Category: Bristol BioDesign News

Bristol BioDesign News

Dodding & Woolfson labs awarded BBSRC grant for kinesin-1 research

Posted on by wayne.powell

The Dodding and Woolfson labs (Schools of Biochemistry and Chemistry, University of Bristol) have been awarded a grant by the BBSRC to understand how the kinesin-1 microtubule motor is activated, and to design new peptide-based-reagents to enable control of its activity.

Kinesin-1 motors play critical roles in intracellular transport of vesicles, organelles, protein complexes and mRNAs. They are particularly important for transport within the neuronal axons, and are dysregulated in many neurodegenerative diseases.

This four-year award, commencing in 2025, builds on their existing collaboration and will support two postdoctoral scientists working between the two labs.

For this project (Mechanism and design of allostery in the kinesin-1 complex), the team will aim to obtain a deep mechanistic understanding of the kinesin-1 autoinhibitory mechanism; insight into how cargo engagement induces conformational changes in the complex; and a clear understanding of the nature of active motor-cargo complexes. They will apply the latest protein/peptide design approaches to identify strategies and targets for manipulating kinesin activity, setting the stage for future work to apply these technologies to finely control kinesin-mediated transport in disease states.

Bristol hosts Swiss-British Summit to drive innovation in healthcare and sustainability

Posted on by wayne.powell

The Bristol BioDesign Institute co-hosted the Synthetic & Engineering Biology British-Swiss Summit at Bristol’s M-Shed on 22 May 2024. The inaugural event was devoted to understanding the opportunities presented by engineering biology technologies to drive innovation in healthcare, forging collaborations between Switzerland and the UK with a focus on environmental sustainability.

Ambassador Markus Leitner makes the opening address

The UK and Switzerland are both science superpowers. Collectively, they host ten of Europe’s top 20 research universities. Switzerland has ranked first in global innovation for the past decade and is home to several world-class research laboratories and multinational companies like Novartis. While the UK boasts a world-leading engineering biology community and forward-thinking policy, exemplified by the UK Government’s National Engineering Biology Vision published in December 2023.

Dr Sara Holland (Potter Clarkson), Dr Chrysi Sergaki (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency) and Prof Imre Berger (University of Bristol) discuss commercialising research

A Memorandum of Understanding signed in November 2022 between the UK and Switzerland builds on a longstanding history of collaboration between the two countries, with detailed aspirations to encourage future cooperation in ‘deep science’ and ‘deep tech’ areas such as engineering biology.

The Summit, organised in partnership with the Swiss Business Hub UK & Ireland, the BioIndustry Association and Lucideon, aimed to bring together academic thought leaders and representatives from the life science and pharmaceutical industries. These included key Government officials, including members of the UK Government’s newly appointed Engineering Biology Steering Committee regulators, specialist start-up incubators such as Science Creates (Bristol) and BaseLaunch (Basel), and focused investment firms to identify bilateral opportunities for commercialisation through innovation, and policy and diplomacy in science and innovation.

His Excellency Markus Leitner, Ambassador of Switzerland to the United Kingdom said: “The United Kingdom and Switzerland are uniquely placed to work together on this frontier of scientific discovery and technological innovation.

“Bringing together scientists, industry leaders and start-up entrepreneurs from both countries will foster the exchange of ideas, forge new partnerships, and catalyse new initiatives that will shape the future of synthetic and engineering biology.”

Anike Te chairs debate on cell engineering

The Summit took a deep dive into future perspectives in cell engineering, bioprocessing and scale up, AI-driven solutions in synthetic and engineering biology, and accelerating the translation of fundamental research to commercial uptake.

Anike Te, Aegis Professor of Engineering Biology at the University of Bristol and Chief Strategy Officer at Lucideon, added: “Innovation is essential for solving the global challenges we face today. Engineering biology has the potential to provide many of these solutions. The UK and Switzerland are important countries for innovation and it is inspiring to see more collaboration in synthetic and engineering biology.”

Tay Salimullah during his opening keynote address

Inspiring keynote talks were presented by Tay Salimullah (right), VP, Head US & Global Commercial, Value & Access, and Member of the Executive Committee at Novartis Gene Therapies and Dr Harry Destecroix, founder of Science Creates and co-founder of Ziylo, the hugely successful University of Bristol spin-out company.

Spotlight pitches from UK and Swiss engineering biology start-ups highlighted some of the most recent innovations entering the market.

