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Aquapharm and c-LEcta collaboration on marine-derived biocatalysts
Posted On: July 25, 2012In a pioneering collaboration the leading Scottish biotechnology company Aquapharm and German industrial biotechnology firm c-LEcta are set to fast-track the discovery and commercialisation of a new wave of bio-catalysts.
c-LEcta is skilled in the identification and engineering of enzymes and strains for optimized bio-catalytic industry processes, whilst Aquapharm has proven expertise in harnessing the commercial potential of its unique collection of marine bacteria and fungi.
Together the partners will strengthen and expand their ability to provide innovative solutions across many market areas including production of natural, sustainably produced food, beverage and personal care ingredients.
Aquapharm & Medical Research Council evaluate EndoSeaRch- a new approach to digestive health
Posted On: May 14, 2012Scottish biotechnology firm Aquapharm has joined forces with the Medical Research Council’s Human Nutrition Research unit (MRC HNR) in Cambridge to evaluate the potential of a new approach to digestive health, called EndoSeaRch™.
The two parties are seeking to modulate certain bacterial populations of the gastrointestinal tract with orally delivered synthetic minerals in models of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). These may include food supplements and ingredients for humans and farm animals, as well as novel therapeutic agents that could lead to better treatment, or even prevention of, human gut diseases such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and IBD.
EndoSeaRch™ represents the first in-vivo application for SeaRch™ – a patented Aquapharm technology for stimulating bacteria that form bio-films to maximise the range of bio-chemicals they produce in response to oxidative stress. The agents used by Aquapharm to induce stress include a variety of trace elements such as iron, copper and manganese, which are essential micronutrients of the human diet. The bio-chemicals produced by the bacteria include a wide range of natural anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant agents, which formed the historic defences used by the organisms to overcome environmental and competitive stresses.
Scots and Aussie scientists team up to research marine microbes
Posted On: March 12, 2012A leading Scottish marine biotechnology firm has joined forces with the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) in a bid to discover innovative and high-value products from micro-organisms.
Scientists from Aquapharm Biotechnology are to be given exclusive commercial access to a selection of Australian marine microbes in the AIMS Bioresources Library.
Aquapharm believes the deal will lead to the discovery of useful new active ingredients for use in pharmaceutical, nutritional and personal care products.
Jon Williams, VP Commercial at Aquapharm, explained: “AIMS is amongst the world’s top specialist research institutions, and it has cultivated a sizeable collection of marine micro-organisms from Australia’s unique marine territory. This territory spans an immense 16 million square kilometres, leading to high biodiversity and the potential for novel microbes and their products.
“Aquapharm has signed an agreement with AIMS that grants us exclusive commercial access to a select range of these organisms for testing and development, with the option to conclude an exclusive licence agreement for commercialization if they are found to be suitable.
Scots and Nordic scientists set to explore sustainable skincare utilizing marine natural ingredients
Posted On: January 30, 2012Scottish company Aquapharm has joined forces with Norwegian firm Aqua Bio Technology (ABT) to create a new generation of sustainable ingredients for the skincare market.
Together the companies hope to identify natural marine ingredients that could replace the petroleum-based components used extensively within the skincare market.
Scientists at Aquapharm believe marine microbes are the key to finding the bio-active ingredients of the future, and have developed specialist fermentation processes to source and produce such extracts.
Now they will undertake a development program in conjunction with ABT, sharing their expertise in a bid to prove these extracts can be produced with minimal environmental impact – and successfully commercialized for the personal care market.
Aquapharm and CABI sign collaborative agreement
Posted On: October 6, 2011Scottish marine biotechnology firm Aquapharm has signed an agreement with the Centre for Agricultural Bioscience International (CABI) which will allow the organisations to access and co-promote one another’s unique microbe collections.
Aquapharm specialises in the discovery, isolation and development of novel functional active ingredients, sustainably harvested from marine micro-organisms for potential use in a wide range of commercial sectors.
Meanwhile not-for-profit organisation CABI – which is highly respected for its cutting-edge research – applies scientific expertise to solve problems in agriculture and the environment, with a focus on scientific publishing, development and research, and microbial services.
The agreement sets out how Aquapharm and CABI will share know-how and resources, paving the way for the future commercialisation of a variety of microbial strains/extracts.
Aquapharm appoints new Senior Vice President
Posted On: March 9, 2011Aquapharm Biodiscovery Ltd., a leading Scottish marine biotechnology company, today announced the appointment of another prominent industry figure to its team.
Bertrand Lehuu, who has almost 30 years’ experience in senior roles in many of Europe’s biggest pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, joins Aquapharm as Senior Vice President (SVP) -Pharma Business.
Bertrand is well known as a bio-pharmaceutical deal-maker and will be responsible for business development in this field for Aquapharm.
After gaining his Doctorate of Pharmacology from Paris University, Bertrand has built his career as a Business Development specialist in the Pasteur Institute, Flamel Technologies, F-Hoffmann La Roche Ltd., Basilea, Neuro3d, BioXell and most recently PharmaSwiss.
