -- used on an industrial scale to keep drains, septic systems and grease traps free of clogs -- to trumpet its move into improving the world's food supply.

Still, Osprey's shift is notable for what it could mean for the health of the planet -- and for decreasing reliance on chemicals.

Working with a Spanish agricultural company called Biobab R&D, Osprey is developing bacterial products that will allow farmers to raise vegetables using less pesticides and less fertilizer.

On the other end of the food spectrum, it is also involved with the renowned Mote Marine Laboratory in a program aimed at multiplying fishes.

But the company does not see the food supply initiatives as just another business line. To president and chief executive Lauren Danielson and chief operating officer Vincent Scuilla, it is a mission.

"How do you feed everyone and maintain the integrity of the planet, so you are not destroying it with chemicals and antibiotics?" asked Danielson, who is also an attorney and the daughter of the company's founder.

"Everything we do, we look to lessen the chemical dependency," Scuilla said. "The growth opportunity is enormous in all the sectors we are in."

From one drop

Osprey Biotechnics' equipment and expertise is so sophisticated that the company can transform a single drop of concentrated bacteria into a truckload of material in a few weeks, said Chris Reuter, the company's chief research scientist.

Quality control is the key.

What is critical is that from first drop to first beaker to final freeze-dried or liquid product, no foreign bacteria invades a batch. That is tricky in a world where even a speck of bacteria could contain 10 million organisms.

The company's cultivation process ends when bacteria is poured into a bio-reactor that can nurture between 1,000 and 3,000 gallons of concentrated, multiplying bacteria in liquid at a time.

"We grow over 50 strains here," said Reuter, standing in a room containing three large bio-reactors. "They all have their own personality. They're like kids -- some of them don't want to behave."

The company's current configuration is a far cry from its beginnings in 1990, when it was founded by Larrick Glendening.

Today, Osprey Biotechnics has grown into what is likely a multimillion-dollar business, though Danielson and Scuilla decline to share revenue or other figures.

One number that is known about the company: $140,000. That was the amount Sarasota County promised it if it expanded in the county rather than elsewhere and doubled its workforce from 35 to 70 in three years.

Three years later, the company has doubled its space, to 40,000 square feet. But it has not been able to meet the workforce projections, and hired just 15.

As a result, Osprey Biotechnics and the county jointly decided to stop the incentive payments.

The company now has 52 employees, Danielson said, and is hiring to accommodate its expansion. With the push into food innovation, it likely will have to decide how it wants to expand again, around the end of the year.

The company's expansion stems from a growing number of its products that hardware and other specialty stores carry that use its bacteria.

Osprey Biotechnics' name rarely shows up on any label. Instead, the company sells its bacteria to others who make products designed for retail shelves.

Because of confidentiality agreements, the company is unable to provide specific product names.

There's at least one brand-name line with the company's logo on it, though. BioOne, which is sold through plumbing professionals, clears drains, septic systems and restaurant grease traps.

Like Osprey Biotechnics' other business lines, BioOne appears poised for growth. To help the product blossom, in February the company hired Mireya Eavey, a former Economic Development Corp. of Sarasota County official and former executive director of CareerEdge Funders Collaborative, a nonprofit jobs agency.

As president of One BioTechnology, an Osprey Biotechnics subsidiary, Eavey has spent much of her first few months on the road, meeting with existing clients.

In recent weeks, she traveled to Cincinnati, New York, New Jersey and elsewhere, telling businesses how bio-remediation can boost sales, Eavey said.

Between cross-country trips, she spent part of last month at a Bradenton pizza parlor. There, Eavey is overseeing the creation of a time-lapse video that shows BioOne cleaning built-up slime in a drain.

"All our clients, the first thing they say is we have the best product," Eavey said. "Ours are live bacteria. You clean a plate. There is oil on that plate. They are waiting for that food source to eat it."

Branching out

With Eavey focused on BioOne's success, Scuilla and Danielson are now able to devote more of their time to Osprey's other promising ventures.

One of them is fish farming.

While farm-grown shrimp have been around for two decades, and now account for three quarters of all the shrimp sold in stores, the science behind using closed systems to grow fish is newer, said Kevan L. Main, senior scientist in charge of marine and freshwater aquaculture research at Mote Marine.

To augment scientific knowledge, Mote grows and harvests sturgeon and sturgeon eggs -- caviar -- at a 20-acre facility east of Interstate 75.

"The goal of that farm is to demonstrate that you can use sustainable farming and produce high-quality seafood," Main said.

But little other research has been done -- save on farm-raised salmon -- on other species of fish, added Main, who is also president of the World Aquaculture Society.

That is where Osprey Biotechnics comes in.

"We are together looking at the emerging species -- those not in high production right now," Main said.

The biggest roadblock to mass production of other species -- such as pompano and grouper, for instance -- is that few survive past the larval stage, right after hatching from eggs.

"They are not necessarily getting the diet they would get in nature," Main said.

To match that diet, Mote and Osprey Biotechnics is formulating pro-biotics to improve hatchlings' immunity in the hope that they will increase the percentage of fish that survive to adulthood.

Peppers and tomatoes

Back on dry land, the company is focusing on improving the yield on crops such as peppers and tomatoes.

Together with its partner, Biobab R&D, which operates labs and greenhouses and offices in Madrid and the Canary Islands, Osprey Biotechnics is testing bacteria to make plants resistant to disease and insects naturally.

Their joint venture company, Microlife Agro Sciences LLC, occupies some of Osprey Biotechnics' space in the Northgate Center Business Park.

"We're going to make this a big business, and it is going to be based in Sarasota," said Robert Craig, a Biobab shareholder and Microlife Agro Sciences' board member. "That is the goal."

By examining soil growing healthy vegetables, Biobab's agronomists can identify which naturally occurring bacteria promote plant health.

The bacteria are produced in Osprey's vats, then mixed into soil additives.

A Biobab unit is already selling soil additives to growers in Europe, under the label Green Universe Agriculture Soil. Farmers simply add it to their drip irrigation systems.

Closer to home, Microlife Agro Sciences is beginning field trials in California, with am aim to obtaining federal and state approvals to sell the soil additive to growers there by next spring.

Under terms of their agreement, Microlife Agro Sciences will register and market products in the U.S. and Canada, while Biobab will have the exclusive right to market the products to the rest of the world.

Biobab is no rookie to the field, either. Its backers were behind Netherlands-based Western Seed, which specialized in developing tomato and other vegetable and fruit crop hybrids before being sold to Monsanto Co. in 2007.

"They are heavy hitters in the industry," said Danielson. "Everything they do is related to agriculture."

This story appeared in print on page and aquaculture


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