(All images: First Avenue Photography)

(The news story was first published by University of Bristol)

BBI gives evidence to the Lords Science & Technology Committee

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BBI Co-Director Dr Lucia Marucci gave evidence to the House of Lords Science & Technology Committee as part of their inquiry into engineering biology.

Lucia, Director of the EngBioCDT, spoke alongside Prof Tom Ellis (Imperial), following evidence from Prof Susan Rosser (Edinburgh), Prof Paul Freemont (Imperial) and Dr Carolina Grandellis (Earlham Institute). Evidence has also been given by Will Milligan, CEO of Bristol-based start up Extracellular.

The committee discussed timely opportunities presented by the confluence of advances in AI and modelling with bionics, some of the regulatory barriers to engineering biology innovations, and the scale up challenges faced by the UK’s engineering biology start ups.

The BBI and Policy Bristol will be submitting evidence to the Committee’s open call for evidence.

UK engineering biology delegation visits Japan 

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Ross Anderson (Professor of Biochemistry, University of Bristol) travelled to Japan as part of a Department for Science, Innovation and Technology delegation that met with a range of Japanese Engineering Biology stakeholders (academics, startups/SMEs, industry, funders, policymakers) to promote closer cooperation between the two countries.

He participated in a RRI workshop, and a UTokyo-hosted panel discussions on EngBio capacity and training, visited the labs of Professor Akihiko Kondo, and Professor Kouhei Tsumoto, and had meetings with the Japan Bioindustry Association, and NEDO.

EPSRC and BBSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Engineering Biology

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The Engineering Biology Centre for Doctoral Training (EngBioCDT) is one of nine new CDTs at the University of Bristol, which will equip and nurture engineering and science students, thanks to a nationally-leading £57 million funding boost from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and its Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

Engineering biology is one of the five critical technologies predicted to deliver prosperity to the UK as highlighted in the Government’s National Vision for Engineering Biology (December 2023). Sitting at the confluence of Biology, Chemistry, Engineering, AI and Data Science, it has the potential to provide innovative solutions to global challenges for sustainable food, materials and chemicals, combatting climate change, and technologies for improved healthcare, by harnessing biology in new ways and creating biomimetic and engineered living systems capable of surpassing what is possible from single-discipline approaches.

The EngBioCDT, run jointly with the University of Oxford, will provide bespoke cohort-based training with a focus on how engineering biology concepts and technologies can be translated into products with real-world impact. It will include teaching on: modelling and control theory, artificial intelligence and machine learning, gene circuit design, protein design and engineering, and tissue engineering.

The EngBioCDT will train 68 students over five cohorts between 2024 and 2032 in collaboration with over 30 partners including industry, startups, innovation specialists, and national institutes.

 

The Director of the EngBioCDT, Dr Lucia Marucci, said: “I am so excited to start directing our new Engineering Biology Centre for Doctoral Training in partnership with the University of Oxford, and cannot wait to welcome our new students in September. Many thanks to the EPSRC and BBSRC for funding our programme.”

At Bristol, the CDT will be managed also by Prof Imre Berger, Dr Tom Gorochowski (Deputy Director), Prof Jen McManus and Prof Dek Woolfson.

Engineering Biology Mission Award success for BBI researchers

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Two teams from the Bristol BioDesign Institute have been awarded funding from the UKRI – BBSRC Engineering Biology Technology Mission Fund call:

CYBER: Cyanobacteria Engineering for Restoring Environments (Principal Investigator: Dr Thomas Gorochowski)
CYBER aims to develop the foundational multidisciplinary tools needed to de-risk environmentally focused engineering biology and ultimately support its future deployment into real-world ecosystems. It brings together researchers from the Universities of Bristol (lead), Newcastle and Edinburgh, plus the National Measurements Laboratory (NML), NIST, Basecamp, Cultivarium, Bactobio, and Gitlife to improve the trustworthiness of engineered biology for environmental applications.

