Industrial biotechnology

The iPRD offers state-of-the-art, world-class facilities and expertise in process chemistry, particles and crystals engineering.

Established in 2008 and led by Professor John Blacker, the iPRD brought together experts from the fields of process chemistry and chemical engineering who work closely with Biome to develop technologies that deliver cost reductions, quality benefits, process intensification and reduce waste and energy utilisation in product manufacture.

Dr Andrew Carnell from the Department of Chemistry at the University of Liverpool, specialises in enzyme development and biotransformations. He has worked extensively with Biome to develop highly selective biotransformation processes for accessing key biochemical intermediates.

GeneMill is an open access synthetic biology foundry, located in the Institute of Integrative Biology at the University of Liverpool. GeneMill provides end-to-end design, construction and phenotypic characterisation of small to large gene constructs or genetic pathways for academic and industrial applications. Offering a wide range of expertise in Molecular Biology, Genomics, Bioinformatics and Metabolomics, GeneMill is supporting Dr Carnell’s work, complementing his expertise in synthetic chemistry and biocatalysis.

The GCCE, led by Professor James Clarke and Dr Thomas Farmer, is a world class academic facility for pioneering pure and applied green and sustainable chemical research through its technology platforms on microwave chemistry, alternative solvents, clean synthesis and bio-based mesoporous materials. The Centre places a strong emphasis on waste valorisation and clean technologies from gram to kilogram scale.

Professor Tim Bugg’s research focuses on biological chemistry and mechanistic enzymology. For the last four years, he has been working closely with Biome on the selective degradation of lignin containing substrates to form platform chemicals.

Please visit the Warwick University website for more information.

The BECT and SBRC team represented by Professor Alex Conradie and Dr Sam Bryan, are supporting Biome’s process development from lignin to polyesters by applying novel evolutionary tools to improve strain expression whilst coupling this with innovative chemical engineering.

CPI’s expertise lies in bridging the gap between early stage concept and scalable commercial processes. Through proof of concept testing and pilot scale trials CPI is working with Biome to accelerate the commercialisation of new products and process technologies.