From rice to sorghum to tomatoes: Empowering plants is Sangeeta's dream

Sangeeta Negi's fierce passion for farmers may have originated in India, but her Los Alamos-based invention called BioBoost could help farmers anywhere.

With the ambition to reduce chemical fertilizers by 50% and increase crop yields by 10%, BioBoost would optimize plant health for food and fuel crops, she says.

The intriguing secret? Endophyte-based probiotics. These naturally occurring bacteria are designed to dwell inside a plant's leaves, stems and roots. They promote growth and won't pollute soil.

"I have talked to so many farmers," says Sangeeta, who works in the Laboratory’s Microbial and Biome Sciences Group. "They are ready for change."

Working closely with a business and commercialization team through the Lab's Richard P. Feynman Center for Innovation, she's hopeful her work will materialize into valuable new fertilizer and seed options.

BioBoost aims to address two problems:

1. The high cost of synthetic chemical fertilizers and pesticides
2. Soil and environmental damage that results from current agricultural practices

Agriculture is a tough market to break into, however, because smaller farms lack the money and ability to absorb new technology and products. That's why Sangeeta's business team is searching for medium-sized farms and nurseries to demo BioBoost.

The technology is currently in the proof-of-concept stage, with several potential industry customers showing interest in adopting it, Sangeeta says.

"We will have a built-in system that helps with plant growth and also has the potential to increase disease resistance," she says. "The bacteria can help plants with salinity tolerance in marginal lands, too."

Finding her niche

As a child, Sangeeta grew up witnessing the difficulties farmers face when buying fertilizer and seeds. Her grandparents were farmers who grew lentils, wheat and sorghum.

As she got older, she'd often tag along with her father, who worked at a bank, as he met with farmers seeking loans.

A highly motivated student, Sangeeta entered college early with a big heart for farmers. In graduate school, she focused on the betterment of rice crops as she studied plant physiology and microbiology at Dr. Hari Singh Gour University in Sagar, India, and Central University of Hyderabad, India, located in a heavy rice-producing region.

She initially thought rice would be her life's work, but while working for the International Atomic Energy Agency, she discovered a passion for tomatoes and food crops. This newfound interest led her to the United States when an opportunity arose to collaborate with a professor she admired on tomato research in North Carolina.

From there, she landed in Los Alamos in 2011 as a research scientist at the New Mexico Consortium, which brings together state universities, government labs, research institutes and industry partners. Her methods to enhance biomass productivity in algae brought her recognition in a project with Richard Sayre focused on biofuels.

On the path of discovery

Five years ago, Sangeeta joined the Lab's Bioscience division, where few scientists were working on plants at the time. With funding from the Center for Space and Earth Science, she set out to make bioenergy oil crops more viable, even in semi-arid marginal lands.

"Camelina is a versatile and valuable crop that can serve as a cash cover crop for farmers. It's a winter-hardy, oilseed crop that can be planted in rotation with other crops to improve soil health and provide economic benefits," Sangeeta says. "And sorghum is increasingly being recognized as a promising bioenergy crop, especially for biofuels and biomass production."

She began by searching for bacteria that promote plant growth and help synchronized flowering. When plants don't flower at the same time, a lot of the harvest can be lost, and she wanted to help farmers achieve a single efficient harvest instead of three staggered ones.

After getting promising results with camelina and sorghum seedlings, she turned to Bioscience Division Leader Elizabeth Hong-Geller for guidance on how to get more funding. "I told her this is good work, and I don't want to let it go," Sangeeta said.

Sangeeta says she's grateful for Elizabeth's guidance to help her secure two years of support from royalty funding through the B Division Technology Commercialization Research Fund peer-review competition, which allowed her to continue her plant experiments.

Elizabeth encouraged her to apply to DOE Energy Innovation Corps Lite, a condensed training program for researchers working on energy technologies with commercial potential. Taraka Dale, now Sangeeta's group leader, also championed her work.

Sangeeta's early successes showed that certain bacterial treatments helped plants survive in salty soil conditions and grow larger. The research team filed for two provisional patents and a Patent Cooperation Treaty.

