Category: Spinouts

UKRI highlights BBI work on COVID-19 in article on structural biology research

Posted on by wayne.powell

The UKRI has published an article celebrating the history of BBSRC-supported impact in structural biology, which mentions the research on the SARS-CoV-2 virus by BBI researchers Profs Christiane Berger-Schaffitzel and Imre Berger.

The article (Advances in structural biology research) says:

Professors Christiane Berger-Schaffitzel and Imre Berger at the University of Bristol were pooling their teams’ expertise to study how membrane proteins fold.

Their work was supported by BBSRC responsive mode and ALERT research equipment funding, the Wellcome Trust, and BrisSynBio, one of six synthetic biology centres in the UK. BrisSynBio was funded by BBSRC and EPSRC, and Professor Imre Berger is the director of the centre.

When the pandemic started, they pivoted to COVID-19 as part of University of Bristol’s UNCOVER, a COVID-19 emergency research group led by Professor Adam Finn from Bristol Medical School (PHS).

Using cryogenic electron microscopy, where researchers freeze samples and fire electrons to image proteins, they determined the 3D structure of SARS-CoV-2’s spike protein. They discovered a pocket in the spike protein that they showed contained linoleic acid, an essential fatty acid with key roles in regulating the immune response.

Collaborating with virologist Professor Andrew Davidson and his team, they found that binding linoleic acid to the spike blocked the virus from infecting and replicating, acting as an antiviral. Two medical doctors in the US began using linoleic acid as an emergency COVID-19 treatment. Work is ongoing to develop this technology and establish full regulatory approval for this therapy in the UK.

To achieve approval and bring the drug to patients, University of Bristol spin-out Halo Therapeutics Ltd was founded by Dr Daniel Fitzgerald (CEO), Professor Christiane Berger-Schaffitzel (Chief Technology Officer) and Professor Imre Berger (Chief Strategy Officer).

Halo is developing structure-based drugs to target unmet needs around disease treatment. The spin-out is leading the application for clinical trials for the fatty acid antiviral drug on patients.

If successful, the drug could be used to treat early infections or for those who have been in contact with an infected individual to prevent infection and transmission.

Halo is also not stopping at COVID-19, turning its attention to other respiratory infections and potential obesity treatments based on fatty acid metabolism, too.

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 features in UK Government’s National Vision for Engineering Biology

Posted on by wayne.powell

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.

Spinouts celebrate new investment

Posted on by wayne.powell

Five University of Bristol spinout companies with links to the Bristol BioDesign Institute and BrisSynBio have announced over £4m in new investment and awards.

Halo Therapeutics secured a £1.5 million investment, led by the Development Bank of Wales alongside Science Angel Syndicate (SAS) members and the KBA Group, to begin clinical trials of an easy-to-use, cost-effective, home therapeutic treatment for SARS-CoV-2 (coronaviruses). Halo was founded by CEO Dr Daniel Fitzgerald, Prof Christiane Berger-Schaffitzel, and Prof Imre Berger following research conducted as part of BrisSynBio. Imre, a Co-Director of the BBI, said the antiviral spray: “stops the virus from entering and multiplying in the nasal epithelial cells, where it can then spread to the throat and then into the lungs. It is a potential game-changer in the treatment and prevention of coronaviruses, particularly with the emergence of new viruses.”

Scarlet Therapeutics, which is working on a new technology to develop red blood cells that carry additional proteins within them to provide therapeutic benefit which can reach all parts of the body, has received funding to progress the innovation. Founded by Prof Ash Toye and Prof Jan Frayne, Scarlet Therapeutics has raised seed funding from Science Creates Ventures and Meltwind to build a pipeline of novel therapies to treat patients with a wide range of diseases, particularly metabolic disorders.

Rosa Biotech has secured £415,000 in Seed+ investment to accelerate development of its pioneering bio-sensing technology, designed to enable cost effective screening of a range of life-threatening diseases with high accuracy at an early stage. Rosa is initially targeting “the early identification of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) which, if left untreated can develop into steatohepatitis (NASH) leading to liver failure. The Western world has experienced a 100% increase in NASH cases during the last 30 years and this trend is expected to accelerate in the coming decades.”

Imophoron has announced a £2.4m extension to its seed funding round, following significant investment from Meiji Yasuda Future Innovation Fund L.P., managed by Global Brain. They join existing investors Octopus Ventures and Science Creates Ventures in the extension. Imophoron is developing novel, thermostable nanoparticle vaccines using its ADDomer™ platform.

CDotBio, which is cultivating novel carbon nanodot biotechnology for a new generation of efficient, productive, climate resilient crops, has been awarded £50,000 from the Blavatnik Prize for Innovation. The Prize “provides opportunities for start-ups, pre-registration teams, or individuals to launch a bespoke project that would support the commercialisation of their technologies or products”.