WELCOME to the 39 North monthly Newsletter

The source for news and happenings in our innovation neighborhood.

APRIL 2024
April 19 - Application Deadline

The Challenge sets out to invest a minimum of US $1.5M in start-up and growth companies whose innovative technologies and business models create new uses for corn and long-term sustainable demand for corn production.

Companies are expected to be developing new uses of corn that result in replacements for fossil fuel-derived materials with plant-derived materials such as sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), drop-in chemicals and plastics, compostable materials, and as yet unidentified products and product categories that could be new areas for corn-derived products to be used.

Investment decisions will be made during a "Pitch Day" in the Fall of 2024. In addition to the funding, the winners will also get access to advice from both corn industry experts and Radicle senior executives.
Weekly: Danforth Center Scientific Seminar Series

The Danforth Center hosts a complimentary virtual weekly Scientific Seminar Series on a variety of topics. Check out the listing of upcoming seminars and join the conversation! If you would like to participate or be on the email list for these seminars, please contact Terri Burton, tburton@danforthcenter.org.
Agritech Thursdays
Second Thursday of the Month
5:30 - 6:30 PM
Geospatial Innovation Center, T-REX
911 Washington Avenue 4th Floor

AgriTech Thursdays is a monthly, after-work event focused on agricultural technologies research and collaboration in the St Louis region. At each event, one company or researcher gives a short, 15 minute talk on an existing or solved research problem of their choosing and how it fits into the wider agricultural technologies landscape followed by Q&A, drinks and networking. Interested in giving a talk? email: george@deepgrain.com 
Healthy Plants: Healthy People - Fortifying Vitamins and Phytonutrients in Tomato
April 9 | 4 PM
Washington University in St. Louis | Ridgley Hall, Holmes Lounge

Join us for the Varner Lecture Series featuring Cathie Martin, PhD, Professor John Innes Center.
Complying with U.S. Export Controls
April 9 - 10 | 7:30 AM to 5 PM
Eric P. Newman Education Center, Washington University School of Medicine
 
Hosted by the U.S. Commercial Service, this two-day program is led by the Bureau of Industry and Security’s professional counseling staff and will provide an in-depth examination of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). The program will cover information exporters need to know to comply with U.S. export control requirements under these regulations.
AgTech Nation AgriFood-focused SBIR Webinar Series
April 10, 24 and August 21

This webinar series aims to empower entrepreneurial businesses who are candidates for SBIR/STTR awards and provide insights on how to get started with SBIR/STTR and provide materials to jumpstart a small business’ application. Click on links to register.
       
39 North Happy Hour
April 10 | 4:30 - 6 PM
Helix Center
1100 Corporate Square Drive

Join us and network with the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR) Fellows visit who are visiting the ecosystem on April 9 and 10.
39 North Coffee with Colleagues/Tech Week Meetup
April 11 | 8:30 to 10:30 AM
Danforth Plant Science Center

Join your friends and colleagues in the Cafe to catch up with the STL agtech innovation community. There will be hands on demos of cutting-edge tools to engage and inspire students to pursue STEAM careers.

Following coffee, a discussion will be held in the Langenberg Theater with the following panelists:

  • John Berglund, Downtown North
  • Kory Matthews, AMICSTL
  • Emily Lohse-Busch, 39 North
  • Gabriela Ramírez-Arellano, Cortex
NSF SBIR Interactive Workshop
April 16 | 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM
April 17 | 8:30 to 11:30 AM
Via Zoom

This day and a half workshop is designed to assist technology start-ups and existing businesses that have a breakthrough technology to learn how to apply for the National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Grants and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) to fund their R&D. The workshop will be led by Ed Lahue, MBA, an innovation & technology counselor with 40 years in innovation and marketing and Dr. Veronika Redmann, a consultant/grant writer, entrepreneur, and NSF reviewer.
PlantTech Jam
April 27 | 12 - 4 PM
Danforth Plant Science Center
                                                                    
Join us for hands-on science, tinkering, and robotics fun for the whole family! The interactive event features science, innovation and technology related activities for all ages.
Taylor Training Opportunities
May 14-15
Washington University in St. Louis | McKelvey School of Engineering

Registration is open for "Fundamentals of SAR Workshop”, through the ICEYE-TGI partnership, happening May 14-15, 2024 on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis. Foremost SAR and remote sensing expert Tom Ager will lead the workshop. Sessions will showcase the remarkable capabilities of SAR data to current and future geospatial researchers and will make the unique information more accessible to the St. Louis geospatial community.
Have you Met?

Ratan Chopra
VP of Research
CoverCress Inc.


Describe your journey to 39 North.
Growing up in a business family that focused on grain commodity trading with small-holder farmers in India, I was always fascinated by the impact of crop improvements on land productivity and farmer income.

Courses in plant genetics and plant development during my college career provided me with a platform to start dreaming of contributing to crop improvement. To realize my dream, I began my graduate studies in Lubbock, Texas, and focused on the use of genomics to identify genetic control for abiotic traits in peanuts. Post-graduation, I continued to work on abiotic traits and genomics for sorghum at USDA-ARS lab until I got an opportunity at University of Minnesota to contribute to change a weed to a crop.

While this seemed a far stretched goal at the time, the advice of my mentors to stay patient and persistent allowed me to contribute to crucial and foundational traits needed to domesticate a new crop derived from field pennycress. I have continued this journey of converting weed into a new crop in 39N district at CoverCress Inc.

I feel fortunate as I have been able to take my academic experience to industry to facilitate the development of the product that has the potential to increase land productivity and provide additional income to the growers.

What are you excited to be working on right now?
I am excited to work with a team of talented individuals to bring needed changes to this new winter oilseed - CoverCress®. We are using translational science along with traditional and modern tools, to create the changes for achieving agronomic and compositional changes needed for adoption of this crop.

One of the exciting projects that we are currently working on involves the fine-tuning of gene expression using knock-out strategy in various genes to achieve desired changes in the trait of interest while minimizing the impact on plant fitness.

What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
I like to spend time with my family and friends and a sip of good chai for the chat. When I get a chance, I travel back to India and explore historical cities and visit family.
Check out the new Resources page on the 39 North website to provide information about services to our innovation community. 
Have News to Share?
Please contact: Dena Holtgrewe, at dholtgrewe@danforthcenter.org