Richard Peet

From a young age I have been fascinated by plants and their products and the interaction of microbes with plants and animals. At the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, I was fortunate to be part of a research team focused on studying the development of the parasite Schistosomiasis in its intermediate snail host. The goal of research was to develop strategies for interfering with parasite development in the snail prior to infecting humans. The disease Schistosomiasis is second only to malaria as the most devastating parasitic disease. At the University of California, Berkeley, my Ph.D. research focused on the molecular basis of the interaction between pathogenic bacteria and their plant hosts. Working in cooperation with Drs. Nickolas Panopoulos and Peter Lindgren, we identified genes in the bacterium Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola (Psp) that induce a hypersensitive response (resistance reaction) in the plant. We also identified genes in Psp that code for production of a toxin, phaseolotoxin, that kills plant cells. Phaseolotoxin inhibits the enzyme ornithine carbamyltransferase (OCTase) in the arginine biosynthetic pathway. We determined that the bacterium Psp contains two OCTase genes, one that is inhibited by phaseolotoxin and one that is resistant to the toxin. When the bacterium produces phaseolotoxin, the toxin resistant OCTase is expressed. For almost 20 years as an attorney and partner at Foley & Lardner, LLP, I used my scientific background to help companies protect their inventions with patents, build businesses, and bring new products to market to improve healthcare and the food supply. From 2000 to 2008 I served as the Chair of Foley’s Biotechnology and Chemistry Practice Group comprised of about 55 lawyers. From 2000 to 2009, I served as Chair of Foley’s International Business Team comprised of about 90 lawyers. While at Foley I represented some the leading pharmaceutical, biotechnology, chemical, and nutraceutical companies including Novartis, Chiron, Genentech, Amgen, Unilever, Pioneer Hi-Bred International, DuPont, DSM, Keygene, and J.R. Simplot. I retired from Foley to start companies focused on two scientific areas I believe will have a very positive impact on human health in the next decade. I co-founded the company Beaumarchais Bio, Inc. to focus on use of prebiotics to improve human health and wellbeing through proper nourishment of the microbes in the microbiome. Beaumarchais (www.beaumarchais.bio) is focused on the production of oligofructose, inulin, and a proprietary whole food chicory fiber ingredient called FibreChic™. Beaumarchais is focused on development of prebiotic-containing packaged foods that will properly nourish microbes in the human microbiome. The goal is to provide prebiotic-containing foods that reduce the epidemic of chronic diseases including obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and more, that cause significant suffering in the industrialized world. I co-founded Formulate Bioscience, Inc. (www.formulate.bio) to address the need for a novel integrated bioplatform company to provide society with sustainable, scalable, and cost-efficient means of biomanufacturing complex natural products and proprietary natural product analogs. Formulate provides an integrated proprietary triad of chemical, biocatalytic, and cellular technology solutions to natural product biomanufacturing. Among Formulate’s products are terpenes, including cannabinoids, some of which are used to probe the function of the human endocannabinoid system. In the process of building Beaumarchais and Formulate, I am the co-inventor on 16 U.S. patents directed to biocatalytic processes for production of natural products and the new food ingredient FibreChic™. The intent of this blog is to provide the non-scientist reader with timely, relevant and understandable information about important developments in the area of prebiotics, the microbiome, and biomanufacturing. All of these topics have the potential of contributing to the reduction of disease with new products that can be delivered in an affordable and sustainable fashion. I hope my blog posts will help the reader stay on top of the latest research and to incorporate these new developments into their daily life to improve health and wellbeing.

THE FIRST HUMAN PREBIOTIC: HUMAN MILK OLIGOSACCHARIDES

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The third most abundant component in human milk are prebiotic substances that serve as food for the infant’s gut microbiota. It is astounding to consider that highly nutritious human milk, designed through thousands of years of evolution to nourish a newborn infant, contains large quantities of a substance that, for the most part, are not directly used as food by an infant.

THE FIRST HUMAN PREBIOTIC: HUMAN MILK OLIGOSACCHARIDES Read More »

DOES A DIVERSE ARRAY OF BACTERIA IN THE GUT MICROBIOTA CONTRIBUTE TO PROTECTION AGAINST PATHOGEN INFECTION?

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The presence of a diverse array of bacteria in the gut microbiome contributes to protection against pathogen infection.  Among the mechanisms of protection, the presence of gut bacteria with diverse metabolic requirements makes it difficult for pathogens to find sufficient food thereby reducing the incidence of disease.  Protection from infection is a team sport.  

DOES A DIVERSE ARRAY OF BACTERIA IN THE GUT MICROBIOTA CONTRIBUTE TO PROTECTION AGAINST PATHOGEN INFECTION? Read More »

DOES A PREGNANT WOMAN’S GUT MICROBIOTA COMMUNICATE WITH HER DEVELOPING FETUS?

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Yes, as biomolecules produced by bacteria in the woman’s gut are encapsulated in extracellular vesicles (EVs) that accumulate in the amniotic fluid surrounding the fetus. The EVs are ingested by the fetus. Specifically, bacteria in the mother’s large intestine or colon produce EVs. These EVs carry biomolecules, such as protein and nucleic acids, that play an important role in priming the fetus’s immune system so it will be protected after birth.

DOES A PREGNANT WOMAN’S GUT MICROBIOTA COMMUNICATE WITH HER DEVELOPING FETUS? Read More »