NutraCast: Helaina charts new territory with breast milk proteins from precision fermentation

24-Aug-2023 - Last updated on 24-Aug-2023 at 15:11 GMT

Helaina is pioneering modern nutrition with breast milk proteins developed outside the body via precision fermentation. The biotech company is writing the safety playbook on novel bioactive proteins and to help with this, Helaina hired a nutritional sciences and regulatory affairs veteran, Ross Peterson, PhD, Helaina’s new Director of Regulatory Affairs.

Peterson, formerly a Nutrition Scientist and Regulatory Affairs Manager at Abbott, joins Helaina as the company works to build the future of nutrition with its breast milk proteins developed outside the body.

Peterson brings more than a decade of leadership in both nutritional sciences and regulatory affairs to his new role at Helaina. He received his PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he worked in an International Nutrition Lab with a research focus on iron-binding proteins and sustainable technologies to optimize nutrient delivery. Peterson’s primary responsibilities at Helaina include overseeing regulatory affairs, leading clinical study activities and bringing Helaina’s bioactive proteins to market.

“Most regulatory agencies, they're really scientists that are behind all these roles and so having the background that I have in nutrition and then the learning of regulatory, it was really speaking the same language as these regulators because they use science to support the decisions that they're making. So that's really what I've been able to bring to the Helaina team, the experience that I gained from Abbott and the number of innovations we brought to market. HMOs are one that I think we all hear about now and in infant formula, that's the main innovation that's happened over the last few years in the infant formula space, as well as some other novel ingredients. So for Helaina, bringing bioactive proteins like Lactoferrin to the market, it's the same framework that FDA uses for these other ingredients,” he said.

Peterson added that a number of studies are underway and to expect a launch to happen sometime next year.

To hear more on how Peterson will support Helaina as they write the safety playbook on novel bioactive proteins, listen to the NutraCast.

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