Richard Jacobs, Finding Genius Podcast - and - Tyler Korman, Co-Founder & CSO, eXoZymes

What if the future of manufacturing doesn’t rely on massive chemical plants - but on engineered enzymes working outside living cells?

In this episode of Finding Genius, eXoZymes Co-Founder & CSO Tyler Korman explains how AI-enhanced enzymes and cell-free biomanufacturing could unlock a new era of sustainable production - from cannabinoids and nutraceuticals to next-generation pharmaceuticals.

Discover how eXoZymes is turning biology into a programmable manufacturing platform capable of producing rare, high-value compounds cleaner, faster, and with unprecedented precision. This isn’t science fiction. It’s the next frontier of industrial biology.

Full Finding Genius episode available above as well as on Apple Podcasts.

Podcast transcript

Richard Jacobs:
Hello, this is Richard Jacobs with the Finding Genius Podcast. My guest today is Tyler Korman, Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder of eXoZymes.

eXoZymes has developed an entirely new approach to manufacturing chemicals by engineering enzymes — biology’s molecular workers — to operate outside living cells. This “cell-free” approach opens the door to producing complex compounds with potentially greater efficiency, purity, and scalability.

Tyler, welcome — thanks for joining me.

Tyler Korman:
Thanks for having me.

Richard Jacobs:
What’s the underlying premise behind eXoZymes?

Tyler Korman:
You captured it well. Enzymes are the catalysts that power biology itself. They’re responsible for breaking down nutrients, building molecules, and generating energy in virtually every living organism.

For years, the biomanufacturing industry has attempted to harness these biological processes by engineering living cells to produce useful compounds. While the concept is powerful, living cells introduce enormous complexity and limitations.

Our “aha” moment was asking: What if we removed the living cell entirely?

Instead of forcing organisms to produce the final product, we let them do what they naturally do best — produce enzymes. We then isolate those enzymes and use them independently in controlled bioreactors to manufacture target compounds directly.

So far, the approach has worked extremely well.

Richard Jacobs:
How do you produce enzymes at scale?

Tyler Korman:
We still use microbes like bacteria or yeast to produce enzymes because they’re incredibly efficient at doing so. Enzymes are already manufactured at industrial scale today — they’re in laundry detergents, food products, and countless industrial applications.

The key difference is that microbes often struggle to produce many target compounds because those compounds can be toxic to the cells themselves.

So our philosophy is simple: let the organism make enzymes, isolate them, and then use those enzymes separately to manufacture the desired products.

Richard Jacobs:
What kinds of compounds has eXoZymes successfully produced?

Tyler Korman:
When we started this work at UCLA, our initial focus was on fuel-like commodity chemicals funded through Department of Energy programs. One early example was isobutanol, which is difficult for microbes to produce because it becomes toxic to the cells.

As our platform advanced, we expanded into far more complex compounds — cannabinoids, terpenes, nutraceuticals, and pharmaceutical-like molecules.

That’s one of biology’s greatest strengths. The same fundamental enzymatic principles can be used to produce everything from simple alcohols to highly sophisticated natural products.

Richard Jacobs:
What’s one of the flagship compounds eXoZymes is focused on today?

Tyler Korman:
One of the compounds we’re especially excited about is NCT, or N-trans-caffeoyltyramine.

It naturally occurs in black peppercorns and certain other plants, but only in extremely small quantities. Traditional chemical synthesis methods can be inefficient and produce impure outputs, while extraction from plants is difficult to scale.

Scientific literature suggests NCT may support metabolism and healthy fat regulation, so we’re excited about the ability to produce this compound at high purity and scalable quantities.

Beyond NCT, we’re also working on several additional compounds relevant to health, wellness, and pharmaceutical applications.

Richard Jacobs:
Are enzymes consumed during these reactions?

Tyler Korman:
No — that’s the beauty of catalysts. You only need relatively small amounts because enzymes can repeatedly catalyze reactions over time.

At the end of the process, we separate the enzymes from the final product. Since our process uses clean biological inputs and avoids many unwanted side reactions found in traditional chemistry, the outputs are often much cleaner and easier to purify.

Richard Jacobs:
What advantages does your approach offer compared to traditional synthetic biology?

Tyler Korman:
The biggest advantage is control.

In traditional fermentation-based synthetic biology, every step has to function within the same living organism. With our cell-free system, we decouple those constraints entirely.

We can optimize each enzyme independently, vary inputs precisely, and engineer reactions with much greater flexibility. That gives us opportunities to improve productivity, efficiency, and even create entirely new analog compounds that don’t naturally exist in nature.

Richard Jacobs:
Where is this technology heading over the next few years?

Tyler Korman:
We’re continuing to broaden the types of compounds we can manufacture, particularly those that address unmet needs in health, wellness, and pharmaceutical markets.

Another major opportunity is taking known natural compounds and modifying them into improved analogs with enhanced pharmaceutical properties.

That’s where the combination of biology, enzyme engineering, and AI becomes incredibly powerful.

eXoZymes' safe harbor
This video includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements, which are based on certain assumptions and describe the company’s future plans, strategies and expectations, can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terms such as “believe,” “expect,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “would,” “could,” “seek,” “intend,” “plan,” “goal,” “project,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “strategy,” “future,” “likely” or other comparable terms, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this video regarding the company’s strategies, prospects, financial condition, operations, costs, plans and objectives are forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially for a variety of reasons. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described in the “Risk Factors” section of eXoZymes’ quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, annual reports on Form 10-K, and other documents filed by eXoZymes from time to time by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These filings identify and address important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events and results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements, and eXoZymes assumes no obligation and does not intend to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. eXoZymes does not give any assurance that it will achieve its expectations.

Finding Genius podcast: AI enhanced enzymes & the future of sustainable manufacturing