Haemotoxic and cytotoxic snake venom metalloproteinases – production, enzymatic specificity, snakebite treatment, and biomedical use (Principal Investigator: Prof Christiane Berger-Schaffitzel)
The team will establish robust production of snake venom metalloproteinase (SVMPs) toxins ready for use to develop next generation toxin-specific therapies for tackling snakebite envenoming. SVMPs also exhibit functional specificities desirable for biomedical purposes, as several are used as the basis for anti-platelet drugs or standards for the clinical diagnosis of bleeding disorders. The team will use recombinant, native and engineered toxins to identify new platelet inhibitors that block specific platelet surface receptors that are known drug targets. The project team includes ADDovenom colleagues Professor Nick Casewell (Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine) as Co-I, and Johara Stringari (University of Bristol) as Researcher Co-I.

BBI features in UK Government’s National Vision for Engineering Biology

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The Bristol BioDesign Institute has contributed to, and is featured in, the UK Government’s National Vision for Engineering Biology, published on 5 December 2023.

The document outlines the government’s vision for “a broad, rich engineering biology ecosystem that can safely develop and commercialise the many opportunities to come from the technology.”

In a case study in the ‘World-leading R&D’ section (page 21), Bristol is described as a “thriving ecosystem for engineering biology” with a “booming” local bioeconomy. Both the BBI and the Max Planck-Bristol Centre for Minimal Biology are mentioned in this section, alongside BrisSynBio, eight University of Bristol spinouts, and Science Creates.

SBUK 2023 takes place in Bristol

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Over 300 people from 45 institutions in 11 countries attended the Synthetic Biology 2023 conference in Bristol on 6-7 November, organised by the Biochemical Society and the Bristol BioDesign Institute.

We would like to thank all the invited speakers (Prof Patrick Cai, Prof Tanja Kortemme, Prof Petra Schwille, Prof Andreas Plückthun, Prof Susan Rosser, Prof Seraphine Wegner, Prof Julius Lucks, Dr David Riglar, Dr Nicole Wheeler and Dr Gitta Neufang), the oral and poster presenters, the session chairs, the team from the Biochemical Society, and everyone else who attended for their help in making the event a great success.

Themes covered at the conference included biomolecular design and engineering; cell and system-level design; synthetic and minimal cells; data-centric bioengineering, and applications across industry.

Dek Woolfson presents Stephen Wallace with the Colworth Medal.Congratulations to Prof Stephen Wallace, who was awarded the prestigious Colworth Medal and gave a talk on the development of ‘plastic-eating E. coli that can efficiently turn polyethylene terephthalate (PET) waste into adipic acid, which is used to make nylon materials, drugs and fragrances’.

Further congratulations to the oral and poster prize recipients:

Biosciences and AI merge with launch of new UKRI Network

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Bringing artificial intelligence (AI) and biosciences together to tackle major societal challenges is the aim of a new five-year £1.6m project involving the University of Bristol and several other UK universities.

The Artificial Intelligence in the Biosciences (AIBIO-UK) network will aim to connect leading AI and core bioscience researchers to unravel biological fundamentals. The ultimate aim of this network is to enhance AI capabilities within the biosciences and be the central point for resources at the interface between AI and the biosciences, placing a strong emphasis on responsible research and innovation and the ethics of AI.

Funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation, AIBIO-UK will provide bio-scientists with practical skills and knowledge in AI to benefit their research, while equipping AI researchers with knowledge of the main challenges facing the biosciences. AIBIO-UK will develop new interdisciplinary ways of working via pilot project funding, and develop Grand Challenges of AI in bioscience.

It aims to:

  • Create a stronger community profile for AI in the biosciences in the UK
  • Facilitate networking, knowledge exchange and the formation of new collaborations
  • Support greater awareness, education and training relating to AI within the bioscience community

Dr Lucia Marucci from the School of Engineering Mathematics and Technology, and Co-Director of the Bristol BioDesign Institute, is leading Bristol’s contribution to this project. She said: “AI systems are used in wide-ranging applications, from self-driving cars to language translation.

“Recent AI applications to the biosciences have been promising but efforts have been sparse and uncoordinated, and limited to groups or companies with specific expertise.

“The network vision is to bring together AI and core bioscience researchers to address huge societal challenges we face.”

The network, led by the University of Nottingham, includes University of Bristol, Quadram Institute Bioscience, the University of Manchester, University of Aberdeen, King’s College London and Aberystwyth University.

The management team is planning a series of community-created events over the next five years to help raise awareness across the UK biosciences community of exciting, cutting-edge AI development, the opportunities it presents for research collaboration, as well as its challenges.

 A launch event will be held on 11 January next year in Birmingham.

