Martín Salinas

Martín Salinas is driving the development of food science, business, and regulation all at once. He’s a cofounder and the chief technology officer of Moolec Science, a spinout from Bioceres Group. Salinas and Moolec are leading the way in industrial molecular farming, a technology that can produce animal proteins in plants, and the young company is helping develop the budding sector’s regulatory landscape. Natalia Gorojovsky spoke with Salinas about his motivations for and challenges with founding a biotech company in Latin America. This interview was edited for length and clarity. Natalia Gorojovsky: First, about Moolec: How do you pronounce it? Martín Salinas: Moo-lec. It comes from molec ular farming. And the moo is to mimic the sound of a cow, because we’re transforming plants so they intrinsically produce animal proteins, like those from pigs. If you look, our soybeans are slightly pink. NG: I get it! So what is molecular