Pheronym

Pheronym is a biotechnology company located Davis, California founded by Dr.Fatma Kaplan and Karl Cameron Schillermaking. Pheronym makes pheromone-like molecules for pest control that produce economically advantageous behaviour in parasitic nematodes; driving them away from plants, and towards insects. The company claims their pheromone technology — when applied to nematodes — results in an 5X increase in targeted insect kill rates compared to untreated nematodes; while non-target insects remain safe, and no harmful residues are left in the environment.

Products

Nemastim

​Nemastim is a pheromone product that used to treat commercial nematodes used for pest control and can be sprayed using regular pesticide/herbicide spraying equipment. When commercial nematodes are treated with Nemastim, they are stimulated to search for and kill insect pests. The application of Nemastim is broad spectrum, meaning it stimulates nematodes to attack 28 known insect pest. Nemastim makes nematodes target and kill insect pests for the following crop varieties: almonds, apricots, cherries, cucumbers, oranges, peaches. pecans, tomatoes, and many more. ​

Grants/Awards

2018: Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services: Specialty Crop Block Grant Award

​CEO and founder of Pheronym Dr. Fatma Kaplan, along with a team of scientists from the University of Florida, won the 2018: Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services: Specialty Crop Block Grant Award for their research proposal titled "Nematode-resistant pepper varieties for Florida". ​

2017: USDA-SBIR phase I award

​On October 18, 2017 Pheronym was awarded a $100,000 USDA-SBIR Phase I grant to support further research into the development and application of Pheronym's pheromone technology. ​

Funding

Seed

​In March 30, 2017 Pheronym was accepted into IndieBio's 4.5 month long accelerator program receiving $250,000 in funding from IndieBio and SOSV. ​

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