Pembient’s Matthew Markus creates synthetic rhino horns to stop illegal $750m trade & endangerment

Today Jason explores the world of synthetic biology with Matthew Markus, Co-founder and CEO of Pembient, a startup creating synthetic rhinoceros horns to disrupt the $750m illegal rhino trade and stop the poaching and farming of this increasingly endangered animal. Matthew explains why the horns are so valued in East Asia (medicinal and luxury uses), how this overwhelming demand threatens the current rhino population, and his solution to end this problem. We see how Matthew’s startup actually creates and 3D prints the horn and how close biologically the synthetic are to actual horns (very clos…