Invasive Species Corp. Files Patents on Novel Discoveries for Control of Weeds & Aquatic Pests

Targeting herbicide-resistant weeds in agriculture, toxic algae and sea lice of salmon

DAVIS, CA, UNITED STATES, September 2, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Invasive Species Corporation (ISC) is pleased to announce that the company has filed five provisional patent applications with the US Patent & Trademark Office on its microbial discoveries for the control of costly weeds, toxic algae, burrowing shrimp and sea lice.

ISC was founded to discover, develop and market next-generation nature-positive solutions to control invasive species. Upon launch of laboratory operations at the beginning of 2024, ISC embarked on an AI-guided microbial natural products screening platform to discover solutions to control economically devastating invasive species in water, aquaculture and agriculture.

ISC isolates microorganisms from the pests’ natural environment, sequences their genomes, then uses data-mining algorithms to generate information about the microbes’ safety, function, and compounds produced. Selected microbes are then tested on the target pests or their surrogates. That platform led to the discoveries that are the subject of these five patent applications.

ISC’s platform has advantages over other existing biological and chemical approaches. The microorganisms produce multiple natural compounds in fermentation that become the basis for ISC’s products. These natural compounds are biodegradable and environmentally friendly, typically have multi-site mode of actions that make it more difficult for pests and weeds to develop resistance, and have the shelf stability, unit costs, and efficacy of synthetic chemicals.

ISC selects its targets based on market need and size. Chemical pesticide resistance is a huge problem in agriculture and aquaculture, increasing costs and decreasing yields. The most important weed species, in all crops and agricultural growing regions in the world, have significant and costly resistance to traditional chemistries, as do sea lice in the multibillion-dollar salmon farming industry. New modes of action to combat resistance with higher sustainability are badly needed and demanded by consumers and regulators.

Two of ISC’s bioherbicide discoveries that are the subject of these patent applications are now in development including: field trials, fermentation process development, scale-up and herbicidal natural product chemistry characterization. Two of the other microbes being patented are now being scaled in fermentation for the next phase of live or in-feed testing on sea lice in salmon farming.

ISC’s co-founder, Pam Marrone, PhD and 2025 inductee into the National Inventors’ Hall of Fame with more than 400 issued patents (82 US), some of which have resulted in category-leading leading biological products for pest management, said “These new patent applications reflect the company’s progress to date and our strong emphasis on developing intellectual property to protect our technical and commercial opportunities.”

Amit Vasavada, PhD and ISC’s Chief Science Officer, who leads the R&D function that has resulted in these patent applications said, “Filing patents on our innovative and impactful discoveries is a significant milestone in ISC’s journey to transform the herbicide market and solve major problems with competitive, sustainable products.”

About the Invasive Species Corporation
The Invasive Species Corporation was founded to discover, develop and deploy effective bio-based solutions to control invasive species in agriculture, water infrastructure, and aquaculture. Invasive species have caused more than $1 trillion in economic and environmental damage, close to $500 billion annually, and are the second leading cause of the earth’s significant and rapid decline in biodiversity. ISC’s vision is to regenerate the planet through nature positive solutions. ISC is currently selling Zequanox^® for highly destructive and costly zebra, quagga, and golden mussel control. The Gen 2 version with a significantly lower cost and much easier to use tablet and granule formulation for open water and industrial applications is nearing EPA registration submission.

Pam Marrone or Amit Vasavada
Invasive Species Corporation
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