HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology Wiregrass

What happens when a crop becomes the backbone of an entire community? 🥜🎙️

In Episode 2 of Season 7 of Tiny Expeditions, we travel deeper into Alabama’s Wiregrass region to explore the economic impact of peanuts and the role they play in supporting farmers, businesses, schools, and communities.

With nearly half of the nation’s peanuts grown within 100 miles of Dothan, this small but mighty crop has shaped the region for generations. We hear from local leaders, agricultural experts, and advocates about how peanut production fuels economic opportunity and why developing peanut varieties tailored specifically for the Wiregrass could have an even greater impact on the future.

Join us for "A Crop that Built a Community" and discover how science, agriculture, and innovation are helping strengthen one of the country's most important peanut-growing regions. 💙

Listen now and explore the stories growing beyond the field. 🎧 👉 https://www.hudsonalpha.org/a-crop-that-built-a-community/

Sebastian Garcia-Medina is a great asset to the Wiregrass and we cannot wait to continue working with such a great entrepreneur!

From New York to Dothan: Why One Founder Chose the Wiregrass

Dothan - One year ago, J. Sebastian Garcia-Medina could not point to Dothan on a map. This spring, he moved to Dothan, the Peanut Capital of the World, to continue building Khaya Biosciences.
What changed came down to what he found after spending time in Southeast Alabama.

Through the strategic backing and support of Innovate Alabama, Garcia-Medina was introduced to the Wiregrass region via the HudsonAlpha AgTech Accelerator, which operates in partnership with gener8tor. The initiative kicked off its seven-week program by convening the Fall 2025 cohort in Dothan, home to HudsonAlpha Wiregrass, successfully driving vital new connections with local farmers, investors and regional industry leaders.

For Garcia-Medina, meeting the farmers became a source of inspiration.
“Being in Dothan and hearing local farmers’ stories was incredibly inspiring,” he said. “I was struck by the challenges they were facing and by how people here were actively adapting to economic change, building solutions rather than waiting for one.”

He kept coming back to what he saw there. Knowing what it takes to build a strong team from his PhD work, he saw many of those ingredients already in place in the Wiregrass.
“When you’re working with a community, you have to be part of that community,” he said.

That conviction followed him home. As an early-stage company, Khaya needed a place where it could test, grow and build alongside the people its work is meant to serve. The Wiregrass gave him a place to take root.
The idea for Khaya began taking shape while Garcia-Medina was pursuing his Ph.D. at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York.

Surrounded by the scale of urban waste, he started asking harder questions about what true sustainability requires and why so many useful biomaterials remain expensive to produce at scale. Around that time, he began building Khaya independently, separate from his academic research.

In response, Khaya is developing biodegradable materials from industrial food waste. The company uses bacteria to convert byproducts from industries like dairy, brewing and crop processing into materials such as hydrogels, which can be used as wound dressings for chronic wounds, or even nutrient and water retention for seeds and soil. For Southeast Alabama, the payoff is straightforward: turning local waste into useful materials that can be put to work in a range of ways.
It is an approach Garcia-Medina describes as “regional waste turned into regional products.”

In a region where agriculture shapes both the economy and daily life, that line of thinking carries merit. Food-processing leftovers that might otherwise be discarded could one day become inputs for farms just down the road, breaking down naturally into the soil at the end of the growing season.

The decision to build in Dothan reflects a broader story unfolding across the region. New investment in research infrastructure, applied science and small business support is making it easier to move from concept to use. The recent opening of the Wiregrass Innovation Center has added to that effort, bringing those pieces together in one place.

“What Sebastian found in the Wiregrass is what we’ve been working toward: a place where founders can test their ideas in the field, alongside the growers who will actually use them,” said Dean Mitchell, director of HudsonAlpha Wiregrass. “That kind of collaboration takes a community willing to open its arms, its farms and its knowledge to people trying to solve real problems. Sebastian’s decision to locate here tells me we are on the right track.”
Khaya is still in its early stages. The next few years in Dothan will focus on validating the process using regional waste streams, hiring and training a local team, and building a model that could eventually be replicated elsewhere.

