MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. (First Alert 4) – St. Louis is a leader in bioscience, especially agriculture, and a destination for companies researching technology that protects food crops.
That environment has attracted hundreds of new companies to the area, creating thousands of jobs and a network of opportunities within the region.
One company, Agragene, has been working with invasive fruit flies that damage crops, especially berries called spotted wing drosophila. Stephanie Gamez leads the team at the startup, which is based out of the Helix business incubator in Maryland Heights.
“The nasty thing about these guys is that the females pierce through the fruit and lay eggs inside, and the maggots hatch and eat the berry,” Gamez said.
The company is developing a solution that does not involve pesticides.
“We’re getting resistant insects in the field that are infesting the fruit. So, these chemicals aren’t working as well anymore. We’re also not getting a lot of new chemicals in the market, so we need new tools,” Gamez said.
Instead, Gamez and her team have been using gene-editing to create sterile males that could be released on a farm to mate, unsuccessfully, with females, damage crops by laying eggs. Once the females have mated, they stop seeking males, and are instead unable to lay eggs.
The same techniques could work on other types of invasive pests.
“It can be translated to other insects of interest. For example, the emerald ash borer impacting trees in Missouri. This could be applied to help those problems in the state,” Gamez said.
Company relocated from San Diego to St. Louis
Agragene started its work in San Diego, but investors had decided to shut down the company because money was going toward paying leases.
“They said, ‘we can restart this company, but let’s do it in St. Louis,’” Gamez said. “I said, ‘Okay let’s do it.’”
In San Diego, Agragene says the company was spending about $7.25 per square foot for lab space. Their current space in a St. Louis business incubator costs around $2.25 per square foot, letting them hire additional employees and meet milestones quicker.
Gamez and her family quickly packed their belongings and made the cross-country drive. The journey included plastic bins filled with thousands of bugs.
“I packed up the lab and the flies. Had my husband drive the van with the fruit flies. We drove cross-country to St. Louis and spent the night in New Mexico, brought the flies into the hotel room with our cats.”
Besides cost, another opportunity for the company came from the region’s robust startup economy, which includes support from institutions like Washington University, the Danforth Plant Science Center, Cortex and BioSTL.
According to the Brookings Institution, the bioscience sector in the region accounts for 700 firms and 15,000 jobs.
“We have more plant scientists concentrated here than anywhere else in the world,” said Donn Rubin, president and CEO of the nonprofit.
Rubin said St. Louis has strengths across the board, and globally recognized strengths in plant science, and biomedicine and health care.
“It all comes together under the umbrella of life sciences. It’s an area that St. Louisians should be aware of and proud of when they talk about the strengths of our region,” Rubin said.
The influence of companies like Bayer have also created a pool of knowledge and talent for new companies.
“Our team has done a good job of being the connective tissue between employers and those trainees. Having a coherent and cohesive system is important to making sure that workforce piece is possible,” Rubin said.
Gamez said those connections helped Agragene get off the ground again.
“There’s so much talent here and knowledge, not just with the day-to-day but strategy-wise, where do we want to go,” Gamez said.
Opportunities for job-seekers and families
Anne Sellman, who works in Agragene’s lab, said the industry also brings ample opportunities for job-seekers. That’s part of what brought her back to the area after she graduated from Colorado State.
“I’m really close to my family and wanted to be back in St. Louis. I loved Colorado, but I didn’t want to be so far away,” Sellman said. “I think it kind of flies under the radar. People don’t understand how much opportunity there is in St. Louis.”
Gamez also credited quality of life in the area.
“There are so many things here for families, young families,” Gamez said. “This is a place where my family can grow and succeed,” Gamez said.
For Agragene, the move has paid off. Gamez said the company is now growing, and looking ahead to further applications of their work in gene editing.
“This technology can help protect Missouri’s industry,” Gamez said. “It’s still small. We’re now in a bigger facility and we’re making progress, and we’re looking and thinking about the next product. Thanks to that move to St. Louis, that’s what enabled Agragene to grow and we’re going to keep growing.”
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