Our Mission & Technology
For far too long, we have been using chemicals to solve biological issues. As a result, human health is suffering and the oceans are deteriorating.
Curie Co is a life science company that engineers enzymes and biomaterials to replace harmful and banned chemicals.
Our proprietary technology uses recycled materials that originate in the ocean, because the ocean already knows how to break them down. So when you wash our products down the drain, waterways stay clean. That’s OceanSafe™.
Our Urgency: A Timeline
Our proprietary enzyme engineering tools make ingredients that are OceanSafe™. The FDA has recently banned classes of chemicals found in everyday products (think: soap, shampoo, lotion, etc.) because they’re polluting our waters and jeopardizing our health.
Curie Co’s recycled marine biomaterials will replace these harmful chemicals in common consumer products—and more.
2015
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Congress enacted into law a ban on non-biodegradable microbeads due to their devastating effect on our oceans.
2016
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The FDA eliminated 19 chemicals found in consumer soaps by banning antibacterial soaps.
2017
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The FDA further banned 23 chemicals in clinical soaps, such as surgical scrubs.
2018
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Personal Care Products Act was assigned to committee in Congress to give the FDA jurisdiction over the personal care industry.
Curie Co’s Solution
Curie Co’s propriety OceanSafe™ technology uses enzyme engineering and recycled marine biomaterials to completely replace these FDA-banned chemicals. Our 100% sustainable and safe ingredients can be washed down the drain with no threat to our waterways. Even better—they’re affordable enough for drugstore brands and products.
Uses for Curie Co Bioplastic
Our safer, responsible antimicrobials are competitively priced with chemicals, and it takes less of our ingredients to do the same amount of work as the chemicals we’re replacing.
preservatives
As found in shampoos, soaps, face washes, lotions, sunscreens, cosmetics, and 100s of other personal care products.
BioPlastics
Exfoliants (found in toothpastes, acne washes, shaving creams, and 100s of other personal care products), bandages, packaging, and more.
First aid
Ointments, wound care, and disease prevention that are naturally antimicrobial to keep infection at bay. Bonus: Our materials are affordable enough that they won’t burden the massive healthcare industry.
OceanSafe™
OceanSafe™
Consumers are becoming increasingly ingredient-conscious and label-literate. More than ever, shoppers are checking their personal care products for lists of chemicals (or lack thereof), testing ethics, and sustainability.
Meet the Team
Our team has a strong IP track record in enzyme engineering for FDA-regulated industries. The team has scientific expertise in pharmaceutical manufacturing, industrial enzyme engineering, and bioinformatics.
Dr. Erika Milczek, Chief Executive Officer and Founder
After completing a doctoral work at Emory University and a postdoctoral fellowship at Princeton University, Dr. Milczek joined Merck & Co as a Senior Process Chemist in the Biocatalysis Group. While at Merck, she replaced chemical manufacturing processes with enzymatic routes for commercial drug synthesis.
Ken Mitchell, Chief Operations Officer
Mr. Mitchell is a scientific and business strategy consultant with 20 years of enzyme engineering experience. He has been on the ground floor of establishing enzyme engineering technologies at Maxygen and Codexis. Mr. Mitchell was the Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Gene Oracle, Inc. and Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Aligna Technologies, Inc.
Kristyn Merritt, Chief Creative Officer
With over 15 years of brand identity development, content strategy, copywriting, and editorial experience in digital, biotech, e-commerce, magazines, television, and newspapers, Ms. Merritt has helped create voices for some of the largest names in media and marketing. She has worked for NBC/Universal, Birchbox, Nickelodeon, AOL, Hearst Magazines, and Village Voice, and she has also freelanced and consulted for dozens of other brands, publications, and start-ups — all with a focus on female demographics.
Dr. Valarie Truax, Advisor
Dr. Truax has over 15 years of experience in IP licensing and Biotechnology/Healthcare M&A. Dr. Rruax has an MBD and PhD in chemistry and has worked at both the Office of Cooperative Research at Yale University and Madison Keats.
Media & Press
Watch presentations from CEO Dr. Milczek:
Contact Us
Curie Co is proud to be a member of Johnson & Johnson's life science incubator, JLABS.
For partnership and inquires please contact inquires@curieco.com.
Our Office
Curie Co
Johnson & Johnson Innovation, LLC - JLABS
101 Ave of the Americas
Lab 307-A
New York, New York 10013