Brightseed Receives $1.6 Million Grant to Improve Birth Outcomes by Supporting Undernourished Pregnant and Nursing Mothers

The bioactives company will build upon a proof-of-concept program with grant funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Bioactives company Brightseed today announces its second grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Brightseed will use the $1.6 million funding to focus its artificial intelligence (AI) technology, Forager®, on identifying and validating natural bioactive compounds that target environmental enteric dysfunction (EED) in undernourished pregnant and lactating women, ultimately impacting global birth and infant outcomes.

EED is a poorly understood condition caused in part by micronutrient deficiencies, undernutrition, certain gut infections, and abnormal gut microbiota. While EED is usually asymptomatic, in infants it is associated with nutrient malabsorption, stunting, and wasting, which can have long-term effects on the health and development of affected children.¹

Through this grant, Brightseed will use its Forager AI platform to screen more than 7 million plant compound associations for efficacious and safe solutions that provide benefits for undernourished mothers with EED. Promising bioactive compounds will be subsequently validated via preclinical and clinical models. The project will ultimately result in candidate clinically effective nutritional products and potential therapeutics to support gut health in pregnant and lactating mothers in order to improve birth outcomes.

Sofia Elizondo, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Brightseed, said, “We’re extremely honored to receive this grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to continue to work toward addressing such a crucial global health crisis. Our proprietary technology enables us to develop scalable, nature-based solutions that were never previously possible, and by analyzing plant raw material from the local regions impacted most by undernutrition, our aim is that these sources will be both accessible and affordable.”

A $200,000 grant from the foundation in 2021 served as a proof-of-concept program in which Brightseed discovered natural compounds that mimic aspects of azithromycin in support of maternal gut health. The results of the previous program suggest there is a significant opportunity to use the Forager AI platform to further discover and develop novel, efficacious plant-derived products that address improved gut health in mothers, thereby delivering better maternal and infant health outcomes. As gut barrier changes are common physiological occurrences in undernourished individuals and are a hallmark of related diseases like EED, this program will specifically seek plant compounds that impact the intestinal barrier.^2,3

This grant-funded program directly supports the foundation’s goal of developing affordable solutions to improve birth and infant outcomes by addressing impaired intestinal health in mothers resulting from undernutrition. Marrying Brightseed’s AI technology and experience developing clinically proven plant-derived ingredients with the foundation’s global health expertise and scientific network provides a unique global health opportunity to bring a product to market for improved birth outcomes via maintenance of mothers’ healthy intestinal barrier.

About Brightseed

Brightseed is a pioneer in biosciences and artificial intelligence that illuminates nature to restore human health. Brightseed’s Forager® AI platform accelerates bioactive discovery, biological validation and ingredient formulation from years to months, rapidly revealing new connections between nature and humanity. Brightseed produces clinically proven bioactives for dietary supplements, food & beverage CPG, specialty nutrition and medical foods. Learn more at brightseedbio.com.

¹Crane RJ, Jones KDJ, Berkley JA. Environmental enteric dysfunction: an overview. Food Nutr Bull. 2015;36(10):S76-S87. Doi:10.1177/15648265150361S113.
²Reynolds JV, O’Farrelly C, Feighery C, et al. Impaired gut barrier function in undernourished patients. Br J Surg. 1996;83(9):1288-1291.
³Welsh FK, Farmery SM, MacLennon K, et al. Gut barrier function in malnourished patients. Gut. 1998;42(3):396-401. Doi: 10.1136/gut.42.3.396.