Her work soon expanded beyond camelina and sorghum, showing promise with tomatoes and lettuce, as well. But as the research progressed, her focus shifted from improving productivity and synchronized flowering to enhancing plant resilience.

Following a hunch

After getting "really cool results" with microalgae and bacteria co-cultures, which can make antimicrobial products, Sangeeta decided to follow a hunch that she could put those bacteria in the plants and reduce the need for pesticides.

She wanted a simple, farmer-friendly method that could be easily incorporated in their current regime. So, to introduce bacteria in the plants, she inoculated the seeds before their germination stage.

Surprisingly, there was little trial and error in the process of finding endophyte bacteria that can improve plant growth and live in a plant. She and her team quickly developed a high throughput method to screen multiple bacterial strains.

"Luckily, my first attempts were very successful with a lot of bacteria in seedling stage, and then I decided to mix and match the bacteria that complemented each other to improve plant growth," she says.

Pieces to the puzzle

Sangeeta's academic background gave her a solid understanding of how plants and microbes interact, but how did she figure out how to select and create bacterial combinations that can boost plant nutrition and help them cope with stressed conditions, such as drought?

"By combining my knowledge of microbial interactions with plant physiological processes, I was able to tailor bacterial communities that are designed to improve nutrient uptake and improve plant resilience, contributing to a chemical-free agriculture regime," she explains. "This technology not only supports plants in overall growth, but also enables them to withstand harsh conditions, making climate-smart, sustainable agriculture a reality."

Her project has now led to a bacteria portfolio capable of colonizing a wide range of agriculture crops. What started as a project to enhance crop productivity had grown into something far bigger than she ever imagined.

"I have been very impressed with Sangeeta's passion for plant and crop science research, particularly since her work can potentially have a huge impact in food security," Hong-Gellar says. "I remember Sangeeta showing me pictures of how her strategy to use endophytic bacteria on plants markedly enhanced plant leaf and root growth by at least twofold and thinking, 'Wow, this technology would be of great interest to the agricultural industry.' Sangeeta's work is an excellent example of how basic research in fundamental biology can lead to solutions for real-world problems."

Finding partners and farmers

It was a thrilling day when Sangeeta won the 2024 DisrupTECH award for Most Fundable Technology for BioBoost. The annual event is attended by investors, industry partners, entrepreneurs and community members.

"At the Feynman Center, we're looking to commercialize technologies that have a direct impact on national security-related issues, and growing food is becoming a very high priority, especially due to problems with drought and pesticides," says Molly Cernicek, who oversees entrepreneur programs promoting the commercialization of technologies at the Lab. "There's a lot of research at this Lab and patents, but there's not always a direct connection to a commercial product that can solve problems like this."

Customizable per crop type, the technology activates a plant's immune system and has potential to resist diseases, pests and salinity, plus it increases a plant's nutrient uptake, according to the BioBoost team.

To get bacterial endophytes to reside in the plant "gut," farmers apply a coating for each seed before planting and administer a spray that enhances soil fertility. When the plant makes new seeds, they can inherit all these advantages.

"This new technology has profound implications for global and national security. By enhancing plant resilience and productivity in challenging environments, it directly contributes to food security and healthy soil goals," Sangeeta says.

Now, the team is working on the next steps to commercialization.

Matt Green, a grad student with the Genomics and Bioanalytics group, is working to attract partner interest for BioBoost, and finding a demonstration farm is at the top of Matt's to-do list. Then comes forming a partnership with a company for co-development, licensing the technology for commercialization or identifying a spinout venture opportunity.

Sangeeta says her relatives and friends in India are enthusiastic about the prospects of BioBoost.

"My dad is especially interested in this, as it serves as a meaningful tribute to my grandparents," she says. "I would be thrilled to see it reach the marketplace and make a difference for farmers around the world."

Meet the BioBoost team

Scientist Sangeeta Negi and doctoral candidate Matt Green have technical and agricultural expertise, and a lot of great entrepreneurial ideas, but they look to others for business and commercialization savvy.

The BioBoost team includes Mariann Johnston and Michael Everhart of the Feynman Center, Megan Zipperian of the New Mexico Small Business Assistance program and Julia Wise of the Regional Engagement Program.

LA-UR-25-22436