New video from our collaborator Dr. KRK Reddy’s new company SriBioAesthetics in India
For the past two years, Dr. KRK Reddy has been busy preparing his new coup - and it’s a brilliant coup! Dr. Reddy was the founder and CEO of the company SriBiotech Laboratories in Hyderabad, India, dedicated to develop biocontrol agents for sustainable crop production. When I first visited the company’s premises in what was then a dusty part of Hyderabad, I was surprised to enter a spotlessly clean building. And so where all the labs and fermenter infrastructure we visited. What convinced me most was the accuracy I could see in preparing the microbial biocontrol agents: I saw flask after flasks of fungal and bacterial cultures, all identical if they contained the same microbe of the same age. Beyond sound science and entrepreneurial prowess, this is what set SriBiotech apart from its many many competitors: strict quality control yielding reliable products. We were, thus, happy when Dr. Reddy accepted our invitation many years ago to become a partner in the first Indo-German “2+2” Public Private Partnership BMBF/DBT project “CuChi-BCA” on the development of triple combinations of copper fungicides, plant protecting chitosans and plant strengthening bio-control agents for sustainable plant protection. Towards the end of this highly successful project, Dr. Reddy sold SriBiotech to the Italian company Valagro. Now he is back, with his new company SriBioAesthetics! Over the past few years, he has built up a small library of soil microbiome samples from different soils and climates around India which he is now offering as an inoculum for biological soil improvement. He even offers an analytical service to analyse soil samples from farmers to assess their microbiome, and to offer tailor-made inocula to restore or improve soil health, if required. Dr. Reddy made SriBiotech a success in agribiologics and with SriBioAesthetics, he is now taking the next step into omics agribiotechnology. Another amazing achievement! We are looking forward to our next joint project.