Commercialisation of a new platform technology for peptide synthesis
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Bristol
Department Name: Biochemistry
Abstract
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| Description | We have developed a commercialisation strategy for our platform technology for the manufacture of peptides using an in vivo bacterial expression system. This award was used to employ a specialist consultant to explore the market for our technology, identify areas where our technology could be transformative and engage with companies or government agencies within that area to establish and develop those links. This was achieved and although we engaged with numerous companies, we ultimately engaged most productively with the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) for the development of novel transparent adhesive molecules that could be used in the military theatre for rapid repairs to transparent materials. This ultimately resulted in a contract being awarded by DSTL to our spin-out company Zentraxa Ltd. |
| Exploitation Route | The outcomes from this award directly led to the founding of a University of Bristol spin-out company, Zentraxa Ltd, who were subsequently awarded a contract from DSTL. The company has now moved out of the university and is operating as a completely separate commercial entity with eight employees. The continued technological development is also being targeted towards a diverse array of uses, including medical adhesives and also banknote/document security tagging. |
| Sectors | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Government, Democracy and Justice,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology,Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology,Security and Diplomacy |
| URL | https://bbsrc.ukri.org/documents/bio-engineering-creates-new-peptide-based-materials-using-bacteria/ |
| Description | The outcomes from this award directly led to the founding of a University of Bristol spin-out company, Zentraxa Ltd, who were subsequently awarded a contract from DSTL and who have now been through a first round of outside investment. The company has now moved out of the university and is operating as a completely separate commercial entity with eight employees. The continued technological development is also being targeted towards a diverse array of uses, including medical adhesives. The company has been through a second round of investment, raising £2.5M and is currently partnering with a commercial company to scale-up production of a medical bioadhesive with a view to conducting clinical trials. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2017 |
| Sector | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Healthcare,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology,Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology |
| Impact Types | Societal,Economic |
| Title | Recombinant method for the synthesis of peptides |
| Description | While solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPSS) is generally the method of choice for peptide synthesis it suffers from some inherent drawbacks. Peptides that are very hydrophobic, and hence sparsely soluble in aqueous conditions, are often difficult to manufacture, as are peptides that have highly repeating amino acid sequences. We have engineered a recombinant system to produce such peptides. Protein synthesis from the bacterial ribosome is more efficient and accurate than SPSS and is not limited by the sequence of amino acids. Our recombinant system produces peptides in a tagged and insoluble form that is targeted to intracellular inclusion bodies. These can be rapidly solubilised and purified, and the tag proteolytically-cleaved to produce high yields of peptide. These can then be further purified, if necessary, using conventional reverse-phase HPLC. |
| Type Of Material | Technology assay or reagent |
| Year Produced | 2017 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | The technology can be easily scaled up for industrial scale production using large volume bacterial fermentation facilities. One other advantage of this methodology is that it reduces the amount of organic solvent waste by greater than 90%, producing only biodegradable waste. This has the potential to reduce the environmental impact of industrial processes requiring large-scale peptide synthesis. It is currently being used by a University of Bristol spin-out company, Zentraxa Ltd, for the synthesis of peptide-based bioadhesive molecules. |
| Description | DSTL |
| Organisation | Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (DSTL) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | The work partially funded by this grant was used to develop a platform technology for producing peptide molecules that are difficult to synthesise by conventional solid-phase synthetic chemistry techniques. Our spin-out company, Zentraxa Ltd, is using this technology in the development of water-resistant bioadhesives, based on the adhesive chemistry of the mussel foot protein. These peptides or protein fragments are impossible to synthesise by conventional means. This is being done as a collaborative partnership with DSTL. |
| Collaborator Contribution | DSTL initially provided funding of £100K to develop the application of our peptide production platform technology to the problem of water-resistant bioadhesives. This funding allowed us to provide a proof-of-principle adhesive molecule and begin the process of optimisation. |
| Impact | Zentraxa has produced water-resistant bioadhesive molecules using their proprietary technology, Zentide, to the satisfaction of DSTL. DSTL have recently agreed to fund further R&D, also in association with Qinetiq, to further advance this technology with the aim of establishing a solution for a specific military problem, but one that is also readily transferable to other non-military applications. The bioadhesive molecules are currently the subject of a patent application that is being prepared. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Company Name | Zentraxa Limited |
| Description | Zentraxa's proprietary technological platform, Zentide, combined with extensive technical know-how pushes the boundaries of what can be achieved with synthetic biopolymers. The company specialises in the design, production and testing of complex novel peptides and, as a result of our proprietary peptide biosynthesis platform, has the ability to circumvent previously existing bio-design limits imposed by conventional peptide synthesis, with one universal process. |
| Year Established | 2017 |
| Impact | The company has designed and produced a prototype transparent, water-proof bioadhesive for DSTL, our launch customer. This has currently completed testing and will enter a second phase of R&D to scale-up production and develop the correct formulation for use. Zentraxa is also extending these designs for use in a clinical setting, to replace cyanoacrylate-based adhesives that are currently used in surgical procedures. The company has recently been through its first investment round raising £0.5M of investment from angel investors. The company has also moved out of the University of Bristol and has established its own base of operations at the UnitDX incubator in the centre of Bristol. |
| Website | http://www.zentraxa.com |