First explored for long-duration space flights, micro-algae have been used to boost nutrition in infant formula and several animal and human foods, thanks to research by Martek Biosciences Corp.
Those products may make it to market faster thanks to Martek’s $200 million acquisition last week of Amerifit Brands, a Connecticut-based company that develops and distributes health and wellness items. Among its products are the digestive aid Culturelle and AZO, a treatment for urinary tract infection.
Martek, traded on Nasdaq as MATK, has patented two fermentable strains of micro-algae that produce oils rich in DHA, an omega-3 fatty acid, and ARA, an omega-6 fatty acid.
The oils are used in foods, beverages, animal feed and nearly 100 percent of the infant formula sold in the United States. Studies have shown the fatty acids support brain and eye development in babies.
Many of those products have been tested and developed in Martek’s Boulder facility, where about 35 of the Maryland-based company’s 600 employees are located.
Martek acquired Boulder-based OmegaTech for $50 million in 2002.
“We have a group doing discovery here on new compounds that are healthy for people” and new ways to use them, said Bill Barclay, Martek’s chief intellectual property officer, who leads the Boulder facility.
Barclay said an exciting development is Martek’s ability to remove micro-algae genes and to insert them into canola. The idea is when the plants are harvested, their omega- 3-rich oils can be added to anything made with the canola oil.
Today, the Martek-developed micro-algae is fed to chickens, which lay eggs rich in omega-3 fatty acids, and the oil from Martek’s micro-algae is used in Horizon milk and Silk soy milk, Barclay said.
It all began with a group of Martin Marietta scientists who studied how to use algae in space flights as fuel, foods, an oxygen source and a waste-disposal catalyst.
Barclay said the scientists learned that some algae, which are mostly found in the oceans, are high in omega-3 highly unsaturated fats and have developed membranes that aren’t solid in room temperature.
In very cold water, Barclay said, the algae “grow and divide and are not like little floating cubes of butter.”
The scientists believed the algae’s ability could benefit human nutrition and spun off to found Martek in 1985.
Ann Schrader: 303-954-1967 or aschrader@denverpost.com
