The Molecular Leap: Why Better Nutrition Requires Formulations of New Building Blocks, Not More Blends In Partnership With Checkerspot

In Partnership With Checkerspot

Incremental reformulation has taken food and nutrition a long way – but it has limits. As companies push for better performance, stability, and nutritional outcomes, it’s becoming clear that many challenges cannot be solved by blending the same commodity ingredients in new ways.

This webinar explores why the next step-change in nutrition requires molecular-level design, particularly when it comes to fats. Drawing on Checkerspot’s work designing specialty lipids through fermentation, the session will unpack why 'one size fits all' no longer applies to fats – and how tailored lipid structures can unlock new functionality, nutrition, and product performance.

Rather than producing and selling ingredients, Checkerspot works with brands through joint development and licensing models, starting from the consumer need and engineering backwards to the specific molecules required. This approach has led the company to take on technically complex projects that sit beyond the reach of conventional oils and fats.

The discussion will bridge hard science and commercial reality, touching on emerging research into lipid–protein co-oxidation, oxidation chemistry, and why small molecular differences in fats can have outsized effects on nutrition, texture, and stability. It will also explore what this means for food, infant nutrition, and specialty applications where performance margins are tight and compromises are costly.

What you’ll learn

• Why incremental reformulation and 'better blends' struggle to solve structural nutrition and performance challenges
• How molecular interactions – not ingredient labels – govern oxidation, stability, texture, and nutritional outcomes
• What lipid-protein co-oxidation research reveals about the hidden limitations of commodity oils
• How designing specific lipid structures opens capabilities that conventional fats cannot deliver
• How a licensing and joint development model enables companies to access purpose-built lipids without building ingredient supply chains themselves

Key takeaways

• Not all fats are interchangeable – molecular structure matters more than category or source
• Small changes in lipid composition can cascade into major differences in product performance and nutritional integrity
• Commodity oils constrain innovation; designed lipids expand what products can realistically achieve
• The future of nutrition depends on expanding the molecular toolkit available to product developers
• Lipids should be viewed as designed infrastructure, not static inputs

Speakers (more to be confirmed)

• Casey Lippmeier, CTO, Checkerspot
• John Krzywicki, CEO, Checkerspot
• Walter Rakitsky, SVP of Development, Checkerspot

This session is designed for R&D leaders, formulators, innovation teams, and executives who want to understand where nutrition innovation is heading – and why the next leap forward will be built at the molecular level.