BioHarvest Secures $1.4M Israeli State Grant to Bring AI Into Plant-Cell Development

Plant-cell biomanufacturing company BioHarvest Sciences has secured a $1.4 million grant from the Israel Innovation Authority to fund a research program applying machine learning to its plant cell culture work. The grant will support the development of a data-driven system to replace trial-and-error methods in plant cell culture, enhancing active metabolite yields through the use of bioinformatics, chemo-informatics, and artificial intelligence.

This grant marks the second funding received by BioHarvest from the Authority this year, with the first focused on scaling its manufacturing facility. The company, which operates in Israel and Canada, utilizes its Botanical Synthesis platform to produce plant-derived compounds in bioreactors. Co-founder Dr. Zaki Rakib highlighted the importance of the grant in expanding the company’s computational capabilities and implementing more efficient biological development workflows.