Using an innovative CRISPR Guided Vector technology to prevent and disrupt biofilms in the food chain and humans

Bacterial biofilms present a massive problem to today's society, causing equipment damage, product contamination, energy and product losses, and medical infections. These health concerns affect food, environmental and biomedical sectors, with a cost to industry, cities and hospitals of \>£382billion globally each year. Traditional approaches to biofilm management have previously made use of harsh chemicals such as bleach, labour-intensive physical removal with abrasive materials or simply discarded effected piping or tubing. These methods are costly, time-consuming, labour intensive and ineffective for biofilm removal with a multi-attack approached often required.

There is a major unmet need for effective biofilm management and control solutions which are simpler, cheaper and more sustainable than existing technologies.

This project seeks to research the use of a novel gene editing technology to selectively target individual strains of bacteria and prevent/disrupt the formation of biofilms to be applied as a crop spray treatment in agriculture. This will enable Folium, in collaboration with the John Innes Centre/University of East Anglia to establish a leading market position as the first company to formulate this specific genetic technology in to a crop treatment. The impact of this project would provide an initial cost avoidance to the fresh fruit and vegetable industry of c.£40 million by offering an alternative to current treatment methods and reducing crop spoilage and biofilm contamination in the food supply chain, with potential to go on and transfer this technology to biomedical therapeutic applications and manufacturing cleaning solutions.