Researchers from the London College of Hygiene & Tropical Medication (LSHTM) have been awarded £2m funding by the UK Analysis and Innovation’s (UKRI) Expertise Missions Fund, to develop novel vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics.
The funding is a part of a £12.3 million award to develop a GlycoCell Engineering Biology Mission Hub, based mostly on the College of Nottingham.
The Hub will convey collectively a variety of specialists from totally different fields to unlock the potential of glycans, sugar-based biomolecules that perform inside our cells and proteins.
Glycans have an enormous affect on our biology, are integral to the best way that our immune system interacts with pathogens and be certain that many fashionable prescription drugs perform correctly. Nevertheless, they’re presently very troublesome to check and manufacture, and are typically known as the “darkish matter” of biology.
With the brand new funding, The Hub will concentrate on additional examine of their interactions, in addition to exploiting fashionable applied sciences to allow their bio-manufacture. The staff hope this can speed up vaccine discovery and manufacturing, generate new therapeutics and diagnostics, and dramatically scale back the manufacturing prices of superior medicine.
Glycans or sugars play key roles in each elementary biology and biotechnology.
The GlycoCell consortium will exploit novel Engineering Biology approaches to provide more practical glycan-based therapeutics, diagnostics and vaccines.”
Professor Brendan Wren, Co-Director of each the GlycoCell Engineering Biology Mission Hub and LSHTM’s Vaccine Centre
Professor Wren’s fellow co-director and precept investigator for the Hub, Dr John Heap, from the College of Life Sciences on the College of Nottingham, stated:
“We’re delighted to obtain this important funding from DSIT and UKRI to take the GlycoCell Hub ahead.
“It’s going to make a number one, transformative contribution to bringing a few more healthy, extra sustainable, equitable and affluent future.”
Alongside the College of Nottingham, the challenge will probably be a collaboration between researchers at Imperial Faculty London, the College of Dundee, the Quadram Institute, and the College of Exeter and three industrial companions – Iceni Glycoscience, Synthace Restricted, Incepta Prescribed drugs Ltd.
The Hub is considered one of six new Engineering Biology Mission Hubs and 22 Mission Award initiatives introduced by the Science, Analysis and Innovation Minister, Andrew Griffith, designed to unlock the potential of Engineering Biology.
GlycoCell will:
- Unlock our capability to program glycan sugars, opening a world of analysis alternatives in biology and medical biotechnology.
- Design, check and make many new therapeutics, diagnostics and vaccines towards pathogens that impression human and animal well being.
- Improve our epidemic preparedness.
- Counteract antimicrobial resistance by growing vaccines towards bacterial and fungal pathogens, lowering our reliance on antibiotics to fight these threats.
- Develop the know-how to maneuver manufacturing of superior medicine to microbial hosts, significantly lowering their price due to scalable manufacturing.
- Construct and deploy GlycoForge, a specialist automated facility, as a UK nationwide asset that may routinely develop vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics, and will probably be able to ship a 100-day speedy response to new pandemic threats.
- Prepare the present technology and develop future leaders in Engineering Biology for academia, trade and the general public sector.
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