Harnessing microbes and minerals for carbon capture and metal recovery

Cytochrome designs bioreactor systems that enhance the dissolution of carbon-reactive minerals to remove atmospheric carbon dioxide and recover valuable metals.

Microscope image of microbes accelerating the weathering of a single mineral grain

OUR SCIENCE

NATURE ACCELERATED

Biological acceleration of mineral weathering

The weathering of ultramafic and mafic minerals is a natural process that sequesters carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This geological phenomenon is Earth’s natural thermostat as it has helped regulate global temperatures for billions of years, ultimately enabling life to thrive on Earth.

Increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations from human activity is however far outpacing the rate of carbon capture by mineral weathering.  Microbes have evolved natural mechanisms to accelerate the mineral weathering process. Cytochrome designs geobiological systems to further accelerate and scale mineral weathering to capture carbon and recover critical metals for the renewable energy transition.

Bottom-up and Top-down Design

Microbes have evolved mechanisms to utilize minerals for growth across diverse ecosystems. This leads to the formation of complex microbiomes on mineral surfaces that can accelerate the weathering process. Cytochrome utilizes bottom-up molecular approaches that leverage these evolutionary mechanisms to accelerate mineral dissolution.

For centuries, humans have successfully used top-down engineering to design large-scale cultivation systems utilizing microbial processes for different products. Beer or wine, anyone? Inspired by these approaches, Cytochrome leverages these approaches to design cutting edge reactors for sustained, biologically accelerated mineral weathering.

ABOUT US

Cytochrome grew from decades of academic research

in geobiology, bioengineering, climate science, and biochemistry. The team is powered by a multidisciplinary group of entrepreneurs, operators, scientists, and research institutions.

OUR TEAM

Dr. Martin Van Den Berghe

FOUNDER & CEO
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Towsif Ahmed

DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS AND FINANCE

Baolin Wang

LEAD SCIENTIST

Ke Tan

PROCESS ENGINEER

Roya Neisan

PROJECT ENGINEER

Alexis Hicks

PROJECT SCIENTIST

Arjun Bhagwat

MANAGER OF PROJECTS AND OPERATIONS

OUR COLLABORATORS

Dr. Chris Dupont

COLLABORATOR
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Dr. Michael Springer

COLLABORATOR
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Dr. Pam Silver

COLLABORATOR
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Dr. Neil Dalvie

COLLABORATOR
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OUR CLIENTS

Dr. Nathan Walworth

CEO
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Dr. Thomas Ishoey

FRACTIONAL CTO
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Dr. Kenneth Nealson

ADVISOR
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Dr. David Hutchins

ADVISOR
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