(This news story was originally published by the University of Bristol)

£10.5 million investment to revolutionise future vaccine manufacture

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Members of the project team pose on the steps on Wills Building at University of Bristol.
Future Vaccines Manufacturing Research (FVMR) Hub UK Visit, University of Bristol

A new collaborative initiative between UK universities and countries worldwide to share cutting-edge vaccine technology to prevent future global outbreaks of infectious diseases has been awarded £10.5 million from the Department of Health & Social Care (DHSC) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). The funding will support the Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hub (FVMR Hub), set up originally in 2017 by Imperial College London with University of Bristol as a partner, to continue operations for a further five years, until 2029.

As part of this partnership, world-leading vaccine scientists at Bristol are working with one of Vietnam’s major vaccine manufacturers, Vabiotech, to share their expertise in using a powerful recombinant production technology which relies on a synthetic baculovirus used as a production tool.  The technology, pioneered at Bristol, is uniquely suited for producing next-generation vaccines in large quantities in insect cells that can be easily cultured at low cost in Vietnam.

To mark the funding announcement, and to kick-off Vaccine Hub operations, University of Bristol researchers welcomed representatives from the Vietnamese Ministry of Health, the Vietnamese Embassy in the UK, the CEO and research team of Vabiotech, and leading vaccine scientists and Hub partners from Imperial College London with a reception in the Wills Memorial Building. The visit included a tour of Bristol’s high-tech facilities, including robotics laboratories, the cryogenic electron microscopy facility, and the new biosafety level 3 virology laboratories, all of which were established during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bristol FVMR Hub lead Professor Imre Berger, Director of the Max Planck-Bristol Centre for Minimal Biology and Co-Director of the Bristol BioDesign Institute, said: “Our partner Vabiotech is particularly interested in using the technology we developed in Bristol to produce vaccines to combat rabies and avian flu, both major challenges in Vietnam. We saw just a few years ago how quickly avian flu, which began in Vietnam, developed into a global threat for humans around the world. Together with Vabiotech, we will put cutting-edge technology in place to afford cost-effective protection.

Professor Agnes Nairn, Pro Prof Agnes Nairn accepts framed embroidered picture from Dr Do Tuan Dat of Vabiotech Vice Chancellor (Global Engagement) at the University of Bristol said: “As a university, we are committed to building research partnerships that help make a positive health impact on populations around the world, of which this initiative is set to do. We are delighted by this new funding for the Vaccine Hub which will see our efforts continue in fighting infectious diseases that have the potential to affect us all.”

Professor Robin Shattock, Chair in Mucosal Infection and Immunity at Imperial College London and Lead Investigator of the Hub said: “Through the establishment of the Future Vaccine Manufacturing Hub we are looking to exploit the next wave of biotechnology innovation to rapidly respond to emerging outbreaks and empower countries most at risk to infections to meet their local vaccine needs.”

Dr Dat, CEO and Senior Advisor at Vabiotech, said: “Never has it been more important to work together to help prevent and fight the spread of infectious diseases. The new cost-effective vaccine technology, pioneered at Bristol and shared with Vabiotech, is one example which will help many in our country and, ultimately, also others, who will access these vaccines.”

The hubs were announced by Minister for Health and Secondary Care Will Quince. He said: “I’m thrilled that the UK is building on its strong working relationship with global researchers by funding these innovative vaccine hubs, which will support partners across Africa and South East Asia to improve vaccine manufacturing capability.

“These innovative partnerships between British universities and vaccine developers – with £33 million of UK aid funding – will ensure vaccines are accessible to everyone in need, and allow us to future-proof health systems both here and abroad by accelerating the availability of new vaccines for future pandemics.”

The meeting was also attended by University of Bristol’s Professor Jeremy Tavare, Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean, Health and Life Sciences; Professor Liang-Fong Wong, Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor for Internationalisation; Professor Michele Barbour, Associate Pro-Vice Chancellor  for Enterprise and Innovation; Professor Elek Molnar, International Director of the Faculty of Life Sciences; Professor Nigel Savery, Head of the School of Biochemistry; and Dr Kathleen Sedgley, Mr Wayne Powell and Ms Justyna Gol from the Bristol BioDesign Institute.

The initiative is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care as part of the UK Vaccine Network (UKVN), a UK Aid programme to develop vaccines for diseases with epidemic potential in low and middle-income countries (LMICs).

(This news story was originally published by the University of Bristol)