UK gives $31m to industry-academic biodevelopment collabs
Business Secretary Vince Cable unveiled 23 winners of a competition to support collaboration between researchers and biotech businesses in the United Kingdom.
Speaking during a visit to Ingenza, a contract manufacturer and services provider for biopharma companies based in Edinburgh, Scotland, Cable said developing new antibiotics is one of the aims of the Indstrial Biotechnology Catalyst grants.
Ingenza was awarded £680,000 for research which includes the aim to discover a new class of antibiotics.
MD Ian Fotheringhamsaid the company uses “innovative synthetic biology tools to increase the speed, scale, and predictability with which we can build or redesign biological systems for commercial applications. Dr Cable's visit is a much appreciated boost to our efforts to contribute to job growth in the UK's burgeoning industrial biotechnology sector."
The winning projects
Twenty-three awardees received a share of the £20m fund, with an emphasis on biopharmaceutical projects and the life sciences industry. Prize money also went to research into chemistry, biofuels, and plastics.
- A new generation of E. coli expression hosts and tools for recombinant protein production
University of Kent - A Combinatorial Approach to Enhance Production of Monoclonal Antibodies
University of York - Developing platforms for the production of diterpenoids
University of York - Manufacture of complex protein polymers for industry and medicine
Newcastle University - Improved downstream operation through formulation innovation
Arecor/Centre for Process Innovation (CPI)/ FujiFilm Diosynth Biotechnologies - Bioplastic polymers based on aromatic dicarboxylic acids derived from lignin
Biome Technologies/ CPI/ University of Warwick/University of Leeds - ALGIPRO - Alginates by Production Scale Fermentation and Epimerisation
CPI/AlgiPharma/ FMC Biopolymer - Combinatorial genome editing to create enhanced biomanufacturing platforms
Horizon Discovery/CPI NBMC/ University of Manchester - Efficient production of first in class antimicrobial therapeutics from an integrated synthetic biology approach
Ingenza/Plymouth University - A naturally inspired industrial biotechnology route to the manufacture of a novel biopolymer with unique properties
Ingenza/ Synthomer - Industrial validation of nanofibre platform technology for biotherapeutics manufacture
Puridify/UCL - Much-efficient and cost-effective manufacturing of antibody biotherapeutics employing integrated negative chromatography technology
UCB/BioToolomics - Development of superior Clostridial strains for low cost renewable chemical production
GreenBiologics - Biochemical production of succinic acid from biorefinery glycerol: De-risking, scale-up, and feasibility
University of Manchester/CPI/ Brocklesby - PeriTune - a clonal optimisation platform
University of Manchester/Cobra Biologics - Development of new tools for de novo polyketide synthase design
Isomerase/University of Cambridge - Generation of a library of recombineered novel polyketides and non-ribosomal peptides
Isomerase/ Biosyntha/ John Innes Centre - Discovery and development of large/diverse user-friendly panels of novel biocatalysts
Prozomix/ Northumbria University - Engineering a Nano-factory for Peptide Synthesis
Generon/ University of Bristol - In vivo selection of bioprocessable biopharmaceuticals
University of Leeds/MedImmune/Avacta Analytical - Novel production processes for L-glufosinate
Acidophil - Novel platform biotechnology for the production of natural next generation 3D nanomaterials and nanodevices
Cellucomp/James Hutton Insitute/ Mylnefield Research - Driving down the cost of waste derived sugar
Fiberight/CPI/Rebio Technologies/ University of Leeds/Aston/Knauf/novozymes
The prize money was provided by Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and Innovate UK.
