{"id":183917,"date":"2025-06-14T14:03:44","date_gmt":"2025-06-14T14:03:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/183917\/"},"modified":"2025-06-14T14:03:44","modified_gmt":"2025-06-14T14:03:44","slug":"amplifye-debuts-enzyme-to-supercharge-protein-digestion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/183917\/","title":{"rendered":"Amplifye debuts enzyme to supercharge protein digestion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amplifye<\/a>, a UC Davis spinout led by former Amyris CEO John Melo, has launched its first product: a proprietary enzyme (P24<\/a>) claimed to optimize protein digestion, unlocking a range of health benefits from improved blood glucose control<\/a> to better sleep.<\/p>\n

Formerly known as Digestiva, Amplifye leverages computational protein design methods to discover novel enzymes, focusing on a family of proteases (enzymes that break down proteins) called S53.<\/p>\n

Founded in 2019 by Dr. Wilson Mak, Dr. Justin Siegel, Dr. Glenn Nedwin, and Dr. Bruce German, the company is on a mission to improve protein digestibility such that \u201cmore amino acids and small peptides are absorbable, delivering better nutrition.\u201d<\/p>\n

By commencing protein digestion early in the stomach (the enzyme is activated by stomach acid), P24 can also reduce digestive stress, claims the startup, which raised an $18.4 million Series A round last summer<\/a> led by sugar cane processor Magdalena<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2018Bioactivity that wasn\u2019t there before\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cSome of us are great digesters, others are not,\u201d CEO John Melo tells AgFunderNews. \u201cThere isn\u2019t an easy proxy [for how efficient we are at digesting protein]. But you can measure blood glucose levels after a meal, amino acid uptake in the blood, and then longer term you can monitor things like muscle mass over time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Melo, who joined Amplifye in 2023, explains: \u201cWhat we\u2019re trying to do is speed up the digestion process so that you get to a unique profile, both in peptides and amino acids. After we impact a protein with our enzyme, we see, on average, about a 30% increase in smaller peptides. We also see a unique signature of amino acids, with typically the essential amino acids increasing in concentration.\u201d<\/p>\n

He adds: \u201cWe\u2019re cutting peptides very precisely, and that\u2019s giving us a unique signature in amino acids and providing bioactivity that in some cases was not there before.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur fundamental message is to unlock the optimal nutritional benefit in every gram of protein you consume.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AmplifyeBy increasing protein bioavailability, amplifyeP24 could deliver benefits such as deeper sleep, enhanced muscle recovery, digestive comfort, improved gut health, and sustained energy, although this need to be validated in human clinical trials, acknowledges the company. Pictured: CEO John Melo (left) and cofounder Dr. Justin Siegel (right). Image credit: Amplifye
\nTesting and validation<\/strong><\/p>\n

Amplifye\u00a0is planning a human clinical study to validate its claims, and has a patent<\/a> addressing the ability of P24 to help manage blood glucose, and\/or lower the glycemic index of foodstuffs.<\/p>\n

It has also done extensive work with the INFOGEST 2.0 model gut system<\/a> (an in vitro digestion model used to simulate how food is digested in the human gastrointestinal tract), says Melo.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe take a protein, we hydrolyze it using our enzyme and look at what we have done to the peptides, where have we cut them, and what\u2019s happening with bioavailability. We\u2019ve done that thousands of times with different proteins.\u201d<\/p>\n

A study<\/a> using the INFOGEST 2.0 system published in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition early last year showed that P24 substantially improved the digestibility of animal and plant proteins including soy, pea, chickpea, rice, casein, and whey, elevating protein digestibility by 115% during the gastric phase and by 15% in the intestinal phase, based on the degree of hydrolysis.<\/p>\n

The benefits of P24 (tagline: \u201cThe enzyme that can double protein absorption\u201d) were particularly notable with plant proteins, which generally have lower protein digestibility (PDCAAS and DIAAS) scores than animal proteins, according to the study.<\/p>\n

Amplifye also conducted an at-home consumer study earlier this year in which volunteers were asked to take P24 with their largest meal of the day over an extended period and provide feedback on everything from digestive comfort to mental clarity and sleep, areas that Amplifye believes could all be impacted by improved protein digestion.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were trying to connect the predictions we were making to the cut of the protein, or the amino acid and peptide profile to what people might expect to feel,\u201d says Melo. \u201cWe had quite a bit of positive feedback and in light of that and all the data we have comparing this enzyme to other proteases in the market, we felt confident about bringing it to market. We believe it is the best performing acid activated protease on the market today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blood glucose control<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to Melo: \u201cYou see steady blood glucose level with our enzyme so you don\u2019t have spikes after a meal, which we think has a lot to do with changing the rate of digestion. You also change how you are absorbing amino acids, and [unlocking] peptides [which] may have an impact on receptors that affect blood glucose control.\u201d<\/p>\n

He adds: \u201cIndirectly, I think we\u2019re affecting insulin production because our enzyme is cutting peptides, some of which have bioactivity that connects to GLP-1 [a gut hormone which boosts insulin release when blood glucose levels are elevated].\u201d<\/p>\n

\"amplifye-p24According to Amplifye, p24 reduces digestive stress by commencing protein digestion early in the stomach; increases bioaccessibility, \u201creleasing more nutrition per gram of food;\u201d amplifies amino acid concentration, \u201cdelivering more of the essential compounds your body needs;\u201d and enhances the functional profile of protein, \u201callowing for targeted health benefits ranging from energy and mood to recovery and immune resilience.\u201d Image credit: Amplifye
\nRegulatory and go-to-market<\/strong><\/p>\n

P24 is self-affirmed GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) and now available in supplement form direct to consumer<\/a>, says Melo, who is also targeting undisclosed industrial applications in which the enzyme would serve as a processing aid.<\/p>\n

Another key area of focus is the animal feed market, with a recent study suggesting P24 can reduce mortality rates in shrimp fed brewers\u2019 spent yeast as a protein source by \u201cunlocking certain peptides\u201d that reduce inflammation.<\/p>\n

P24 is produced via precision fermentation, says Melo. \u201cWe are now operating at scale. Our last runs were [in] 40,000-liter [bioreactors] and we\u2019ll be in 100,000-liter tanks by the end of the year. We\u2019re currently using a couple of contract manufacturing sites in India for our production but we also have a commitment from Magdalena [a sugar cane processor and key investor in Amplifye] to invest in a large-scale facility.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re probably 24 months away from having a dedicated facility. Until then, we\u2019ll use CMOs to ramp up our volume.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amplifye has filed four provisional patents in recent weeks with eight more in the pipeline, says Melo. \u201cWe\u2019re pretty well protected around not just P24, but the platform technology to develop multiple enzymes.\u201d<\/p>\n

For industrial applications in which the protease could be used to turn a lower value protein into a higher value product, P24 can deliver significantly better bioavailability at significantly lower cost, \u201cbecause we don\u2019t need to use as much to be effective,\u201d he claims.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you think about an enzyme, you\u2019re looking for the unique site [on a peptide] that it\u2019s cutting and then the load\u2026 how much enzyme do you need to effectively process a protein? With P24, these two things really come together.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Amplifye, a UC Davis spinout led by former Amyris CEO John Melo, has launched its first product: a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183918,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4318],"tags":[105,4434,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-183917","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-nutrition","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114682095806042101","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}