193. The Full Color Spectrum: Nick Milne Ferments One Pathway for Every Color at Octarine Bio

Nick Milne, founder of Octarine Bio, joins Grow Everything to unpack how biology can reshape the future of color. In this episode, Nick explains why synthetic dyes have dominated textiles for more than a century, why sustainability alone is not enough to drive adoption, and how Octarine is building bio based pigments that can compete on performance, price, and scale. The conversation explores the environmental and human health problems tied to petrochemical dyes, especially azo dyes used in polyester, while showing how precision fermentation can create high strength pigments that work as drop in replacements for existing dye house workflows. Nick also shares how Octarine thinks about scale up, regulatory pressure in Europe, investor expectations, product development, and the practical realities of bringing biotech products into old and highly cost sensitive industries. Grow Everything brings the bioeconomy to life. Hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan share stories and speak with the leaders and innovators using biology to change the world. Biology is the world’s oldest technology, and it can be engineered. So, what are we growing? Learn more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.messaginglab.com/groweverything⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Chapters: (00:00:00) Nick previews Octarine’s high strength pigment platform (00:00:23) Karl and Erum open with science policy, AI, biosecurity, and discovery in nature (00:12:18) Introducing Nick Milne and Octarine Bio’s mission to rewrite color with biology (00:14:03) Why biology can outperform chemistry in rare but powerful commercial use cases (00:16:21) The slow shift from petrochemical dyes to bio based alternatives in textiles (00:18:31) What Pure Palette looks like as a drop in replacement for synthetic dyes (00:20:13) Octarine’s color pipeline, from purple and black to green, blue, red, and yellow (00:21:39) How stronger pigments create a path toward price parity for textile customers (00:28:13) Why European regulation may accelerate sustainable color adoption (00:31:15) Scale up, consistency, azo dyes, and lessons for biotech founders Links and Resources: Octarine Bio Octarine Bio - PurePalette Nick Milne LinkedIn Octarine Bio secures €5M to scale bio-based pigments Ginkgo Bioworks and Octarine Bio Partnership Achieves Initial Success in Advancing Sustainable Dye Production Science, A New Golden Age Kristin Ellis’ Substack commentary on Science, A New Golden Age Neuromancer Apple TV trailer A new species of Colobus monkey from the Lomami National Park, Democratic Republic of Congo BioInnovations Events - For 25% off use code: Grow Everything Grow Everything LinkedIn Topics Covered: Octarine Bio, bio-based pigments, synthetic dye replacement, sustainable textile dyes, fermentation-derived colors, metabolic engineering, azo dye alternatives, textile color sustainability, precision fermentation pigments, sustainable fashion materials Have a question or comment? Message us here: Text or Call (804) 505-5553 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ / ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ / ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ / ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Youtube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ / ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Grow Everything⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Music by: Nihilore Production by: Amplafy Media