Arizona Tribune - SilvaBio and Foray Bioscience Announce Collaboration to Accelerate Restoration of the American Chestnut

BOSTON, MA AND CAMBRIDGE, MA / ACCESS Newswire / June 29, 2026 / Today, SilvaBio, the forest biotechnology company that develops, produces, and sells disease-tolerant hardwood seedlings, and Foray Bioscience, a plant biomanufacturing company growing plant products from the cell up, announce a collaboration focused on exploring how producing fabricated seeds can accelerate the restoration of the American chestnut.

This partnership will pair SilvaBio's genetics expertise, accelerated breeding, and restoration platform with Foray's fabricated seed technology, which grows encapsulated plant embryos from plant cells that can be sown like a conventional seed to produce a whole tree. Together, they aim to develop scalable technologies designed to support the growing demand for American chestnut seedlings across the species' 200-million-acre native range.

The American chestnut was once among the most abundant and economically valuable trees in North America. In the early twentieth century, over four billion trees were lost following the introduction of chestnut blight, rendering the species functionally extinct and fundamentally altering forest ecosystems, wildlife habitat, and rural economies it supported.

More than a century on, the American chestnut could now become the first tree species ever returned from functional extinction--made possible by advances in blight-tolerant breeding. SilvaBio's work builds upon the pioneering technology of the Darling 54, developed by its research partners at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF). Blight tolerance of the line has been rigorously tested and confirmed by independent studies conducted at SUNY ESF, Purdue University, and the University of New England.

Today, SilvaBio continues to advance restoration by moving the Darling line from the lab to real-world deployment. Using genomic prediction, accelerated breeding, and advanced micropropagation, the company is developing a broad portfolio of American chestnut genetics designed to maximize diversity, adaptability, and long-term resilience. SilvaBio intends to leverage this breakthrough through the production, sale, and deployment of improved American chestnut seedlings to landowners, conservation organizations, government agencies, and forestry professionals, pending deregulation.

"At SilvaBio, our goal is not simply to grow more trees-it is to help restore the American chestnut as a thriving, genetically diverse component of Eastern forests," said Michael Bloom, Co-Founder and CEO of SilvaBio. "The American chestnut's return represents an extraordinary opportunity to reverse one of the greatest ecological losses in North American history and potentially achieve the first successful return of a tree species from functional extinction."

The American chestnut is just one of several hardwood species threatened by invasive pests and diseases. Billions of additional seedlings are needed to support reforestation and forest restoration efforts, underscoring a critical need for improved seedlings and new approaches to forest recovery. SilvaBio's broader technology platform is designed to address this challenge, accelerating development of improved hardwood cultivars across other species facing similar pressures, including ash, oak, elm, and walnut. Demand for optimized seedlings at scale will only continue to grow as forest owners and land managers seek solutions to disease, climate, and reforestation challenges.

That is where Foray comes in. Under the signed agreement, Foray will develop fabricated seeds for SilvaBio's blight-tolerant American chestnut lines. The agreement outlines a multi-year development and production roadmap between the two companies.

"For restoration of the American chestnut, identifying trees with blight-resistance is a critical first step. The next challenge is making those genetics scale," said Dr. Ashley Beckwith, Founder and CEO of Foray Bioscience. "Foray's fabricated seed platform is designed to make scaling targeted trees a fast, predictable, repeatable process. That's how a breakthrough in the field becomes a forest."

Notably, the announcement coincides with the country's 250th anniversary, over a century after the blight rendered the keystone species functionally extinct, underscoring the role of American science and ingenuity in helping to reverse one of the nation's greatest ecological losses.

To learn more about SilvaBio, please visit www.silvabio.com. To learn more about Foray Bioscience, please visit www.foraybio.com.

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About SilvaBio
SilvaBio is the leading forest biotechnology company. U.S. forests contribute over $350 billion annually and absorb nearly 15% of national carbon emissions. Invasive diseases are outpacing traditional countermeasures, putting these vital systems at risk. We combine genomic prediction, accelerated breeding, and advanced propagation, to compress a decade-long breeding cycle to a single year. Our lead product focuses on bringing the American chestnut back from functional extinction. Our multi-species platform also extends to oak, ash, elm, and other at-risk hardwoods. Better trees, faster.

As a Public Benefit Company committed to responsible reforestation, SilvaBio works closely with researchers at and partners across participating institutions to strengthen the ecosystems and economies these forests support. To learn more, please visit www.silvabio.com.

Media Contact:
Sheila Smith,
Communications Director, SilvaBio
[email protected]

About Foray Bioscience
Foray is a plant production company using plant cells, artificial intelligence, and advanced biomanufacturing to grow materials, molecules, and seeds directly from the cell up. By combining predictive AI/ML with in vitro plant biology, Foray helps unlock resilient crops, scalable seed systems, harvest-free plant products, and new forms of bioproduction across industries. Foray is building the technologies that will define the Green Frontier, translating plant diversity into usable products, resilient supply chains, and new forms of abundance. For more information, visit www.foraybio.com or follow the company on LinkedIn.

Media Contact:
Alex Grant
Chief Operating Officer, Foray Bioscience
[email protected]

SOURCE: SilvaBio

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G.P.Martin--AT