![\"\"](\"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2025\/02\/p-1-90876377-modern-synthesis-1024x576.webp\")
\u201cI feel like that sort of misses the point,\u201d she told TechCrunch. \u201cThe fiber produced by bacteria \u2014 like, that\u2019s not a new thing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s not to say her new startup doesn\u2019t use those same fibers \u2014 it does \u2014 but it takes a different tack, one that\u2019s more similar to the way fabric is made and used today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her startup,\u00a0ModernSynthesis, still uses bacteria to grow nanocellulose fibers, but then it harvests and processes them to create a range of different materials. The new approach is more like weaving cotton into denim for jeans. Her sneaker experiment, on the other hand, was a bit like persuading a cotton plant to deposit its fibers into the shape of a pair of pants. Cool, but not as easily scalable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ModernSynthesis\u2019 fibers can be manipulated in ways that simple plant fibers cannot. They can be spread into a thin, wind-resistant film or textured to mimic high-quality leather, said Keane, ModernSynthesis\u2019 CEO. In that way, they\u2019re more like synthetic materials like polyester and polyurethane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference, though, is that ModernSynthesis\u2019 nanocellulose materials are ultimately biodegradable.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou want your materials to last a lifetime or maybe two, like 100 years. You don\u2019t want them sticking around for thousands, which is what most of the synthetic materials will do,\u201d Keane said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because the basic building block of the startup\u2019s textiles is cellulose, what\u2019s left after they\u2019ve decomposed is similar to what\u2019s found on a forest floor. \u201cIt should behave similarly to other cellulosic materials,\u201d she said. \u201cCotton\u2019s a great example of that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the breakthroughs that encouraged Keane to found ModernSynthesis with Ben Reeve, the company\u2019s chief technology officer, was the ability to create materials using only nanocellulose. Other biomaterials can mimic leather, for example, but some synthetic materials might need to be added to the mix to pull it off successfully, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/modernsynthesis1.jpg?w=680\")
ModernSynthesis buys its nanocellulose from existing producers, which already make the stuff in large quantities for a range of applications, from\u00a0food additives<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0medical implants<\/a>. The startup then processes the nanocellulose to create different materials. In 2023, for example, it made an artificial leather for Danish fashion brand Ganni, which used it to make a\u00a0handbag<\/a>\u00a0that contained no petrochemicals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Keane said the company is working to quintuple production at its pilot plant. ModernSynthesis recently closed a $5.5 million funding round, the company exclusively told TechCrunch. The round was led by Extantia Capital with participation from Artesian and Collaborative Fund.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Though sneakers, clothing, and handbags are likely applications for ModernSynthesis\u2019 materials, Keane is also looking into more sci-fi uses like smart textiles with embedded electronics and more prosaic ones like car dashboards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCellulosic materials don\u2019t melt like synthetics do,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you think about car dashboards, how it starts to melt when you sit in the sun too long. Our materials won\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jen Keane\u2019s claim to fame is that she grew a shoe using bacteria, coaxing the microbes to deposit their nanocellulose materials in the shape of a sneaker. But she\u2019s kind of over that. \u201cI feel like that sort of misses the point,\u201d she told TechCrunch. \u201cThe fiber produced by bacteria \u2014 like, that\u2019s not a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":158142,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"The company's bacteria-based nanocellulose fibers can be manipulated in ways that simple plant fibers cannot - like being spread into a thin, wind-resistant film or textured to mimic high-quality leather","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[13383,11270,5838,11819,25680,11323,12468],"supplier":[19394,25681],"class_list":["post-158129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-bacteria","tag-biodegradability","tag-bioeconomy","tag-nanocellulose","tag-nanocellulosefibers","tag-naturalfibers","tag-textiles","supplier-ganni","supplier-modern-synthesis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158129"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=158129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}