Brno Czech Republic: Affordable, local protein for every farm by programmable du... (2025) - Team Presentation [English]
![Brno Czech Republic: Affordable, local protein for every farm by programmable du... (2025) - Team Presentation [English]](/media/thumb/11995)
13:43 · 2025 Presentations · 2025-10-15
**Title:** Affordable, local protein for every farm by programmable duckweed **Description:** Dairy farmers are struggling to keep their farms profitable - the protein feed, the most crucial element, is also one of the most expensive components for them. The most popular protein source is soybean. It contributed to the loss of natural ecosystems in Brazil's tropical savanna. Duckweed, the fastest-growing plant on Earth, contains as much protein as soybeans and grows 10x faster. It is set to provide an affordable protein source for every farm. But duckweed, as promising as it looks, cannot match 3000 years of selective breeding of soybeans. To make it a crop, we need SynBio. We are developing a method for 5x faster genetic engineering of duckweed, constructing an autonomous cultivation system and a yield prediction model, and simplifying the scaling of duckweed. The first steps toward unlocking the massive potential of this tiny plant… To save farmers' money, the Cerrado savanna, and to make plants truly scalable. [Wiki](https://2025.igem.wiki/brno-czech-republic) | [Official Page](https://teams.igem.org/5642)