Shiru

Ask a chemist to define a protein, and they’re likely to describe a complex biomolecule with intricate topologies of α-helices and β-sheets. But to most people, protein is a chicken breast or a fish fillet. “Protein-based biomaterials is a fancy synonym for food,” says Jasmin Hume, founder and CEO of Shiru, a company that uses artificial intelligence to discover proteins for food ingredients and other applications. Shiru is Hume’s second company. While working on her PhD in materials chemistry and protein engineering at New York University, she started BenchPals, a software company for digital laboratory management. Hume confesses that she didn’t really know where she was going to take BenchPals, but the experience got her hooked on entrepreneurship. It was only when Hume had finished graduate school and was working at a food ingredient start-up that she started to think about how proteins consumed as food affect the environment. The idea that she could use her training in protein science to benefit the planet “felt like wind in my sails,” she says. The start-up where she was working was tumultuous, and Hume thought she could do a better job. So she founded Shiru with the mission of developing protein-based ingredients that are natural, healthy, functional, and good for the planet.“Proteins, as they’re consumed by people in food, have a massive impact on the environment,” Hume says. Raising livestock requires lots of land, water, and energy. And yet, she says, in many foods, animal-based proteins are not the main attraction. Consider,