CPI biotechnology projects receive investment

The projects funded under round four of the IB Catalyst focus on a range of topics such as creating biofuels and developing new antibiotics.

Since its inception in 2014, the IB Catalyst has provided valuable support for academic and industrial collaboration to foster research translation. Over £75M has been invested over four rounds, helping to secure the UK’s position as a world-leader in the sector; driving new technologies and creating new jobs.

Professor Melanie Welham, BBSRC Chief Executive, said: ​“Industrial biotechnology has the potential to provide solutions to some of society’s greatest challenges. BBSRC will continue to support bioscience researchers working in the sector to deliver a more prosperous, sustainable future.”

Professor Philip Nelson, EPSRC’s Chief Executive, said: ​“If Industrial Biotechnology is to deliver the solutions it promises we must continue funding the underpinning science and engineering on which it relies. It is an exciting field that requires a cross-disciplinary approach.”

Simon Edmonds, Manufacturing and Materials Director at Innovate UK, said: ​“This latest round of projects demonstrates the clear potential to address these global grand challenges in biotechnology and turn them into exciting business opportunities for UK companies.”

CPI projects ConBioChem: Continuous bio-production of commodity chemicals £3,461,062 The University of Nottingham/​University College London/​University of Cambridge/​Lucite International/​Green Biologics/​CPI/​Ingenza/​Chain Biotechnologies

UK Continuous, Integrated Biologics Manaufacturing Project £1,437,419 Pall Europe Limited/​CPI/​Allergan/​Fujifilm Diosynth Biotecnologies/​Medimmune/​Sciex UK/​Merck Sharp & Dohme

Other funded projects

• Translation of step-changing bioprocesses and expression system technologies for next-generation protein biologics production in CHO cells £1,209,967 Lonza Biologics/​University of Kent
• Enhancing the yield of industrial Actinomycete fermentations £1,122,193 GSK/​University of Strathclyde
• Enzymic polymerisation, characterisation and market evaluation of a set of novel bioplastic co-polymers derived from renewable resources £740,450 Biome Technologies/​University of York/​University of Liverpool
• Sugar replacement from microalgae £209,500 GlycoMar Limited/​Mars/​MicroA AS
• Recombinant expression of animal and plant phospholipases £89,604 Biocatalysts
• Reducing contamination risk and increasing yields in the production of platform sugars from UK MSW £193,021 Fiberight/​University of Southampton/​Novozymes US
• Methods of Microbial Control in the Clostridial ABE Fermentation Process (MiCON) £106,482 Green Biologics Ltd
• Late feasibility of novel methods for improved polyketide drug development £331,790 Isomerase Therapeutics/​John Innes Centre
• Enzyme co-localisation and aggregation for enhanced metabolic activity for commodity chemicals £187,394 ZuvaSyntha/​University of Kent
• Viable biotechnological production of industrial methacrylate polymers £154,158 Ingenza/​Lucite International
• Novel enzyme diversity for improved cleaning and hygiene £162,445 Unilever/​University of Exeter
• A Synthetic Biology Approach for the Total Biosynthesis of Semi-Synthetic Antibiotics £2,544,316 The University of Manchester/​John Innes Centre
• New Enzymatically Produced Interpenetrating Starch-Cellulose Gels £2,736,276 University of Exeter/​University of East Anglia/​University of Bath/​John Innes Centre/​Unilever/​Croda/​AB Agri
• MaxBio – Maximizing conversion yields in Biorefining £2,188,398 University of Dundee/​The University of Nottingham/​University of York/​James Hutton Ltd/​Chain Biotechnologies Green Biologics/​ReBio Technologies