New York, New York--(Newsfile Corp. - August 14, 2024) - Pneuma, a biotech company pioneering the next generation of sustainable materials has announced a new initiative to partner with architecture and design firms around the globe with the shared mission of bringing life and cleaner air to commercial & residential building spaces. The initiative will foster innovative uses for a new type of green material containing microorganisms (algae, fungi and others) which are alive and actively capture carbon to heal the planet's atmosphere.
Seeding Buildings with Green
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By fusing biology with man-made materials, these new types of engineered living materials are created in a laboratory through a proprietary process and are currently available as paints, coatings, sheets and fibers. Pneuma's materials branded OXYA actively photosynthesize, sustain life & capture notable amounts of CO2 over time at a rate 10-50x that of trees- cleaning the air & cooling their surroundings like an indoor forest.
The first partnering firm to be announced is Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R), a world-renowned architecture & design firm based in New York City, responsible for numerous iconic projects including the High Line and MoMA in New York, The Broad in Los Angeles, and the US Olympic and Paralympic Museum in Colorado Springs. As a partner in their initiative, DS+R's longstanding commitment to innovation and sustainability will incorporate potential uses for Pneuma's green materials into various projects both indoor & outdoor, providing a natural alternative to man-made synthetics.
"We're grateful and creatively inspired to partner with such an acclaimed firm like DS+R-a leader known for their visionary approach to architecture. Their expertise has been so valuable in helping us better understand the potential and reach this exciting, impactful stage to bring OXYA to the market," noted Pneuma Co-founder Spas Kerimov.
Living Materials from Algae Capture Significant Amounts of Carbon
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Pneuma is on a quest to cover all possible surfaces with these biobased materials, starting with building facades, rooftops & indoor spaces. Since its founding in 2021, Pneuma has innovated numerous variations of OXYA materials as liquid, folio & thread forms- with living algae as the primary ingredient.
The creation, technology, and evolution of the materials is a continuation of years of research at North Carolina State University, The Bulgarian Academy of Science. More advancements are actively in the pipeline through partnerships with the University of Sheffield, and the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. Kerimov notes that by harnessing the immense power of algae to capture carbon, we can make significant headway in reducing existing & excess carbon on a large scale by activating small spaces directly around us.
Onboarding One Building with OXYA = Planting 100 Trees
In fact, equipping only one building with OXYA materials results in capturing up to 2.2t CO2/year which equates to planting 100 trees. If all of the non-residential buildings in the US & EU (~15.5 million) are covered with Pneuma's engineered living materials it will match and double the current capacity of all the world's existing carbon-capturing facilities (up to 2023).
Rapidly Scaling with Broad Applicability
Over the next 15 months, the company will cover 15 buildings with OXYA through partnerships with DS+R, hotel chains, and paint manufacturers. Across these building spaces, the materials are proving quite versatile and are being used to cover walls (as liquid wallpaper or paint), windows, fabric for covering furniture, light fixtures & chandeliers, among other things.
The company recently expanded its laboratory facilities to a 200-square-meter space to accommodate the new rollout and to increase production capacity. To date, the company has partnered with Andon Okapi, an investment firm focused on early-stage companies, and IndieBio, a leading biotech venture capital firm. Indie Bio's SOSV accelerator in New York last year and is closing its current investment round this month, with funds being used to meet new product demand, expand R&D capabilities, and hire new team members.
SOURCE: Pneuma Bio
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