POET Bioproducts Center Fuels Innovation
Through collaboration and strategic partnerships, the POET Bioproducts Center has become a hub for research in the biotech arena.
Scroll
Bold things are happening at the POET Bioproducts Center.
New products and projects are being explored daily through partnerships between industry leaders and researchers. SDSU teamed up with the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology and POET, a global leader in the production of bioproducts, to establish a premier institute in the SDSU Research Park.
Opened in October 2023 through a blend of state funds and private investment, the center is designed as a hub for collaboration.
SDSU excels in feedstock and preprocessing, as well as downstream animal feed testing trials. South Dakota Mines brings extensive knowledge of bioprocessing. POET will help scale to commercial development, growing the output, impact, and sustainability of the facility’s bioproducts.
“The center gives an opportunity for research in a laboratory to make a new, useful bioproduct to be taken to larger scale production,” said Daniel Scholl, Vice President for Research and Economic Development at SDSU. “As scale increases, expertise beyond microbiology is needed, including engineering, nutrition, business economics, sociology, and more.”
Facilities like this are uncommon in the Midwest. Iowa State and Michigan State implemented similar initiatives, although their respective facilities have only 40% of the POET Bioproducts Center’s capacity.
The center can accommodate short- and long-term tenants. The facility is home to Dakota BioWorx, POET, and two startups established by SDSU Ph.D. graduates.
The POET Bioproducts Center has appeal for SDSU faculty. Two new faculty members chose SDSU, based in large part to their interest in the facility. Dr. Ananda Nunjandaswamy, the inaugural holder of the Richard and Janice Vetter Endowed Professorship in Biology and Microbiology, is testing a personal care product developed within the center.
Other new avenues of research and innovation are available to university staff. “Faculty will have the opportunity to provide hands-on learning experiences in fermentation microbiology, fermentation engineering, and product technical analysis because of the center’s proximity,” Scholl said. “No other institution in this region provides faculty that capability.”
Those opportunities for faculty can lead to opportunities for students. Dynamic networking is taking place between students and industry leaders. Dakota BioWorx offers formative internships to SDSU and South Dakota Mines students.
Construction funding consisted of $20 million in state-appropriated funds, $5 million from POET, and $2 million from South Dakota Corn. The South Dakota Soybean Research and Promotion Council committed $2.5 million, with $500,000 expended annually to support operating costs.
“It is because of our unwavering supporters that the university can bring a leading bioprocessing pilot center into operation. We thank our donors for their vision and confidence,” Scholl said. “It’s because of them that SDSU’s faculty and students are able to launch high economic impact initiatives like this bioproducts research and development initiative.”
