Alameda, Calif., March 23, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Checkerspot announced the publication of a peer-reviewed study demonstrating, for the first time, the fermentation-based production of high-yield Palmitoleic Acid (POA) oil using microalgae. Published in Fermentation, the article establishes a new biological production platform for palmitoleic acid (POA), the most studied of the omega-7 fatty acids, and one that has until now been available only from a small number of limited and difficult-to-scale natural sources.
“This study demonstrates that microalgae fermentation can serve as a precise, scalable, and sustainable production platform for one of the most critical fatty acids in nutritional science,” said John Krzywicki, CEO, Checkerspot. “For the first time, there is a credible path to bringing omega-7 benefits to a much wider range of products and people, without the constraints of existing sources.”
Why Palmitoleic Acid Matters
Palmitoleic acid is an omega-7 fatty acid produced naturally in the body and increasingly recognized by researchers for its wide-ranging health benefits. The scientific literature has linked POA to improved insulin sensitivity, reduced hepatic lipid accumulation, modulation of inflammatory signaling, LDL-cholesterol reduction, and favorable cardiovascular risk profiles.
In skin health, as published in the Journal Cosmetics, POA plays a key role in epidermal barrier function, membrane organization, and innate antimicrobial defense, with clinical trials demonstrating measurable improvements in skin hydration, elasticity, barrier integrity, and wrinkle parameters in subjects supplemented with POA-rich oils.
Despite this promise, conventional sources of POA have remained scarce. The richest botanical sources, sea buckthorn oil and macadamia nut oil, face constraints in agricultural scalability, geographic limitation, and supply variability. Marine foods, including certain fish species, contribute more modest dietary levels of POA. The result has been a structural gap between the emerging science and the ability to supply POA at the volumes needed to drive commercial formulations and consumer access.
The Breakthrough: Designing Microalgae to Produce POA
As detailed in the study, Checkerspot’s research team tailored the molecular composition of their proprietary microalgae strain to produce POA at an efficiency that’s ready for commercial-scale production, with applications spanning nutrition and dietary supplements, cosmetics and personal care, and functional food formulation.
The study also situates Checkerspot’s results within the broader landscape of fermentation-derived POA research, which has previously been demonstrated in engineered strains of other microbial hosts. Among these, the highest previously published POA productivity was 25.6 g/L over 192 hours. Checkerspot’s microalgae platform achieved 20.9 g/L in 96 hours. Roughly double the productivity on a per-hour basis, using an organism already validated for industrial-scale fermentation.
ABOUT CHECKERSPOT
Checkerspot is a category defining biotechnology company designing fats and oils through precision fermentation. We develop functional lipids not easily or sustainably sourced from nature, providing market-ready ingredients critical to meeting nutritional needs at every phase of life. With our biology-driven, molecule-licensing platform we enable our partners to meet growing consumer demand for healthier, more sustainable ingredients at commercially relevant scale & cost.
Find More information on our proven technologies at Checkerspot.com
Tim LeRoy Tim@blubirdco.com
