Business digest

Researchers at the department of chemistry at King’s College London have found a rapid method for making cyclic peptides – an important class of antibiotic molecules. The approach takes minutes rather than the hours or days it normally takes, helping overcome a major challenge in antibiotic development. The team studied a naturally produced cyclic peptide which has promising activity against the bacteria that causes TB. They found that when using the encoded sequence of amino acids from the natural peptide to make synthetic peptides, it enabled their peptides to cyclise very quickly. The team believes this simple approach can make modified versions of the molecules used in antimicrobials, which can be used to develop new antibiotics.

German chemicals company BASF has announced plans to expand the global production capacity of its Basoflux range of paraffin inhibitors at its site in Tarragona, Spain. This will enable BASF’s Oilfield Chemicals business to meet the current and future demand of novel paraffin inhibitors for the oil & gas industry. Additional assets will create efficiencies and flexibility in the production of newly developed solutions, such as more sustainable aqueous-based dispersion paraffin inhibitors and solvent-based products. This plant expansion will also enable BASF to react swiftly to on-demand changes in the market. First deliveries are expected for the beginning of 2025.

UK sustainable technologies company Johnson Matthey (JM) has been selected by US eFuels company HIF Global as the methanol licensor for HIF Global’s Paysandú eFuels project in Uruguay, using JM’s e-methanol eMERALD technology. The facility will be the largest e-methanol plant in South America and will use electrolytic (green) hydrogen and waste CO2 from an ethanol plant to produce e-methanol. E-methanol, through use of renewable feedstocks, enables the production of a lower-carbon fuel versus traditional methanol.

UK biopharma PhoreMost has announced the introduction of GlueSEEKER, a new phenotypic screening platform, which uses computationally designed intramolecular libraries to create a vast diversity of surface-edited E3 ligases. Phenotypic screening is deployed to identify specific sites and precise changes resulting in induced degradation activity – integrating deep computational approaches with novel biological discovery. GlueSEEKER supports the systematic discovery and development of novel molecular glue degraders for targeted protein degradation. These represent an important new class of small molecule drugs that exhibit a therapeutic effect by enhancing the affinity between proteins, inducing new interactions or stabilising a molecular complex.

Cellular Origins, a UK company focused on enabling scalable, cost-effective and efficient manufacture of cell and gene therapies (CGTs), and the UK’s Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult (CGT Catapult), an independent innovation and technology organisation specialising in the advancement of the cell and gene therapy industry, have announced a collaboration to demonstrate universal automation of CGT manufacturing. The partnership will undertake the physical and digital integration of existing bioprocessing equipment at the CGT Catapult’s Stevenage Manufacturing Innovation Centre using Cellular Origins’ robotic platform, Constellation. The partnership aims to demonstrate the benefits of automation in real-world applications.

UK mass photometry technologies company Refeyn has opened its new 1000m2 US Headquarters and Customer Interaction Center in Waltham’s Biotech Hub in Greater Boston, Massachusetts, US. Alongside offices, meeting and training rooms, the laboratory space in the new HQ enables customers across North America to visit to run samples and test applications.

Kelpi, a UK company using seaweed to create sustainable packaging, has secured £4.35m in new funding. Co-founded by Chris Chuck from the University of Bath’s Department of Chemical Engineering, the firm will use the investment to launch its biomaterial technology in the food and drink and cosmetics and personal care sectors. The funding round will allow Kelpi to grow its team, advance manufacturing pilots and gain regulatory approval for proprietary coatings for paper and card. Kelpi’s commercial roll-out has won R&D contracts with global companies, including French personal care company L’Oréal, UK alcoholic beverage company Diageo and UK supermarket Waitrose.

Hexigone Inhibitors, a UK company that specialises in patented micro-reservoir technology added to paints and protective coatings to prevent corrosion, has announced international deals in India, Mexico, US and across South and Central America. Their corrosion inhibitors help to reduce corrosion damage on boats, vessels, cars, planes, oil tanks and buildings. The Swansea University spin out was founded by CEO Patrick Dodds to supply a safe alternative to hexavalent chromate – the most widely used corrosion inhibitor – which was banned in Europe in 2019 as a known human carcinogen. Hexigone’s sustainable inhibitors are claimed to be over ten-times more effective than market leading alternatives and have even outperformed hexavalent chromate and the now leading anti-corrosion inhibitor, zinc phosphate.

Finnish oil refiner and engineering services provider Neste, Austrian plastics manufacturer Borealis and German high-tech polymers company Covestro have signed a project agreement to recycle discarded tyres into high-quality plastics for automotive applications. The collaboration aims at driving circularity in plastics value chains and the automotive industry. When no longer fit for use, tyres will be liquefied through chemical recycling, processed into base chemicals and then into high purity polycarbonates. These can then be used in various automotive applications.

The UK government has announced a new independent UK Semiconductor Institute, which will bring together government, universities and the private sector to support key components of the government’s £1bn Semiconductor Strategy to grow the sector. The new body will be a single point of contact to promote the sector to investors and attract foreign investment in British research expertise. The UK has also secured access to Horizon Europe’s €1.3bn Chips Joint Undertaking and made sure the UK Infrastructure Bank can invest its £22bn of financial capacity into semiconductor manufacturers.

French food-products corporation Danone and French tyre manufacturer Michelin, plus US start-up DMC Biotechnologies and French bank Crédit Agricole Centre France have agreed to create the Biotech Open Platform to bolster the development of advanced fermentation processes, particularly precision fermentation, on a larger scale. Precision fermentation is a revolutionary biotechnological process to produce bio-based materials and ingredients. With an investment of over €16m in the first phase, the industrial and technological platform will be located in Clermont-Ferrand in central France.

The World BioProtection Forum and the Indian Chamber of Food and Agriculture have signed a landmark memorandum of understanding that sets the stage for a partnership aimed at promoting sustainable agriculture and biocontrol products and technologies. Key elements of the partnership cover innovation and R&D, regulatory advocacy, strategic alliances, market expansion and training.

Researchers from the UK’s Manchester Institute of Biotechnology and the Institute for Protein Design have launched an initiative to transform engineering biology for industrial applications. The International Centre for Enzyme Design (ICED) brings together leading international research teams to establish a fully integrated computational and experimental platform to develop a new generation of industrial biocatalysts. The centre has been awarded £1.2m through an International Centre to Centre grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, part of UK Research and Innovation. ICED will employ deep-learning protein design tools to accelerate the development of new biocatalysts for use across the chemical industry.

UK nanomaterial producer iGii has announced £8.8m in new funding from the Scottish National Investment Bank and existing investors to accelerate growth. The Stirling-based company, formerly known as Integrated Graphene, will use the funds to accelerate customer projects, increase its manufacturing capacity, and deepen its research and development to explore further applications of its patented Gii material.

US chemicals producer INEOS Olefins & Polymers USA (a subsidiary of UK chemicals producer INEOS) and US clean energy company NextEra Energy Resources have announced groundbreaking on INEOS Hickerson Solar, a new 310MW solar project located in Bosque County, Texas, US. The entire output of this cutting-edge solar project will be dedicated to INEOS O&P USA, aiming to cover the net purchased electricity load for all 14 of INEOS O&P USA’s manufacturing, fractionation and storage facilities.

Bionema Group, a UK-based R&D company and winner of the King’s Award for Innovation, has announced a tender for marketing its range of environmentally friendly plant health management products.