Caravel Bio announced it received a $7.8 million grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). This award supports developing tools for building proteins with new chemistries and training machine learning models. The goal is to create innovative products across multiple industries.
Until now, protein engineering focused mainly on the 20 canonical amino acids. Non-canonical amino acids could unlock superior protein performance. However, lack of laboratory methods limited their use. Caravel combines cell-free protein synthesis and bacterial spore display to overcome this barrier. This enables the creation of novel protein chemistries and datasets for machine learning.
Caravel’s integrated platform unifies all phases of protein discovery and delivery. Traditionally, these steps were handled separately by different teams, increasing costs and limiting applications. The company’s technology accelerates cell-free directed evolution by allowing millions of protein variants to be built and tested in parallel.
Bacterial spores, known for their stability, serve as efficient delivery vehicles. They can carry enzymes or act as protein-based vaccines. Past challenges in scalability and control prevented practical use. Caravel’s innovations will enable large-scale production of engineered spores for real-world applications.
Funding will support research in three key markets: reducing DNA synthesis costs, developing protein-based vaccines for animals, and creating low-energy chemical manufacturing processes. The company collaborates with institutions including Caltech, Rutgers, Oregon State, and startups like Avery Bio and Rubi Laboratories.
Caravel’s mission is to extend healthy lives by expanding biology’s industrial role. The grant and recent funding underscore its potential to revolutionize industries through synthetic biology and protein engineering.
