To feed an AI that designs new enzymes, Basecamp Research hunts rare proteins at the world’s end

Not many AI companies have expeditions to the rainforest on the calendar, or need scientists who’ve lived in Antarctica on the payroll.

“One of them was the diving instructor for Jason Momoa,” said Philipp Lorenz, chief technology officer at Basecamp Research. “She’s one of our field scientists.”

Basecamp Research, headquartered in London, positions itself as the “bridge between biodiversity and biotech.” Its partnerships with local organizations around the globe aim to help communities understand and preserve their local biodiversity. However, those partnerships also provide genome sequences to feed the ever-ravenous beast of AI models that companies hope will one day spit out biomolecules that Mother Nature has not yet birthed herself.

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