When we think of printing inks, we think of the materials that help make packaging, publications and much more stand out. The blacks and colors that we see are derived from either pigments or dyes, and for the most part, are petrochemical-based.

Living Ink has a different approach altogether. A biomaterials company, Aurora, CO-based Living Ink has developed inks based on algae, a sustainable technology, to replace petroleum-derived products. With Algae Ink, Living Ink is commercializing environmentally-friendly black algae-based pigments that have a negative carbon footprint.

Living Ink was co-founded by Dr. Scott Fulbright and Dr. Stevan Albers when they were Ph.D. students in the Cell and Molecular Biology Program at Colorado State University. They were always thinking of technology advancements that could be potential business ideas, and were fascinated by the field of biofabrication, or using biology to grow materials. Literally while standing in the greeting card aisle, Fulbright thought about the fundamental components of ink.

“The question was asked, ‘Could we use entire algae cells a