BEE BUSINESS
From a grad school discovery to launching a company, two UNCG alums take a big swing for bees
Cutting-edge science in a spray bottle
Wagoner began investigating how her findings could practically improve beekeeping.
Beekeepers, she knew, used a variety of tactics to identify and selectively breed for bees that had a knack for hygienic behavior. One of the most common was freezing brood with liquid nitrogen and testing how much removal of the dead brood happens over 24 hours.
But Wagoner’s compounds offered the possibility of identifying more sensitive hygienic bees with less harm to the brood.
Chemists at UC Riverside and UNCG helped Wagoner synthesize her target compounds in the lab. Then she and her collaborators put a mix of those compounds to the test.
In Wagoner’s assay, pheromones are sprayed on a section of capped brood, which is then placed back in the hive. If the bees can sense the elevated compounds, they will uncap the brood cell to inspect it. After two hours, the researchers measure the percentage of uncapping in the treated area.
Since the hive will eventually recap healthy brood, the assay leaves them unharmed.
Using this test on multiple colonies, the researchers gave each colony a hygienic score.
“Higher scoring hives,” Wagoner explains, “have fewer mites, lower virus loads, and can be bred to produce bees that are less reliant on beekeeper interventions to survive.”
The new test, the researchers found, was not just less detrimental to the brood – it was also more accurate.
The science solidified a business product: a spray bottle containing their compounds, for beekeepers to identify their most hygienic bees for breeding. It also resulted in three patents for Wagoner and her mentor at the time, Dr. Olav Rueppell.
Snyder and Wagoner (photos 1 & 4) in the field with summer interns, UNCG biology '22 alums Natalie Sabiston (photo 2) and Zachary Bunch (photo 3).
“The office guided us through the process,” Wagoner says. “We were scientists with an invention, and we became entrepreneurs with an up-and-coming product.”
They went through LaunchUNCG and NC A&T’s regional NSF iCORPS program – a sort of bootcamp for researchers seeking to launch their innovations in the marketplace. Their success there got them into the national iCORPS program.
In those programs, they interviewed about 200 beekeepers. “This process gave us a laser-focused kind of view of what the needs actually are and such a better understanding of the industry,” says Snyder.
Wagoner and Synder launched their company Optera in December 2020. “The name is the suffix for many different orders of flying insects, like Hymenoptera, the order that contains bees,” say Snyder. "It means wings."
Wagoner and Synder launched their company Optera in December 2020. “The name is the suffix for many different orders of flying insects, like Hymenoptera, the order that contains bees,” say Snyder. "It means wings."
The duo also acquired funding. "Kaira is a beast at grant writing,” says Snyder. The research scientist has received 13 out of the 15 grants she’s applied for – including an NSF Small Business Technology Transfer Grant, or STTR, of over $250,000.
“Another important piece was a matching NC Department of Commerce grant,” explains Wagoner, “That One North Carolina Small Business Program funding has been critical, ensuring we aren’t missing a field season as we apply for phase two funding from the NSF.”
They’re also bringing in additional expertise through worldwide partnerships.
“We have collaborators conducting independent field tests of the compounds in Vermont, Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Australia," says Wagoner. "We're also working with Bee Informed Partnership, which is a nonprofit organization helping U.S. beekeepers."
As the partners work to refine their product and apply for phase two funding, they have big goals and a waiting list of beekeepers and business collaborators already eyeing their product. ”People are excited about it.”
During each step, they keep the big picture in mind.
“Our goal is to help make lives better for bees, beekeepers, and consumers of honeybee products,” Wagoner says.
“Bees are critical for 30% of the foods we eat, so we’re hoping to help improve food security and pollination services on a global scale. That’s a big thing, but our ambition is grounded in good science. We expect big results, from flower, to farmer, to fork.”