Amyris Biotechnologies, Inc

Amyris delivers high-performance renewable products across a wide range of consumer and industry segments. Our products offer customers a way to reduce environmental impact with No Compromise® in performance or availability.
We developed innovative microbial engineering and screening technologies that modify the way microorganisms process sugars. With our innovative bioscience technology and established fermentation processes, we convert plant-sourced sugars into renewable molecules for multiple applications.
Our story began a decade ago, when Amyris was founded with a vision of making a positive impact on the world through science. We first used our proprietary process to convert plant-sugars into an alternative, lower cost, stable supply of artemisinin, an effective anti-malarial. Thanks to our breakthrough technology, these life saving drugs are more readily accessible.
Our initial business strategy was focused on the production of Biofene®, Amyris’s brand of renewable farnesene, a long-chain branched hydrocarbon molecule, manufactured using Amyris-engineered microbes in fermentation of plant sugar feedstock.
Building on the expertise from farnesene production, Amyris is developing, and in some cases producing, a range of other molecules. From these renewable molecules, we are developing a wide range of renewable specialty chemicals and fuels products, ranging from cosmetic emollients and fragrances to fuels and lubricants and even biopharmaceuticals.

Founded in 2003 in the San Francisco Bay Area by a group of scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, Amyris uses breakthrough science and an innovative business model to address some of our planet’s most daunting problems.
Amyris’s first major milestone came in 2005 when, through a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, our scientists developed technology capable of creating microbial strains to produce artemisinic acid — a precursor of artemisinin, an effective anti-malarial drug. Malaria is a preventable, curable disease that claims the lives of more than half a million people a year.
In 2008, we entered into an agreement with Sanofi-Aventis to license Amyris technology a royalty free basis for the purpose of manufacturing and commercializing artemisinin-based drugs for the treatment of malaria. In 2013, Sanofi began large-scale industrial production of Artemisinin utilizing Amyris designed strains. Amyris remains committed to expanding the reach of anti-malarial treatments, and its founders have helped establish a non-profit called Zagaya.
Building on this success, Amyris began applying its industrial synthetic biology platform to provide alternatives to a broad range of petroleum-sourced products. Amyris focused its development efforts on the production of Biofene, Amyris’s brand of renewable farnesene, and on delivering a renewable alternative to petroleum-sourced fuels and chemicals.
After a series of successful rounds of venture capital funding supported the development of early stages of our proprietary industrial synthetic biology platform, Amyris undertook an initial public offering in September 2010. Amyris shares are traded in the NASDAQ exchange under the symbol AMRS.
To support our initial commercial production, Amyris leveraged contract-manufacturing capabilities to begin producing Biofene at various sites around the world. Amyris’s first purpose-designed, industrial-scale Biofene plant located Brotas, São Paulo, in the southeastern Brazil, began commercial production in early 2013.
Amyris remains focused on developing its core technology to produce renewable products to the world, starting with products derived from Biofene. With about 400 employees today and millions of dollars invested, Amyris remains a breakthrough renewable products company built on a foundation of disruptive innovation for the greater good.

Breakthrough Science

Amyris is using a breakthrough science, called synthetic biology, and traditional chemical manufacturing to address some of our planet’s most daunting problems.
Synthetic biology uses engineering concepts to leverage the power of biology. Through the design and construction of biological systems, we turn organisms into living factories, capable of producing chemicals previously attainable only through expensive extractions or through the use of petrochemicals and other non-renewable resources.
Amyris scientists have developed genetic engineering and screening technologies that enable us to modify the way microorganisms process sugar. By controlling their metabolic pathways, we design microbes, primarily yeast, and use them as living factories in fermentation processes to convert plant-sourced sugars into target molecules.
At our labs in California, we utilize proprietary high-throughput processes to create and test thousands of yeast strains a day in order to choose those yeast strains that are most efficient and scalable for industrial production. To date, we have industrialized three unique hydrocarbon molecules and have a long pipeline of new molecules we are developing thanks to our innovative industrial biotechnology platform.

Industrial Production

Amyris is industrializing synthetic biology to produce target molecules for our partners and customers around the globe.
Our industrial production relies on established fermentation processes that use our proprietary yeast strains to convert the sugar source into target molecules such as Biofene. While we can use any fermentable sugar in our process, we are focused on Brazilian sugarcane because of cost, availability, and the local industry’s ability to meet international sustainability standards.
Amyris employs a multi-stage scale-up approach to progress from laboratory scale to commercial production scale. We maintain a constant feedback loop between our laboratory, where strains are initially created and improved, and our two pilot plants, where we expose those strains to conditions that simulate an industrial production environment. This allows us to focus our microbe development resources on those strains that demonstrate the potential to scale effectively.
Once a microorganism has been engineered in our laboratories and a scale-up production process tested in our pilot and demonstration plants, Amyris begins commercial production at industrial scale. To support our initial commercial production, Amyris leveraged contract-manufacturing capabilities until it completed construction and commissioning of its own production facility.
Our first purpose-designed industrial manufacturing production facility began operations in Brazil in December 2012. Located adjacent to the Tonon Paraíso mill, we convert sugarcane syrup into farnesene and other tailored molecules for a range of renewable products for our customers. Amyris has plans for additional production facilities to meet growing demand for its renewable products.

Amyris develops new products and technologies by collaborating with its partners and customers.
Whether we are developing new products for an end customer, improving the efficiency of an existing microorganism, or making new tools for other scientists, Amyris is partnering with market leaders to develop renewable alternatives to petroleum-sourced or non-sustainable products across their portfolios.
Here are a couple examples of how we are collaborating today:
With Total, one of the world’s leading energy companies, we launched in 2010 an ongoing research and development collaboration to accelerate the deployment of farnesene for the production of renewable jet fuel. Two years later, building on the success of our R&D program, we expanded the scope to renewable diesel and formed a joint venture company to produce and market renewable fuels worldwide. In 2014, following regulatory approvals, we began to commercialize our renewable jet fuel.
With Firmenich, the largest privately owned fragrance and flavor company, we developed a technology to produce sustainable, cost-effective ingredients for the flavors and fragrances (F&F) industry. We have now produced our first fragrance oil and are working of various other molecules that can have a disruptive impact in the F&F market.