We went behind the scenes at Helaina’s Manhattan lab to see how they make human-identical effera™ lactoferrin through precision fermentation.
Our trip to Helaina’s Manhattan headquarters revealed breakthrough science, world-class talent, and some incredible pizza recommendations.
When we walked into Helaina’s sleek Manhattan facility at 345 Park Avenue South, we expected to see some interesting biotech. What we discovered was a PhD-powered precision fermentation revolution that’s transforming how we think about human nutrition — and a team passionate enough about their work to debate the ethics of sourcing bovine colostrum versus yeast modification over dinner.
Our three-day visit included an extensive R&D facility tour, two podcast recordings with the leadership team, and an epic pizza crawl through Manhattan that ended with a unanimous winner. Here’s what we learned about the future of human-identical proteins and why Scarr’s Pizza deserves your attention.
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We first introduced Helaina’s human-equivalent lactoferrin in our article titled “effera™: Revolutionary Human-Equivalent Lactoferrin Goes Beyond Bovine, Changing the Supplement Industry“. Now it’s time to understand how it’s developed and made, and how Helaina’s producing it more efficiently than ever in their continuous improvement R&D process:
The Lab Tour: Where Science Becomes Visible
Design-Build-Assess: Engineering Biology in 5-Week Cycles
Walking through Helaina’s facility with Dr. Pamela Besada-Lombana, Head of Early Stage R&D, we immediately understood why this company has attracted world-class talent. Every person we met, from early-stage researchers to mass spectrometry specialists, held PhDs in hard sciences, creating an environment where breakthrough innovation happens systematically.
“We first designed the programs that we’re going to test. We designed the DNA in the computer. Then we synthesized that DNA in the lab,” Pam explained as she showed us vials containing clear liquid that somehow held the genetic instructions for producing human lactoferrin.
The transformation from concept to commercial protein happens through what Anthony Clark, Chief Technology Officer, calls “design-build-assess-learn cycles.” When he joined Helaina, traditional strain development took 15 weeks. Through systematic workflow optimization, they’ve compressed this to just 5 weeks while testing 300 genes per cycle.
“We spent time mapping out that workflow and where the intersections were with the teams,” Anthony explained during our podcast recording. “You could see people do their Miro boards, and it was beautiful for their section. And then how they connected to the next team, it was like a bunch of squiggly lines.”
Pam’s tour (further described below) will be embedded above, while our discussion with Anthony will be on the PricePlow Podcast in Episode #180.
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From CRISPR to Bioreactors: Making Yeast Work for Humanity
The Helaina team chooses numerous potential DNA sets, and seeds colonies with them. They’re put into sterile sheets of 48 squares that Mike calls “ice cube trays”, with the hopes of thriving, growing colonies of yeast that are able to produce human lactoferrin.
Helaina’s effera™ is revolutionizing supplements with the first human-equivalent lactoferrin. Research shows better bioavailability and reduced immune response compared to bovine sources.
The next part of the process begins with microbiologists who operate the colony picking machines: these can accomplish in 30 seconds what previously took hours of manual work. These automated systems identify viable yeast colonies containing the desired genetic programs, then transfer them to deep well plates for growth and assessment.
“It used to take us a lot of time to manually pick colonies. There wasn’t a lot of tracking involved either. This can do in 30 seconds what used to take us hours to do,” PhD microbiologist Stephen Sameroff explained as the Hamilton Vantage robotic system precisely selected individual colonies.
The genetic engineering relies on CRISPR technology to insert human lactoferrin genes into yeast genomes. As Pam described: “CRISPR is an enzyme that is targeted to a precise region of the genome of yeast. It cuts that region of the gene and then the cell goes, oh no, there’s a cut, let’s go and repair it. The way that DNA gets inserted is through that mechanism.”
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High-Throughput Screening: 170 Million Data Points and Counting
Aidan Brougham-Cook, the PhD bioengineering specialist running high-throughput screening, demonstrated how they assess strain performance using automated optical density measurements. “The cloudier the well, that means the more cell is growing. If we see a well and we see it’s transparent, that means the cell is not grown, and that’s not a good sign for us,” he explained while the Hamilton Vantage sampled dozens of test strains simultaneously.
Behind this visible automation lies sophisticated data infrastructure. Anthony later revealed in our podcast that everything flows into a relational data lake built on Snowflake, containing 170 million lines of data accumulated over three years. This powers 11 machine learning models that enable in silico experiments, reducing the need for physical bench work.
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Scale-Up and Production: From Lab Bench to Commercial Reality
Shashwat Vajpeyi, Vice President Bioprocess Development and Engineering with a PhD in chemical engineering, oversees the transition from promising strains to commercial production. His bioreactor facility houses 13 different reactor configurations that precisely control temperature, pH, oxygen, and carbon feeding to optimize lactoferrin production. This is where it comes to life, as Mike and Ben later commented in their podcast with Dan and Anthony.