For Garcia-Medina, what began as a place he could not find on a map has become where he chose to build and stay. - Casey Stark

☀️ We kicked off summer with our first camp of the season — Code of Life! Our amazing middle school campers dove into hands-on science fun, exploring biology, tech, and everything in between.

They turned summer break into a season of discovery and breakthroughs! 🧬✨

Seeds are in the ground! 🌱

The next phase of the WIREGRASS Peanut Project is underway as student-grown seedlings take root. Up next: analyzing results from this exciting field trial. We cannot wait to see real results and potential winners for the first time in the field!

Coming up at the Wiregrass Innovation Center, we are bringing you more entrepreneur programming!

🤝 June 12 | 9:30 AM – Wiregrass Innovation Network Meeting

🚀June 13 | 9:00 AM – Founder’s Roadmap Pitch Day + Graduation
RSVP Here: https://forms.gle/pgH8gLADLvMPW4uN8

👉 July 14 - 16 | 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM – Brand Camp: 3-Day Intensive for Bold Brands
RSVP Here: https://forms.gle/cyGE9YTm6EWxan5q9

🤝 July 17 | 9:30 AM – Wiregrass Innovation Network Meeting

All are welcome, we look forward to seeing YOU!

Peanut power in action! 🥜

Our Wiregrass Peanut Teachers spent the week training for the WIREGRASS Peanut Project at the Wiregrass Innovation Center this week learning, experimenting, and getting ready to inspire students this fall!

The Wiregrass BioTrain Interns are here! We’re so excited to kick off an incredible summer filled with hands-on experiences, learning opportunities, and new discoveries. Welcome to the team!

We have exciting events happening this month!

We’ve got a full calendar of innovation, collaboration, and connection across the region:
📅 June 1 – BioTrain Interns Start in the Wiregrass
📅 June 3 – Wiregrass Innovation Center Tour with Tuskegee University Students
📅 June 12 – Wiregrass Innovation Network Meeting at the Wiregrass Innovation Center
📅 June 13 – Founder’s Roadmap Pitch Day and Graduation at the Wiregrass Innovation Center
📅 June 24 – Wiregrass Innovation Center Prospect Visit and Sloss Tech Entrepreneur Event in Birmingham

From advancing ag innovation to strengthening Alabama’s innovation network, it’s a big month for growth across the Wiregrass and beyond! 🌾💡

At HudsonAlpha Wiregrass, we’re proud to support entrepreneurs as they grow and succeed.

Two years ago, Mia Scott became the first participant in our Navigate program and recently she’s been named Alabama Rural-Owned Small Business of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

“HudsonAlpha has played a huge role in helping grow my business through constant support, guidance, and genuine encouragement. They do not just talk about wanting to see small businesses succeed, they actively create opportunities to help make that success possible. I’m incredibly thankful for a team that truly cares about both my vision and my growth.” – Mia Scott

Seeing entrepreneurs like Mia thrive is exactly why we do what we do. Congratulations, Mia, on this incredible achievement!

Season 7 of Tiny Expeditions is officially here, and for the first time ever, we hit the road! 🎙️🥜

This season takes listeners beyond Huntsville into the heart of Alabama’s Wiregrass region, where peanut farming, genomics, and education are coming together in powerful ways. Most of this season was recorded on farms, in classrooms, and throughout the Dothan community, the self-proclaimed Peanut Capital of the World.

We’re kicking things off with Episode 1, “The Wiregrass Peanut Revolution,” which explores the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology Wiregrass Peanut Project, a hands-on learning experience that connects local students directly to real genomic research. Through the project, students plant peanuts, analyze DNA, and help researchers identify traits linked to stronger, more resilient crops.

What makes this project so unique is that students are contributing to science happening right now. The data they help generate supports ongoing research aimed at developing peanut varieties better suited for the challenges facing growers across the Southeast.

From farms and classrooms to cutting-edge research, this season highlights the people, science, and stories that are helping shape the future of agriculture, one peanut plant at a time. 💙

Listen now! 🎧👉 https://www.hudsonalpha.org/the-wiregrass-peanut-revolution/