IANR Media, December 2, 2020
University of Nebraska-Lincoln Partners with ZEA Biosciences
Kaustav Majumder, an assistant professor of food science and technology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, will collaborate with Massachusetts-based ZEA Biosciences on a groundbreaking medical study on legumes.
Legumes have been found to naturally produce amino acid chains known as peptides, which can act as an anti-inflammatory in humans. The goal of ZEA and UNL’s joint research project is to uncover which legume varieties could produce a commercially viable, plant-based treatment for chronic inflammation.
Majumder’s lab, which is housed within UNL’s Food for Health Center, has sent ZEA a variety of legume seeds which ZEA will cultivate and grow into pharmaceutical-grade plants using their propriety CleanGrow TechnologyTM platform. Once the plants have been grown and all the important data has been collected, ZEA will send the harvested plants back to UNL, where the active biologic ingredients will be tested.
“We are so excited to partner with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln on a project of this size and importance. The ZEA platform is capable of growing the pharmaceutical-grade legumes necessary for Kaustav Majumder’s team to uncover effective plant-based anti-inflammatory molecules.”– James Wilson, CEO of ZEA Biosciences.
About ZEA Biosciences:
ZEA is a leading producer of plant-based biologics based in Walpole, MA. Their proprietary CleanGrow TechnologyTM grows optimized, minimum-variation plants for use in pharmaceuticals and supplements.
About Dr. Majumder:
Kaustav Majumder Ph.D. is a professor of food science and technology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His research focuses on the potential of food proteins to produce bioactive peptides through enzymatic digestion.
About UNL’s Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources:
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources (IANR) strives to revolutionize food, fuel, feed, and fiber production for a rapidly growing world in a way that conserves our natural resources and provides high quality-of-life for producers.
