Toronto biotech startup aims to solve pesticide resistance with modular insecticide
The startup's approach uses molecular biology to target specific pests while aiming to protect pollinators like bees.
TORONTO — A Toronto-based biotech startup is developing a new type of insecticide designed to overcome pesticide resistance in pests without harming bees.
Zaky Hassan, co-founder and CEO of Molagri, says the primary goal is to solve the problem of insects mutating and becoming resistant to chemicals.
"Chemical companies can’t make new pesticides fast enough to keep up with the mutating insects," Hassan said, "and the risk is, we won’t be able to grow enough food for everybody."
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Globally, farmers spend about US$80 billion annually on pesticides, including US$18 billion on insecticides.
Molagri, short for "molecular agriculture," uses protein analysis to design a hyper-specific payload that targets specific pests, aiming to keep pollinators safe.
Hassan and co-founder Min Jin, both PhD candidates in biochemistry at the University of Toronto, developed the company outside of academia.
They secured $500,000 in pre-seed funding from San Francisco-based Julian Capital and another $500,000 from Y Combinator, also based in San Francisco.
"We need to do a better job supporting entrepreneurs in the deep sciences," Hassan said, noting they had to turn to U.S. investors. "Risk-averse investors don’t want to help early companies, and it forces companies like ours to rely on Americans."
The funding allowed them to start a lab at Toronto’s MaRS Discovery District in April.
Molagri now has four staffers and recently completed a seed fundraising round.
The company's bioinsecticides are about four years from commercialization.
While the technology could theoretically be custom-made for individual farmers, Hassan said that would involve too much regulatory time.
Instead, the company aims to create off-the-shelf products for all types of farming.
Initial customers will be growers of tree nuts and fruits, such as almonds, pistachios, apples and pears, where the need for effective pesticides is more acute.
"Because we’re so early-phase, we’ll go where the need is more acute," Hassan said, adding the current focus is on tree nuts. "The need for more effective pesticides is more acute for those growers because trees grow in one spot for many years, so those farmers can’t rotate their crops."
He added, "But we want to make a product for canola, a Canadian product for Canada."
The modular design means the target pest and the payload can be modified in response to geographical variations and pest mutations.
Jin holds a world record for detailing the biological structure of a coronavirus protein, expertise the company has used to analyze the protein structure of the honeybee to avoid harming it.
Hassan said the goal is a "win-win-win" for food security, farmers and the environment if the insecticide reduces pests without contaminating soils and waterways.
With files from The Globe and Mail