Physiomar 2021 Conference

Commercialising Marine Bioproducts and Industry Panel

Anna Yallop from Seafood Innovations Ltd and the Bioresource Processing Alliance is chairing this session. Manya Sabherwal and Zahra Champion (BiotecNZ) will begin with a joint presentation introducing BiotechNZ and their recent “Aotearoa NZ boosted by biotech: innovating for a sustainable future” report and that deeper sector-by-sector reviews will occur and how ANZMBS can play a role in that for the marine biotechnology sector.

Then, each of the presenting panel members will give a 5 min “our journey” type presentation on commericalising marine bioproducts, describing their experiences at different stages of the commericalisation pipeline. There will be a shared question and discussion time, that could further address any of those experiences.

*Not listed below but included in the panel: Zahra Champion (BiotechNZ), Justin Hall (Tahi Spirulina), and Andy Elliot (Wakatū Incorporation)

Chair: Anna Yallop

Seafood Innovations Ltd.

Anna is the General Manager of Seafood Innovations Ltd, a research and development programme co-funded by the seafood industry and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment in order to add value to the seafood sector. Anna is also the General Manager of the Bioresource Processing Alliance, an R&D programme creating high value products from biological by-products from the primary sector. Anna is a Director on two other innovation R&D programmes in the primary sector, she has spent over 16 years as a conduit between industry and the science system and she established, ran and subsequently sold her own manufacturing business in 2010.

Pia Winberg

Venus Shell Systems Pty. Ltd.

Pia is the CEO & Chief Scientist - Venus Shell Systems Pty. Ltd., the CEO – PhycoHealth Pty. Ltd/ and an Honorary Fellow – School of Medicine, University of Wollongong. She has worked across sustainable marine industry development and academia for the past 20 years. Her focus has gone from research to applied technology development in integrating marine food production systems with the environment, to deliver potent nutritional benefits to society. Further, Pia has been working for over a decade to engage the local saltwater communities of the South Coast in this industry opportunity, from the Wodi Wodi people in the north of the Shoalhaven, and across the Yuin nation southwards. Pia believes that nutrition and food is a key opportunity for a transition to a more sustainable future for all people and our planet. The oceans and especially seaweeds are a platform that can deliver on that if approached wisely.In this way, Pia has undertaken over a decade of research of seaweed species in Australia and explored diverse production methods, as well as undertaken human clinical trials on seaweed for metabolic health. Pia has embarked on the development of a seaweed industry for Australia, and founded Venus Shell Systems for the production of seaweed, and PhycoHealth for the development and delivery of seaweed products to the market. Both companies are developing on the south coast of NSW.

Clare Bradley

AgriSea

Clare is the Research and Development General Manager for AgriSea NZ Seaweed Ltd. A Māori owned, family operated business that has been making products from seaweed for 25 years. Clare is passionate about creating a world class, high value and regenerative seaweed sector for Aotearoa. With a grounding in working with remote communities in the Amazon rainforest and coastal communities in Aotearoa, Clare understands the need to develop a high value industry that supports the values and goals of the communities it serves. Her focus on providing increasing value through the entire supply chain has gained her recognition as the Rural Business Women of the Year along with working with her family to achieve many Company Awards.

Damien Stringer

Marinava

Damien is an avid supporter of value-added industry and has built a career working with innovative enterprises. Damien has a PhD and BSc(Hons) from the University of Tasmania and worked with Botanical Resources Australia before joining Marinova Pty Ltd in 2008. Working for the past 8 years as Marinova’s Operations Manager, Damien couples his technical expertise with his consultative approach to lead the laboratory, processing and research teams. Through his work at Marinova, Damien has co-authored numerous peer-reviewed journal articles, commercialised a number of bioactive marine extracts and is a co-inventor on numerous marine biotechnology patents. Damien is a former President of the Tasmanian Branch of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute and is a graduate of the Tasmanian Leaders Program and graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Greg Macpherson

SRW Laboratories

Greg Macpherson is a pharmacist and founder of SRW Laboratories (www.srw.co), a premium nutraceutical company that exports predominantly to China and the USA. Greg founded Pharmacy Direct – one of NZ’s first online pharmacies, Pharmacy One – a leading provider of dispensing services to the residential care industry, MPS – NZ’s first registered robotic dispensing laboratory and was previously the CEO of MitoQ Ltd, an NZ based biotech company tasked with commercializing a novel mitochondria targeted antioxidant developed at Otago University. Greg recently authored Harnessing the “9 Hallmarks of Aging – to live your healthiest life” - a book that translates the latest thinking on aging at a cellular level for consumers with actionable insights for a healthy aging strategy.

Alex Pressman

Waikaitu Limited

Alex graduated from University of Minnesota and started his career in Industrial and Pharmaceutical chemical sales at Mitsubishi Int’l Corp. He completed an MBA from Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, CA. Alex later managed computer software R&D, testing and product management teams at Borland and Oracle. He then started his own high-tech company which he grew to 160 people before shifting to New Zealand. He founded Waikaitu in 2012 to turn the marine invasive seaweed problem into economic opportunity for NZ and is the CEO.

Manya Sabherwal

Cytiva

Manya is the National account manager for Cytiva in NZ. Cytiva are a technology, instrument, consumable provider but more broadly we are company looking to collaborate with our research and industry partners to help accelerate the manufacture of biomolecules at a lab and population scale. Mayna is also an active member of Biotech NZ and having served as Chair for the Executive Council, having thoroughly enjoyed serving the board while navigating through Biotech NZ’s establishment phase. Manya aims to help see the Biotechnology sector grow in NZ and is motivated to help foster an environment people and indistry can connect, support and grow this sector together.

Iain Hosie

NanoLayr

Iain is the Technical Director and Founder of NanoLayr. Iain has been deeply involved in nanofibre production and the development of many unique nanofibre products in the past twelve years. Iain co-founded Revolution Fibres in 2009, leading the business from 2012-2020. Iain is a scientist (BSc, Biochemistry) with a background in environmental health, government policy, product development and sales. Iain is a passionate advocate for nanofibre manufacturing and its commercialization in many sectors. NanoLayr’s products DermaLayr™ and ActivLayr™ combines NZ-marine collagen with bioactives in the form of a rapidly-dissolving fabric that dissolves instantly into the skin, launched in 2019.

Zahra Champion

BioTechNZ

Dr Zahra Champion, is the Executive Director of BioTechNZ (formally known as NZBIO), Assistant Director of the Institute for Innovation in Biotechnology (IIB), University of Auckland and Board Member PharmaSols. She has had senior management and governance roles, providing advice and leading projects in food and beverage, biotechnology, agriculture, health, and information technology in New Zealand and overseas. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy (Medical and Health Sciences).