Greensboro, N.C., November 11, 2016 — Kepley BioSystems (KBI) is pleased to announce being awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) Technology Enhancement for Commercial Partnerships (TECP) grant to develop an automated manufacturing module for OrganoBait™.  This $150,000 grant will help transform the KBI production scale from the laboratory to begin addressing its vast market potential.

KBI is an academically inspired enterprise committed to the development and commercialization of a patent-pending, synthetic crustacean bait to conserve billions of wild fish otherwise wasted merely as bait for lobster and crab fishing. Specifically, the KBI mission is to supply the $66 billion global crustacean fishing industry with an affordable, synthetic bait to avert the industrial plunder and consequent, dwindling populations of forage fish and the unintended by-catch of dolphins, turtles and other marine life destroyed in their capture.

To design the automated manufacturing module, KBI will partner with Mr. Robert Barry, founder of Nova Product Design, a skilled firm that specializes in industrial and mechanical design. During the TECP period, KBI will also continue an ongoing advisory relationship with Mark Pfister, sales manager of Atlantic & Gulf Fishing Supply Corporation in Miami, Florida. Atlantic & Gulf supplies fishing materials to a wide range of crustacean fishers globally.

“This is a momentous opportunity for Kepley BioSystems,” says research scientist, Lee Robertson.  “The continued NSF support for our synthetic bait project will allow us to produce products at commercial volumes and bring OrganoBait™ to market.  We are especially thrilled to be working with Nova to bring the technology to the next level.”