Breanna De Vera
Breanna de Vera is a dot.LA editorial intern. She is currently a senior at the University of Southern California, studying journalism and English literature. She's previously reported for on campus publications the Daily Trojan and Annenberg Media.
The Food and Drug Administration approved genomics company DxTerity's at-home COVID test this week making the Rancho Dominguez-based company one of the few that partner exclusively with corporations to provide saliva-based tests that can be taken on your couch.
As workers return to work, businesses have been scrambling to create safety protocols and make workers feel safe. Individual consumers have been able to purchase at-home tests online, but the company said it hasn't been as easy for businesses.
<p>"Our new at-home test provides the flexibility and reliability of results for people who are traveling, returning to work or simply want to ensure they can protect themselves and others," said Bob Terbrueggen, CEO of DxTerity, in a statement. </p><p>Companies can order testing kits given emergency use approval as part of their return-to-work program, and send them directly to employees' homes. Employees get results from DxTerity's lab within 48 hours of returning the sample. The company said it serves 150 company sites around the nation with more than 300,000 employees. </p><p>"What that translates to is corporations in Los Angeles, Hollywood movie studios, production companies — they can order testing directly from us for their employees to facilitate a safe return to work program, but also know they won't be impacting negatively testing available for the community," said Brett Swansiger, chief commercial officer.</p><p>The company is one of only four tests that are authorized to screen asymptomatic individuals for COVID. Such testing has to be much more sensitive to be able to catch infections even before symptoms develop. The other authorized testing for asymptomatic individuals is provided by Hologic, LabCorp and Kaiser Permanente.</p><p>Founded in 2006, DxTerity specializes in RNA monitoring for regular disease activity, but pivoted to coronavirus testing during the pandemic. It now has the capacity to process more than 10,000 samples daily of their RNA test.</p>
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<p>The company offers businesses repeated employee screening once they return to work. The testing helps find workers who might have been infected and have the potential to spread the virus.<br/></p><p>"Models certainly suggest that regular testing is one component of a good strategy for slowing the spread of COVID-19," said Nathaniel Bottman, a researcher at USC specializing in optimizing group testing for the virus.</p><p>Xencor, a biologic therapeutic company based in Monrovia, has one such agreement with DxTerity. Each of its 200 employees, 40% of which work on site, was tested on Memorial Day and has continued being tested weekly. Employees can also request additional testing, all of which is covered by Xencor.</p><p>DxTerity said they are in a good position as flu season rolls around and more people with flu-like symptoms test for COVID. Unlike laboratories that service hospitals, which may see a crush of new cases that slow processing, they maintain a more predictable caseload. </p><p>"It's anticipated that we're going to have 50 million people diagnosed with the flu this year, based on last year's incidents. If you put those 50 million people in the current testing pathway, along with COVID-19, all of those individuals will have to be treated as COVID-19 patients until proven otherwise," said Swansiger. "So that's going to create a huge surge in testing demand, which can prolong testing turnaround time."</p><p>According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention COVID-19 Data tracker, there have been 137 million reported COVID-19 tests conducted this year. </p>
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Newlight Technologies, a biotech company that will use microorganisms to produce biodegradable clothes and utensils, closed a $45 million Series F financing round last week. Houston-based Valedor Partners joined existing Newlight investors GrayArch Partners in completing the Series F financing.
This announcement comes a month after the opening of Newlight's commercial scale production facility in Huntington Beach. That facility was set up to produce the company's AirCarbon material, an alternative to synthetic materials made from the secretions of pollution-eating microorganisms. It will be the main ingredient in the company's two new brands: Restore, an alternative to plastic utensils and Covalent, a high-end fashion brand aimed at the eco-conscious consumer.
