Bio Architecture Lab Shifts Strategy to Become Contract Research Organization

BERKELEY, CA--(Marketwired - May 8, 2013) - Bio Architecture Lab (BAL), a premier biotechnology company with a development focus in renewable chemicals and fuels, will be leveraging its deep expertise in biotechnology research and development to offer synthetic biology and technical services to industrial and specialty manufacturers worldwide as a Contract Research Organization (CRO).

"Our technical team and synthetic biology capabilities are best-in-class," said Ric Lucien, BAL Chief Executive Officer. "We've solved some of the most complex biology problems vexing the clean energy industry, and now we're offering our services to a wide range of industries to further expand the impact and reach of our technical staff."

BAL made headlines last year when its technology was featured in the prestigious peer-review journal Science Magazine. The paper described the successful bio-engineering of a microbe which digests all resident carbohydrates in brown seaweed to produce renewable fuels with microbiological and economic efficiency.

"We will continue to focus our product strategy on the scale-up of renewable products from seaweed biomass and other carbohydrate sources," said Lucien. "This new service offering is meant to take advantage of the growing importance of biotechnology to unlock the potential for biofuels, renewable chemicals and other sustainable products worldwide."

BAL has partnered with global aquaculture, chemical and petroleum industries to unlock the potential for sustainable fuels, chemicals and other products. BAL will work collaboratively with other industrial and specialty manufacturers to integrate their technology, or create new technology, designed to help make end products more sustainable and cost effective.

About Bio Architecture Lab
Founded in 2008, Bio Architecture Lab is a privately held company headquartered in Berkeley, California. Company investors include Aurus Capital, Austral Capital, Statoil Ventures and X/Seed Capital. The company has also received funding from the U.S. Department of Energy's ARPA-E program, both directly and through a sub-contract with DuPont, and has been awarded funding from InnovaChile CORFO, the Chilean Economic Development Agency in partnership with the Universidad de Los Lagos. The company has a strategic partnership with Statoil, the Norwegian Oil and Gas Company. More information is available via the web at www.ba-lab.com.