Phycin | Ultrastable™ bFGF breaks barriers in stem cell research

By Alex Keown
Source: I95Business

Frederick-based Phycin is developing advanced growth factors for regenerative medicine, stem cell culture, cosmetics and other biotechnology applications. Its lead product, Ultrastable™ bFGF, combines Phycin’s protein-engineering expertise with its proprietary green-algae biomanufacturing platform.

Founder and CEO Jun Wang says Ultrastable bFGF is the most stable bFGF developed to date. Under tested conditions, it retained high biological activity for more than 21 days at 37°C. Conventional wild-type bFGF loses activity much more rapidly, with a reported half-life of approximately nine hours at physiological temperature.

“bFGF is widely used in stem cell research, regenerative medicine and biomanufacturing, but its limited stability has restricted how it can be formulated and used,” Wang says. “Our Ultrastable bFGF is designed to provide more reliable and sustained activity, creating new opportunities in cell culture, regenerative therapies and advanced skin-care formulations.”

Phycin produces the engineered growth factor using its proprietary green-algae platform. The platform is designed to support sustainable, animal-free and scalable production of high-quality recombinant proteins while reducing reliance on conventional bacterial manufacturing.

The company has generated interest from global biotechnology, therapeutic and cosmetics companies and is preparing to commercialize its lead product in 2026.

“We are a small, focused team, but we have built strong science and made significant progress toward commercialization,” Wang says. “Our goal is to make this technology available to researchers, manufacturers and development partners who can benefit from a more stable and reliable growth factor.”

Maryland has played an important role in Phycin’s growth. TEDCO invested $200,000 in the company in 2024. Phycin also received Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund commercialization grants in 2015, 2023 and 2026.

“The support from TEDCO and the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund has been instrumental in helping us move from the original concept to the commercialization of our algae-derived Ultrastable bFGF,” Wang says.

Founded in Frederick in 2013, Phycin is now seeking investors, commercial partners and strategic collaborators to support product launch, manufacturing expansion and the development of broader applications. I95