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Unlocking the full potential of plant-based foods through novel protein ingredients
From Lost Food to Functional Protein Ingredients
Exceptional food experience without animal-based ingredients
Liven develops animal-free protein ingredients that help plant-based foods achieve their full potential in delivering taste, texture, and cooking experience.
smooth mouthfeel of shakes
juiciness and bounciness of meat
fluffiness and moistness of cakes
By going animal-free, we allow scalable, environmentally-friendly, and cruelty-free protein production to feed the growing population.
We brew proteins instead of producing them from animals
We understand why certain foods taste and feel the way they do, on a molecular level. We develop protein ingredients to address functional challenges in plant-based food formulations, such as the right gelling strength, desired emulsification properties, and expected changes in properties during cooking.
Thanks to synthetic biology, we can now make these protein ingredients using engineered microorganisms. We use under-utilized plant-based materials in the agriculture and food value-chain – the lost food – to grow the microorganisms and produce the desired ingredients.
The protein-making microorganisms are grown in large-scale fermenters, and the protein ingredients are purified to eliminate off-odours, and enable clean label. The process is scalable and highly reproducible.
Liven’s mission is to enable circular economy in the food industry to make it more sustainable. The process involves using side streams from food processing industries and converting them into protein ingredients. This ensures that food raw materials are utilized to the fullest extent, without any food being lost.
Enabling circular economy in the food industry
A more sustainable food industry, empowered by synthetic biology and precision fermentation
We need more sustainably produced foods to feed the next billion. This includes making more proteins than what we produce today through the $1.4 trillion animal industry, and reducing the 1.3 billion tons of annual food loss and waste.
At Liven, our vision is to address both these challenges by transforming lost food into highly valuable protein ingredients. We are using the power of synthetic biology and precision fermentation to achieve this transformation.
Fei Luo
Fei is a co-founder of Liven with over ten years of industry and research experience. Her previous roles involve working with SiREM Labs to commercialize a microbial technology transforming petroleum hydrocarbons contaminants to benign end products. In her other role as an environmental consultant, she introduced molecular biology tools in the energy and resource industry to assist environmental decision-making. Fei holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Toronto, and is passionate about bringing circular economy to the food industry.
Pratish Gawand
Pratish is a co-founder of Liven and has over fifteen years of experience in the bioprocess industry. Pratish’s previous entrepreneurial experience includes co-founding a synthetic biology company Ardra Inc., as well as industrial experience in pharmaceutical company Biocon Ltd. Pratish has a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Toronto.
Ondrej Halgas
Ondrej is the lead protein scientist at Liven with over ten years of research experience in molecular biology, protein expression, purification, and X-ray crystallography. Ondrej has led collaborative research projects on structural analysis of pathological prion protein transformation and determined over 10 protein structures, and co-authored 5 peer-reviewed publications. Ondrej has a PhD in Structural Biology from the University of Toronto.
Our team
Our team
Pratish Gawand
Co-founder
Pratish is a biochemical engineer and entrepreneur who wants to use his biochemical engineering experience to help build a solid business with impact on sustainability. He is passionate about the environment and conservation of nature, and likes to spend time in nature.
Ondrej Halgas
Lead protein scientist
Ondrej has extensive experience in protein science, structural biology and biomedical research. He worked on numerous international collaborative research projects and served as a student leader at University of Toronto. He is passionate about growing his own food and looking beyond the obvious. He like to spend time in nature for calm and attend live concerts for energy.
Sagar LahiriLead Protein Scientist
Sagar Lahiri
Lead Protein Scientist
Sagar has over a decade of experience designing and executing research projects on microbiology, biochemistry and molecular biology. He feels most alive while facing a difficult challenge with an imminent deadline. He like to watch action movies and play high intensity action PC games.
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Get in touch
Please feel free to contact us if you have any specific requirements for a novel ingredient, would like to collaborate, want to know more about our technology, or simply want to say hi.