Green Bioactives engages biomanufacturing expert John Stevenson to lead production scale-up

Edinburgh, Scotland, 21 February 2023 – Green Bioactives Limited (‘GBL’), a world-leader in the discovery, development and sustainable production of high-value natural products derived from plant cell cultures, announces the engagement John Stevenson of 58|Seasgad to lead its bio-production development under a consultancy agreement. John will support GBL in scaling production of its plant-cell based biomanufacturing platform as the company initiates its expansion plans and launch of new products.

John has over 35 years engineering and biomanufacturing experience and has a proven track record of delivering complex projects across public, private and start-up companies. He has held Head of Engineering and Project Director roles at a number of companies including Suez Water Technologies & Solutions, William Grant & Sons and Celtic Renewables. As Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of Celtic Renewables, John led the scale up from lab concept through to industrial operations to deliver sustainable biorefinery solutions with a mission to displace fossil fuels.

Most recently, John led a major plant upgrade for BioMar, a leading aquaculture company. John is a Chartered Project Professional and holds a BSc in Engineering and MBA in Engineering Management from the University of Bristol.

David McElroy, CEO of Green Bioactives, commented: “I am thrilled to welcome John to the team at Green Bioactives. His engagement represents a significant milestone for the company as we begin to scale up production of our natural products derived from plant cell cultures. John has proven experience in scaling biotechnologies from the lab through to commercialisation and his operational expertise will be invaluable to Green Bioactives at this exciting time for everyone at the company.”

John Stevenson added: “I am delighted to support Green Bioactives. GBL’s plant-cell based biomanufacturing platform is a hugely exciting technology and has significant potential to deliver natural products sustainably and economically to the nutraceutical, cosmetic, agricultural industries and beyond. I look forward to working with the Green Bioactives team to develop the scale up of its technology and to move towards the company’s goal of becoming the world’s leading supplier of safe, natural and sustainably-sourced plant-derived products.”

About Green Bioactives

Green Bioactives (‘GBL’) is a world leader in producing plant-cell based natural products for the nutraceutical, cosmetics, food, agricultural and pharma industries. The company currently provides natural products for several world-leading partners in these industries and has its own suite of in-house products in development.

GBL’s innovative biomanufacturing platform utilises plant vascular stem cells to provide much improved and sustainable access to the huge, diverse, and valuable library of bioactives generated by the world’s plant population – natural products that are vital to many industries, but often difficult to produce sustainably or economically using traditional manufacturing approaches.

GBL’s capabilities span initial isolation of the bioactive producing plant cells through to the supply of the final purified product. GBL’s knowledge of plant vascular stem cells also provides the opportunity for the company to develop novel approaches that address the global need for sustainable, more efficient food production.

GBL was founded in 2020 and is currently based at the Roslin Innovation Centre, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.

For more information visit: www.green-bioactives.com