His new role at Aquapharm marks a return to the cutting-edge of biotechnology in a company focused on discovering and developing new pharmaceutical, personal care and nutritional products from its unique collection of marine micro-organisms.
Bertrand will play a strategic role in the development and future growth of the company which, in the last year alone, has attracted a significant amount of funding and struck several research partnerships.
2010 has seen Aquapharm go from strength-to-strength, securing £4.2 million of funding from existing investors Aescap Venture, Tate & Lyle Ventures, Highlands & Islands Enterprise and NESTA.
Highlighting the diversity and depth of its research, the company has also entered into a collaboration with Albany Molecular Research to identify novel anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory drug-candidates; Dundee University to develop compounds that may help in the fight against Alzheimer’s; and Leatherhead Food Research to identify food preservatives.
Today’s announcement of Aquapharm’s newest recruit is the latest in a series of prominent appointments, latterly that of Mats Pettersson who joined the Board in January this year. In 2010, serial biotech entrepreneur Prof. Simon Best joined the company as CEO, while Dr Tim Morley was named Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) and Aquapharm founder Dr Andrew Mearns Spragg moved to the role of Chief Technology Officer (CTO).
Source: Company release
Mats Pettersson joins Aquapharm board
Posted On: January 14, 2011Aquapharm Biodiscovery Ltd., a leading Scottish marine biotechnology company, recently announced the appointment of a prominent industry figure to its board, Mats Pettersson, who has more than 30 years’ experience in leadership roles in several of Europe’s biggest pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Pettersson joins Aquapharm as a non-Executive Director.
Pettersson was previously a Senior Vice President at Pharmacia from which he led the spinout of BioVitrum, growing the organisation to become one of Europe’s most successful public biotech companies. His impressive CV also includes seats on the boards of leading pharmaceutical companies such as Lundbeck and biotechs including Ablynx, to-BBB and Photocure.
SAMS and Aquapharm sign marine products agreement
Posted On: November 30, 2010AQUAPHARM Biodiscovery, a leading marine biotechnology company, has announced it has signed a long-term agreement with the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) to discover, develop and launch new marine products derived from marine micro-organisms.
Under the terms of this agreement, SAMS will provide Aquapharm with privileged access to the vast array of marine samples that it has collected from diverse marine habitats around the globe. Aquapharm will then apply its extensive culturing and marine fermentation know-how to these samples to capture and harness the full microbial biodiversity that they contain, further expanding the scope of its collection of marine micro-organisms.
Once Aquapharm has cultured and identified the range of novel microbial species present in these samples, it will draw out their unique biochemistry through the application of its suite of screening technologies, including SeaRch™, in some cases activating otherwise inaccessible, dormant biosynthetic pathways to produce a cocktail of chemical diversity that Aquapharm will convert into candidate functional ingredients or pharmaceuticals.
Joint investigation by Aquapharm and Leatherhead seeks to uncover new natural preservatives from marine bacteria and fungi
Posted On: October 21, 2010A new joint investigation by Aquapharm and Leatherhead is seeking to uncover new natural preservatives from marine bacteria and fungi.
Aquapharm Biodiscovery believes its substantial collection of marine bacteria and fungi from a variety of diverse sources could offer some solutions. It has teamed up with Leatherhead Food International to develop a source of naturally-derived anti-microbial compounds.
Based at the European Centre for Marine Biotechnology in Oban on Scotland’s West coast, Aquapharm uses it epigenetics platform to expose these microorganisms to stresses that they would not normally be exposed to, which allows conformational changes in the DNA structure and wakes up silent genetic pathways.
In this way the microorganisms can be stimulated to produce novel, biologically active compounds.
AquaPharm is drawn up its shortlist, Leatherhead Food Research – which has experience in the identification, evaluation and application of new preservatives for foods – will screen it against its collection of food spoilage organism to measure the preservative performance.
The results of the collaboration will be made available to industry via Leatherhead’s membership network and an industry partner or partners may further develop and commercialise them.
Aquapharm and Dundee University Sign Research Collaboration to find Marine Compounds to target Alzheimer’s
Posted On: September 26, 2010Aquapharm Biodiscovery, a leading marine biotechnology company, recently announced it has signed a research agreement with Dundee University to help it develop new drugs based on marine natural products that may help in the fight against Alzheimer’s.
Alzheimer’s is a disease marked by the formation of insoluble protein aggregates in the brain with associated progressive degeneration of the neurons. The collaboration is aimed at O-GIcNAcase, a well-documented target for Alzheimer’s, that modulates the solubility of the protein in these aggregates but that has been difficult to target with conventional small-molecule libraries. It therefore forms an ideal opportunity to demonstrate that Aquapharm’s growing collection of novel and diverse marine-derived compounds and scaffolds can modulate a clinically attractive but pharmacologically challenging target for a disease for which new solutions are urgently required.
Aquapharm will be working with Professor Daan van Aalten, Professor of Biological Chemistry at the University, who brings to the collaboration expertise in studying the structural aspects and mechanism of protein-carbohydrate interactions, and applies this knowledge to design molecules that modulate these interactions in biological systems as research tools or leads for the development of chemotherapeutics.
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