“These are bioreactors that are pretty much an exact small-scale version of what we would be doing at a commercial scale. So we’ll be growing these at 75,000 liters, like large, large six-story reactors,” Shashwat explained while showing us live data streams from active fermentation runs.
The fermentation process produces a distinctive pink color as lactoferrin accumulates in the growth medium. “We essentially make beer. It’s yeast. We feed it carbon. We give it nice conditions to grow. And it makes, instead of beer, it makes lactoferrin,” Shashwat noted with a grin.
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Downstream Processing: From Soup to Powder
Kahler Newsham, the lead downstream engineer with three years at Helaina after pharmaceutical industry experience, walked us through the purification process that transforms fermentation “soup” into 95%+ pure effera™ lactoferrin powder.
“We first separate out the cells and the media that are used to grow the protein. And that is with like a size-based filtration. And then we concentrate the material down to a workable volume. And then we use charge-based interaction chromatography,” she explained while showing us chromatography columns of various sizes.
This informative infographic explains the core aspects of effera™ — what it is (the first human-equivalent lactoferrin), how it’s made (through precision fermentation for consistent quality), and why lactoferrin matters (for its ability to regulate iron and support gut health, immune function, women’s health, and active nutrition).
The final step involves spray drying, where concentrated liquid lactoferrin gets atomized and hit with hot gas, vaporizing the water to produce the characteristic pink powder. “This is what we would get out of drying. Lactoferrin,” Kayla said, holding a sample that looked identical to commercial product.
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Mass Spectrometry: Proving Human Identity
The tour concluded with Søren Heissel, a PhD in protein chemistry and proteomics, demonstrating the QTOF mass spectrometer that provides definitive proof of effera™’s human identity. This instrument can analyze everything from individual amino acids to intact proteins, determining exact sequence coverage, molecular mass, and post-translational modifications.
“We can use this to determine something as the sequence coverage. Do we have the right sequence that we express, that we are supposed to have? Is the intact mass what it’s supposed to be? Are the sugars that are decorating the molecule the correct length and the correct occupancy?” Søren explained while the instrument processed samples.
The mass spectrometer can even fragment proteins and rebuild their sequences computationally. “We can sort of go through those pieces and rebuild your sequence. And that happens computationally. That would take a full day to run one sample if I had to do it with pen and paper,” he noted.
The entire process is absolutely surreal. After seeing it for the first time, the main comment we could muster is “The future is now”.
The Business Side: From Biotech to Supplements
But the trip wasn’t all tech. A big ongoing conversation throughout was the discussion of how to best position and promote lactoferrin, which is an ingredient so ubiquitous to human health that it can support dozens of applications.
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Dan DiMarino: Bridging Science and Commerce
Our podcast with Dan DiMarino, Business Development Director, and Anthony Clark revealed the strategic thinking behind effera™’s market entry. Dan brings a decade of supplement industry experience from companies like Deerland Probiotics, TSI Group, and American River Nutrition, providing crucial commercial perspective to complement Helaina’s scientific firepower.
“What gets me excited is amazing technology. So when I saw what Helaina was doing and I had been tracking Helaina, I jumped at the chance to be here,” Dan explained. “I’ve never worked with scientists like the level of Anthony.”
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The Iron Regulation Revolution
What if women’s supplements actually addressed iron deficiency AND muscle gains? In Formulator’s Corner #18 we designed a hypothetical performance formula centered on effera™ + creatine + HMB — optimizing iron transport, muscle growth, and recovery without the GI distress.
The conversation revealed effera™’s most compelling application: fixing how the body manages iron. Dan and Anthony explained that traditional iron supplementation often fails because it doesn’t address the underlying regulatory mechanisms.
“Over 80 percent of pregnant women are going to be iron deficient. And that causes low preterm birth, low birth weight, a lot of issues for fetal development, a lot of issues for mother. Iron supplements aren’t working,” Dan noted.
Anthony provided the mechanistic explanation using an elegant analogy: “Lactoferrin is like the air traffic controller. It allows the airplane to leave with the cargo on board and also it controls the weather. So when the weather’s good, it allows the plane to go. And when the weather’s not good, it stops the flight.”
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Clinical Evidence: Human vs. Bovine
The team’s most impressive clinical data comes from an 84-day immunogenicity study directly comparing effera™ with bovine lactoferrin.[1] “The best data I saw was the human clinical, where it was just bovine that produced antibodies and nothing for effera™,” Anthony revealed.
This finding demonstrates that the human immune system recognizes effera™ as “self” while treating bovine lactoferrin as foreign — a fundamental advantage for bioavailability and long-term use.
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Product Development: The Dan DeMarino Stack
When we challenged Dan to formulate a comprehensive gut health supplement on the spot, he delivered what we’re now calling “the Dan DeMarino stack”: a thoughtfully designed combination addressing multiple aspects of digestive health:
Lactoferrin’s multifunctional nature makes it valuable for healthy aging support. By helping moderate inflammatory responses, supporting immune function, and enhancing beneficial gut bacteria like lactobacilli and bifidobacteria, effera™ provides holistic benefits that address multiple aspects of health maintenance.
