We’re not talking about the edible proteins the fitness influencers in your Instagram are telling you to eat more. (Breathing a sigh of relief that our Costco-size containers of protein aren’t impacted).

Recombinant proteins are DNA, cells, organisms, etc. that are made by combining genetic material from two different sources. These proteins are the building blocks of modern biotechnology: the custom-made molecules that power everything from life-saving medicines to lab-grown meat. They replace animal-derived ingredients, make vaccines safer, help cancer drugs target precisely the right cells, and even enable sustainable food without the factory farm. In short, they’re how we teach living systems to make exactly what we need.

We’re going to omit a lot of the science here for simplicity (and also because we barely understand it), but recombinant proteins are very tricky to make using traditional methods. Particularly for complex, high-quality proteins, their production primarily relies on bioreactor fermentation and manufacturing - which is expensive and needs to be VERY precise to work properly. The production is challenging, the supply chains are fragile, and require significant energy.

Further, today’s global biomanufacturing capacity is roughly 15–20 million liters, a droplet compared to the billions that may be required to feed the world’s growing appetite for biologics and cell-based foods. Future Fields calls this the ‘bioreactor abyss’.

Instead of trying to engineer a new bioreactor tank, Future Fields turns to nature by treating fruit flies as living factories rather than pests. Drosophila melanogaster has been a model organism for over a century, yielding six Nobel Prizes, a treasure trove of genetic tools, and causing countless fights between roommates regarding dirty dishes. But in the scientific context, fruit flies have been primarily used for testing, not for production.

Future Fields’ EntoEngine platform first engineers these flies by inserting recombinant DNA into their genome and then breeds lines with desired traits - basically harnessing them as mini bioreactors. Feed them, let them express the target protein in their tissues, and harvest cleanly. Flies thrive at room temperature, require no giant stainless-steel setups, and scale quickly.

It’s elegant biology: instead of forcing microbes or expensive CHO cells to do unnatural tricks, Future Fields leans on an organism evolved for adaptability. Drosophila’s tissues, evolved for versatility and resilience, can do what steel tanks can’t: fold, modify, and produce the kinds of proteins that sustain life itself. The result is that proteins that were once commercially unfeasible can now be made at scale. Also, with a path to the supply chain being cheaper, more resilient, and more sustainable across the board.

The Canadian company is moving out of the lab into scalable production. They raised an $8M Series A, moved into a 6K s.f. facility, and are inking partnerships with clients who have “struggled to make proteins in legacy platforms.”

Had I known that fruit flies were so valuable, I would have rented my kitchen counter to a biotech company long ago.

Look, you know that we here at Hell Yeah HQ love stories where we find innovation in the strangest of places. And here, that innovation is in the form of the fruit fly (the same tiny nuisance your Instagram lifehack influencer swears you can catch with dishsoap + balsamic vinegar), now moonlighting as a bioengineer. The genius here isn’t in brute force or scale; it’s in noticing what nature already perfected over millions of years of evolution. Progress often begins not with invention, but with attention.

The big question now is scale: how do you go from thousands of fruit flies to millions of liters of usable protein solution? The next steps will likely center on automated fly husbandry, closed-loop rearing systems, and continuous protein harvesting pipelines. Think robotics handling feed and collection, standardized housing that keeps yield consistent, and purification systems designed for insect-based expression.

The aim likely isn’t to build another pharma-style plant, but something entirely new. Something more modular, energy-efficient, and replicable: a distributed network of “biofactories” rather than one mega-facility. This could be a fundamental shift for all biomanufacturing moving forward.

The fruit fly, once a symbol of decay, has become an emblem of possibility. Hell yeah.

Future Fields YouTube with informative videos

GenEdge talking about how they plan to expand into therapeutic contexts

PMC how Drosophila expression have been used historically in recombinant protein work

Future Fields blogs and case studies, including a description an overview of recombinant protein expression systems