Engineering a
Carbon-Negative Planet.
De novo protein design allows us to bypass millions of years of evolution, constructing precise, robust, and hyper-stable biological machinery from scratch to decarbonize heavy industry, upcycle polymers, and capture planetary gases.
Why natural enzymes fail in industrial settings.
Natural enzymes evolved to operate in hyper-dilute aqueous environments at neutral pH and stable body/soil temperatures. They are fragile, delicate macromolecules that quickly denature when exposed to the harsh, high-temperature, and chemically aggressive environments typical of heavy industry.
For example, while natural Carbonic Anhydrase is an incredibly fast catalyst, it is instantly inactivated in flue gas stacks. Similarly, natural PETases melt at temperatures where crystalline plastics are soft enough to degrade.
By using generative AI models, Chondrule bypasses natural limitations. We program custom tertiary structures and hydrophobic cores, creating biological catalysts that are biologically active but physically as resilient as modern synthetic polymers.
Deep Dive Applications
Explore five distinct use cases where de novo designed proteins provide clean, biological alternatives to high-emission processes.
Oceanic Carbon Capture & Storage
THE BOTTLENECK
Atmospheric and marine carbon dioxide storage is naturally bottlenecked by the incredibly slow dissolution rate of alkaline silicate minerals (like olivine), which act as the Earth's primary chemical carbon sinks.
THE DE NOVO SOLUTION
Scaffolding specialized de novo peptide arrays designed to selectively bind olivine crystal faces. These peptides lower the activation energy of mineral dissolution by 100x, facilitating rapid marine carbon capture and stable storage as dissolved bicarbonate.
COMPUTATIONAL STACK
Industrial Methane Conversion
THE BOTTLENECK
Methane is over 80x more potent than CO2 as a greenhouse gas. Intercepting point-source agricultural and pipeline methane emissions is historically bottlenecked by the fragility of membrane-bound particulate methane monooxygenases.
THE DE NOVO SOLUTION
Designing highly stable, soluble monomeric mimics of the binuclear iron/copper active site of particulate Methane Monooxygenase (MMO). Scaffolded in a stable de novo protein shell, this enzyme converts point-source methane to liquid methanol in ambient biofilters.
COMPUTATIONAL STACK
Smokestack Carbon Scrubbers
THE BOTTLENECK
Industrial flue gases contain high concentrations of CO2 but exit at extreme temperatures (60°C–80°C) and highly acidic or amine-rich conditions, which instantly denature and destroy natural carbon-capturing enzymes.
THE DE NOVO SOLUTION
Engineering de novo Carbonic Anhydrase (CA) variants with optimized hydrophobic cores and highly structured surface salt bridges. The resulting enzymes exhibit peak hydration activity (CO2 + H2O ⇌ HCO3- + H+) at 85°C in industrial chimneys.
COMPUTATIONAL STACK
Infinite Plastic Recycling
THE BOTTLENECK
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic is highly crystalline and only becomes accessible for efficient enzymatic degradation near its glass transition temperature (~70°C), where natural bacterial PETases are completely unstable.
THE DE NOVO SOLUTION
Designing de novo PETase and MHETase enzymes engineered with high structural rigidity to operate stably at 75°C. This allows 100x faster complete depolymerization of post-consumer plastic waste back into pure monomer feeds, achieving infinite loop recycling.
COMPUTATIONAL STACK
Carbon-Negative Bio-Concrete
THE BOTTLENECK
Traditional structural concrete curing accounts for approximately 8% of global carbon emissions due to high-temperature limestone calcination, releasing massive quantities of chemical CO2.
THE DE NOVO SOLUTION
Scaffolding urease-mimicking protein arrays that precipitate calcium carbonate crystals directly from dissolved industrial CO2. The de novo protein acts as a nucleation template, creating high-tensile structural bio-concrete cured at ambient temperature.
COMPUTATIONAL STACK
The future of discovery is autonomous.
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