- The Seed: DE-111 bacillus spore, Rhamnosus GG, and bifidobacterium strains for diverse probiotic coverage
- The Feed: Soluble fiber prebiotics to nourish beneficial bacteria
- The Weed: Pre4-4 bacteriophage technology plus effera™ for selective pathogen control
- The Heal: Effera™ for gut lining integrity and anti-inflammatory effects
- The Boost: Butyrate such as ButryaGen for short-chain fatty acid support
“I think about it every day because knowing what I do, a lot of people come to me for supplement recommendations. So many of my friends and family have gut health issues,” Dan explained his motivation for the comprehensive approach.
The Ethics Discussion: Genetically-Modifying Yeast vs. Stealing Colostrum from Cows
One of the most memorable moments came when we asked about the ethics of genetic engineering. The conversation took an unexpectedly philosophical turn when Mike wondered whether modifying yeast organisms raises ethical concerns.
“At what point does a creature have a soul? Have you guys ever discussed this?” he asked, leading to a fascinating discussion about the ethics of precision fermentation versus traditional animal agriculture.
Dan immediately provided the comparative perspective: “Bovine lactoferrin today — we’re taking the colostrum from calves,” highlighting how effera™ avoids ethical concerns around animal welfare while providing superior human health benefits.
Anthony provided thoughtful context: “If you think about all the things that are produced through microbial fermentation, including beer, it’s just the same analogy. We’ve been using fermentation for millennia. So think cheese, think bread, think coffee, tea, chocolate, wine, kombucha, kimchi.”
The lighthearted conclusion? “Anthony is a yeast whisperer and he can talk to yeast. So all Anthony does is tell it what to do. That’s what we’re doing in this lab here.”
Of course, after an intensely scientific and philosophical conversation like that, you work up a hunger. And when in Manhattan, you get pizza. It was time for some PricePlow lore:
The Pizza Quest: Scarr’s Takes the Crown
No Manhattan business trip would be complete without exploring the local food scene. Joined by Dan DiMarino and Jonas Feliciano (Helaina’s marketing lead), we embarked on what became an epic pizza crawl through Lower Manhattan.
The adventure took us to multiple locations, including Dan’s favorite (John’s of Bleecker), but the unanimous winner was Scarr’s Pizza in the Lower East Side, which was none other than CEO Laura Katz’s personal recommendation. “The cheese was so good on that one. And the hot honey pizza was insane,” was our verdict after sampling various NYC pizza institutions.
This culinary expedition provided perfect informal time to discuss everything from Helaina’s company culture to Dan’s transition from pharma to functional foods. “It’s a very different, right? So pharma is super strict, but food is very market specific and I feel like you just have a lot of different regulations. So it’s been a fun, different challenge,” noted Kahler during our facility tour about her own industry transition.
Looking Forward: The Precision Fermentation Revolution
Our visit to Helaina revealed a company positioned at the intersection of multiple converging trends: precision fermentation technology maturation, growing consumer interest in functional foods, increasing awareness of personalized nutrition, and mounting concerns about sustainable protein production.
With 50+ planned clinical studies, effera™ is building the evidence base that established ingredients like creatine required decades to develop. The combination of Anthony’s systematic R&D approach and Dan’s commercial expertise suggests we’re witnessing the early stages of a major shift toward human-identical bioactive proteins.
As Anthony noted about his previous precision fermentation experience with patchouli oil: “That took 14 years to get to commercialization. What we did here, we scaled this process in nine months going from a band in the gel to scale into 45,000 liters.”
The infrastructure, talent, and systematic approach we observed at Helaina suggest they’re building something that could fundamentally change how we think about nutritional supplementation, moving from approximations and animal-derived alternatives toward human-optimized molecules produced at scale.
The Bottom Line: The Future is Now
Our Manhattan adventure reinforced why we’re excited about effera™ and precision fermentation technology more broadly. Helaina has assembled world-class scientific talent, developed systematic R&D processes, and created innovative early products… all while maintaining the culture and philosophical depth that leads to discussions about yeast consciousness and pizza preferences.
Laura Katz, founder and CEO of Helaina, discusses the revolutionary effera™ human-identical lactoferrin technology and precision fermentation platform on Episode #167 of the PricePlow Podcast.
Whether you’re formulating your own supplements, following biotechnology trends, or simply interested in the future of human nutrition, keep watching this space. The combination of rigorous science, commercial savvy, and unsurprisingly good New York pizza recommendations suggests Helaina is building something special.
For more details on effera™ and Helaina’s technology, check out our podcast episodes with Laura Katz (#167) and Dan DiMarino & Anthony Clark (#180), plus the accompanying facility tour video embedded above.
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