MIPS Project Detail:

Martek Corporation

Microbial Production of DHA

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Company

Martek Corporation

Columbia

Howard

County

, Maryland

Founded:

1985

Website:

https://www.lifesdha.com/

Company Description:

Martek (now part of Royal DSM) was a leader in the innovation, development, production and sale of high-value products from microbial sources that promote health and wellness through nutrition. Martek’s technology platform consised of its core expertise, broad experience and proprietary technology in areas such as microbial biology, algal genomics, fermentation and downstream processing. This technology platform resulted in Martek’s development of a number of products, including the company’s flagship product, life’sDHA™, a sustainable and vegetarian source of algal DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) important for brain, heart and eye health throughout life—for use in infant formula, pregnancy and nursing products, foods and beverages, dietary supplements and animal feeds. Martek also produced life’sARA™ (arachidonic acid), an omega-6 fatty acid, for use in infant formula and follow-on formulas.

MIPS Project

Microbial Production of DHA

Project #

513.27 |

MIPS Round

7 |

Starting Date:

Feb 1991

MIPS Project Challenge:
Martek sought to scale up its microbial processes so the company could produce large commercial quantities of DHA. Martek did not have the equipment to scaleup its manufacturing, nor did the company have expertise in growing the specific microalgae that produce DHA.

Project Scope:
Working with the staff of Mtech’s Bioprocessing Scale-Up Facility (BSF), Calabrese defined and transferred the manufacturing process to produce the DHA from the microalgae. It is this process that Martek still uses today to produce DHA.

We weren’t into fermentation at all. We were working with algae that grows by light. We had bioreactors and things like that. The algae that we needed to use for DHA was fermentable, meaning it grows in the dark and you have to feed it nutrients. Fermentation is totally different than growing things with light. We had no equipment and no expertise. To start out with no knowledge and no equipment, that’s where the BSF [through MIPS funding] came in. It was exactly what it was developed for.

Henry “Pete” Linsert, Former Chairman and CEO, Martek

Results:

Martek became the largest producer of nutritional supplements from microalgae. With about 200 people working in Columbia, Md., the company was acquired by Royal DSM in 2010 for $1.1 billion. Royal DSM N.V. is a global life sciences and materials sciences company headquartered in the Netherlands.

Additional Mtech/UMD Programs Utilized:
Technology Advancement Program (TAP) incubator

Over 55 million babies worldwide have now had infant formula that included Martek’s nutritional ingredients. Over 99 percent of the infant formula in the Unites States has it, as well as products in more than 75 countries around the world. Almost every U.S. child under the age of six has had this Martek DHA in their brain. It all started here. It all came from this facility [through MIPS].

Henry “Pete” Linsert, Former Chairman and CEO, Martek