Episode #105 Algae-Based Innovation in Space

Are you interested in the social impact of greater food security, access to nutritious ingredients, as well as, sustainable production methods both on Earth and in space?

In this week's episode, I speak with Elliot Roth about his startup, Spira Inc., and how his team plans to disrupt the global supply chain by replacing harmful compounds with carbon-negative algae to create safer, locally-sourced products. We’ll also discuss how algae-based products can support humanity’s future in space, as well as, Elliot’s recent analog Moon mission with HI-SEAS on Mauna Loa in Hawaii.

My guest on the show, Elliot Roth, is the founder of Spira, a company that is developing algae-based products that will make communities on Earth more resilient and eventual communities in space more viable. After being trained as a University Innovation Fellow at the Stanford d.School, Elliot started multiple entrepreneurial projects including the DIYbio lab known as Indie Lab, TEDxVCU, and 6 failed startups. He graduated from the Virginia Commonwealth University with a degree in Biomedical Engineering and spent five years consulting in product design and business strategy before starting Spira. Elliot has spoken at Synbiobeta, SXSW, and Thought for Food discussing the interconnectedness of social impact, synthetic biology and food.