We are delighed to announce that two of our team have been successful in a recent IBioIC call for investment. Dr Karl Burgess collaborating with Ingenza and Dr Huabing Yin collaborating with Nissan have secured just under £1M of investment.

Karl is working with Ingenza to develop technology to standardise biotechnology processes. Ingenza has a broad customer base across the chemicals, pharmaceuticals, food, feed and fuel industries. Working with the University of Glasgow over 18 months they will develop a technology to monitor biotechnology experiments in real time. The technology will enable the challenging task of bioprocess optimisation to be achieved much more efficiently and will benefit all bioprocesses from production of biopharmaceuticals to beer!

Huabing is working with Nissan Chemicals to produce bio-pigments for use in pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals and cosmetics. Japan-based chemical manufacturing company Nissan Chemicals will work with University of Glasgow over 18 months to engineer bacteria cell ‘factories’ to produce carotenoids. This is the pigment which gives colour to plants such as ripe tomatoes, carrots and autumn leaves. Carotenoids can be used across the production of pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, cosmetics and food chemicals.

The results will be formally announced in the upcoming ninth European Forum for Industrial Biotechnology and the Bioeconomy (EFIB) in Glasgow (October 18th – 20th) to an audience of industry executives committed to a shift towards renewable, biologically-based manufacturing. EFIB is organised by EuropaBio, Europe’s largest and most influential biotechnology industry group and will be supported in Glasgow by Team Scotland, which includes IBioIC, Scottish Enterprise, SECC and Glasgow City Marketing Bureau and partners such as The Knowledge Transfer Network and Innovate UK.


First published: 21 October 2016