<p>Newlight Technologies, founded in 2003, has spent over a decade developing materials the company says produces net zero pollution. They created AirCarbon through replicating natural processes that occur in our oceans. </p><p>"Today, we are primarily focused on producing AirCarbon in increasing quantity, bringing it to market through our foodware and fashion brands, and continuing to work with our partners to help increase the speed of our growth both on the supply and application sides," said Mark Herrema, Newlight's chief executive officer.</p><p>Consumers and companies' concern over climate change has increased demand for alternatives to plastics and other carbon-based products. The fashion industry, in particular, has come under fire for their heavy production of polyester clothes, which are petroleum-based and don't easily break down.</p><p>At their Huntington Beach production facility, Newlight recreates ocean water conditions that are ideal for the microorganisms they later add to thrive and consume dissolved greenhouse gases. They then collect pollutants such as methane gas to feed to the microorganisms. Afterward, the creatures excrete it, and their waste is dried into pellets, which are then melted and made into different materials.</p><p>This process produces no carbon waste and no greenhouse gases. In fact, they're actually consumed and do not return to the atmosphere. AirCarbon is also biodegradable, as it was made entirely by natural processes and organisms. </p><p>Joseph Greene, a professor of sustainable manufacturing and engineering at California State University, Chico, said he is looking forward to seeing them develop sustainable plastics for other manufacturing companies and industries as well.<br/><br/>"I'm not aware of any other company producing PHA with technology like this," said Greene, referring to polyhydroxyalkanoate, the term for biopolymer materials such as CarbonAir. "I think that Newlight has an excellent opportunity to transform the marketplace with a low-cost biodegradable PHA plastic."</p><p>Newlight has been producing straws and cutlery under their Restore brand, which hasn't yet been released, though the company offers pre-ordering online. These products are durable enough to be reused, though they disintegrate over time in ocean water.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDUzNDQzMi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NDc0OTk0Mn0.a3StnMYa0ePjgbRLEax1dV-q574naUb-aXntMo5hSO4/image.jpg?width=980" id="7e9d7" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2ab9aea3369eb110d07b33894204eaf5" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Restore is a line of straws and cutlery, a few of the items most commonly found as plastic ocean-bound waste.</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">Photo courtesy of Newlight Technologies.</small></p><p>"AirCarbon can be used to replace plastic and leather in a variety of applications, but we looked to see where we could have the most immediate impact. Since it is natural and ocean-degradable, and since foodware — things like straws, forks, cups, bottles — represent the majority of plastic product types in the ocean, we are focused today on using AirCarbon under our Restore foodware brand to make natural foodware to replace plastic foodware," said Herrema.<br/></p><p>Newlight's luxury fashion brand, Covalent, allows consumers to dive into even more detail about the carbon footprint of their purchases. Using the timestamp that marks the day AirCarbon for the product was created, customers can use this "Carbon Date" to access IBM blockchain production history via the Covalent website for their purchase and the carbon footprint related to each part of the production process.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
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<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Covalent focuses on eyewear, but offers a line of purses and cases as well.</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">Photo courtesy of Newlight Technologies.</small></p><p>"We have developed a way to use AirCarbon to replace high-performance plastics, like acetate, and also animal and synthetic leather, so we are producing AirCarbon eyewear and AirCarbon Leather goods through our Covalent fashion brand to bring carbon-negative products into fashion, and help try to turn fashion into a force for environmental good," said Herrema.<br/></p><p>Newlight's carbon footprints are verified by the Carbon Trust, a third party organization that offers carbon certification services. They found that for every kilogram of AirCarbon produced with renewable methane using Newlight's natural ocean microorganisms, 88 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gas are prevented from entering the atmosphere.</p>
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Angelenos could soon see their trash become a large part of their trash cans.
Los Angeles-based manufacturing company Rehrig says it has engineered a way to integrate at least twice as much ocean-bound plastic into its new products as its competitors.
<p>The company is currently contracted with the city of Los Angeles to supply the garbage bins Angelenos use every day. </p><p>Several companies focus specifically on recycling ocean-bound plastics — waste that flows into the ocean from beaches or rivers. But Rehrig prides itself on creating plastics that are larger and thicker — known in the industry as "bulky rigid." No other company has been able to create the same durability from recycled material, according to Shannon Sackett, marketing project lead for Rehrig's Ocean Core carts.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDUyMTA3My9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwNjQxNjI0N30.CxERIijHpZon5MC46fFE1BPcIpx6tIkuwNP58of7bgQ/image.png?width=980" id="abd9b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e3bb0c1af0c3e711e29272354f5d8c30" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p>For plastics that are larger and thicker — known in the industry as "bulky rigid," competitors put in between 2-5% ocean-bound waste. Rehrig says they're now able to put in up to 10%. When mixing it with other types of discarded plastic, they can integrate up to 40% of recycled material into their design.</p><p>Founded in 1913, the company started to find the most efficient way to manufacture and deliver milk crates and pallets, then bread trays and beverage shells. In the 1990s they also focused their attention on creating recyclable and sustainable roll-out trash cans.</p>
<p>Rehrig currently offers a 10-year warranty on their rollout garbage bins, and that isn't changing with the introduction of ocean-bound recycled material. The newest line of carts is called the OceanCore cart, developed at Rehrig's Mexico location in partnership with the Atando Cabos project, located in Chile. They sourced a lot of local plastics from the fishing industry in Mexico, finding ways to recycle nylon nets.<br/></p><p>One major U.S. city — Rehrig hasn't yet disclosed which one — is expected to roll out these carts by the end of the year. The company hopes other cities will sign on when their current carts' warranties are up.</p><p>"For us, making sure that our carts can still sustain the quality is as much of a sustainability initiative as anything else," said Sackett. "You can put a bunch of recyclate into anything but it weakens the longevity of that item."</p><p>Recyclate is an industry term meaning raw material to be recycled.</p><p>Another great difficulty in using primarily recycled material is that it cannot be produced with the same intensity of color that virgin plastic can be. In order to get the iconic greens, blues, and even purple bins seen in Long Beach, Rehrig uses a technique called co-injection. </p><p>This process involves gathering recyclable material, which will be darker in color, for the inner layer of plastic, and then sandwiching it between two thin layers of virgin plastic. The virgin plastic can be created in any bright, vivid color, and printed with branding or other details. </p><p>The company is aiming its new technologies at coastal cities, which have higher access to ocean-bound plastic. </p>From Your Site Articles
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