Harnessing Microalgae – How SEVO Bioscience Is Reimagining Fish Health from Cape Breton
Through this four-part series, IGNITE is highlighting startups that are reimagining what sustainable innovation looks like. Each company featured, whether a current resident, alumni, or connected collaborator, is building solutions that create environmental and economic impact.
This series is part of IGNITE’s contribution to the national BioCAN Initiative, celebrating Canadian leadership in the bioeconomy and clean innovation space. Together, we’re sharing the stories of those building a cleaner, more resilient future, one startup at a time.
SEVO Bioscience’s Story
Aquaculture is one of the fastest-growing sources of protein in the world — but it’s under constant pressure from disease, parasites, and the need to reduce environmental impact. One of the most stubborn challenges? Sea lice, a tiny parasite with billion-dollar consequences for the global salmon industry.
Cape Breton–based SEVO Bioscience is tackling that problem at its biological roots. Using synthetic biology and engineered microalgae, SEVO is developing feed-based, oral immune solutions that help salmon build natural resistance to disease — powered by sunlight, CO₂, and a lot of science.
It’s a story about biotech, fish, family, and a big leap from Montreal to rural Nova Scotia in search of both community and impact.
SEVO Bioscience’s mission is to make aquaculture more sustainable by shifting from reactive treatments to preventive, biology-based solutions.
Instead of relying on chemical baths or injections, SEVO is designing microalgae that help fish develop immunity from the inside out. Their first target is sea lice in farmed salmon — a problem that costs the industry over a billion dollars annually in lost fish and hundreds of millions more in control efforts.
Founder Dilan Jaunky describes the vision as creating “a harmony between microalgae and fish health,” where sustainability, animal welfare, and industry viability align.
At the core of SEVO’s work is synthetic biology applied to microalgae.
The team engineers microalgae strains so they express specific antigens — proteins linked to parasites like sea lice. When these microalgae are mixed into salmon feed and ingested:
- The fish’s immune system recognizes the antigens
- An immune response is triggered
- The fish builds resistance over its lifecycle
It functions like an oral vaccine, but delivered through everyday feeding rather than stressful injections.
There’s a sustainability bonus built in: microalgae are unicellular organisms that photosynthesize, using light and CO₂ to grow. This means their production can be lower-impact than many conventional treatments, supporting both climate and ocean-health goals.
After years of perfecting tools to modify microalgae, SEVO is now in what Dilan calls a “prime position to show the world what microalgae can really do.”
SEVO Bioscience is one of many Atlantic Canadian startups proving that world-class innovation can thrive in rural communities — especially when it’s rooted in sustainability, science, and collaboration.
👉 Learn more about SEVO Bioscience and how IGNITE supports founders across rural Nova Scotia and Atlantic Canada.