Plant-based biotechnology company BPH Global (ASX: BP8) has re-appointed Gaia Mariculture to manage its seaweed research and development (R&D) programs at Singapore’s Marine Aquaculture Centre.

In-house research provided by Gaia will cover the cultivation of BPH’s existing germplasm seedbank for deployment in pristine waters and the development of an additional seedbank dedicated to different strains and species of seaweed with high critical mineral content that can grow in waters polluted by heavy metals.

Gaia will also develop BPH’s proprietary production technology, which includes desired seedlings, nutrient formulation, standard cultivation system implementation processes and the fermentation process to unlock nutraceuticals and critical minerals.

Scope of work

Under the two-year consulting agreement, BPH will pay Gaia a consideration fee of approximately $5,700 per month and will schedule a performance review of Gaia’s services in mid-2025.

The scope of work will comprise the development and deployment of blockchain technologies to provide biological integrity and traceability, promote sustainable farming of seaweed and enable the measurement of carbon capture and storage by seaweeds to facilitate the issuance of blue carbon credits.

A feasibility study will also be conducted on the efficacy of phycomining techniques, which refer to the use of aquatic hyperaccumulator biomasses to bioaccumulate higher concentrations of metals in seaweed cultivated in seawater.

The study will aim to determine whether levels of metals found in the seaweed occur in natural quantities or unnaturally high concentrations and will propose techniques to recover valuable metals from the seaweed biomass.

AI algorithm

Additional research will be outsourced to a third party and supervised by Gaia.

Gaia will supervise the third party in the continued development of an artificial intelligence (AI) genetic algorithm for machine determination of variants in seaweed genomes to be applied to seaweed breeding and gene editing.

The third party will also work on deploying AI-driven imaging technology to enhance the effectiveness of phyto-hydrometallurgical techniques in extracting essential minerals from seaweed.

‘Strategic fit’

Based in Malaysia, Gaia Mariculture was first appointed to manage BPH’s seaweed R&D in July 2023.

At the time, BPH said the company would be a “great strategic fit” for its operations.

“Gaia will spearhead our continued focus on achieving the cultivation, harvesting and processing of seaweed on a commercial basis,” it said.

“We look forward to working with the team to explore potential joint venture seaweed cultivation and production opportunities in Australia, Singapore and Malaysia, either by establishing a new project or merging operations with an existing Gaia Mariculture project.”