New funding for live bacteria therapeutic development
The Innovate UK funding brings together Newcastle University spin out, GitLife Biotech with Aberdeen biotech company, NCIMB Ltd.
2 May 2024
A new 12-month project funded by Innovate UK will support the development of novel therapeutics that use live bacteria.
Two companies will work together on the project:
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Gitlife Biotech, a spin-out from Newcastle University
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NCIMB Ltd, a long-established Aberdeen-based biotech company.
The project will use engineering biology - the application of engineering principles to biology - to enhance the therapeutic potential of strains from NCIMB’s extensive collection of “good” bacteria.
Bacteria's positive impact on human health
There has recently been a step change in the understanding of how bacteria can positively impact human health.
But in a strongly regulated industry like healthcare, there is a need for well-documented information relating to strain provenance and integrity. In other words, it must be possible to accurately identify and track the specific strain used.
GitLife has developed a solution to meet this need. The approach could revolutionise data management in engineering biology and the development of live biotherapeutics.
GitLife CEO, Alastair Orr Ewing said: “Microorganisms are capable of producing many useful molecules. Engineering biology enables scientists to identify strains of bacteria that make natural substances of interest, and modify them to enhance production of those compounds.
"This process requires the cataloguing of the steps taken. We can develop this by enabling the better cataloguing of the data generated during the strain engineering process and create precise records of the resulting strains. It's a process similar to version control systems used in software engineering.
"Our proprietary biodata management tool, CellRepo generates unique codes from its stored data. These codes are converted into a unique DNA sequence - our products GenoStamp™ and GenoGuard™ which are then inserted into the organism that effectively acts as a unique bacterial barcode, differentiating the engineered strain from other strains of the same species”.
A transformative technology
Engineering biology is an emerging technology that has the potential to shape a healthier, more prosperous and sustainable future. The UK government published its first National Vision for Engineering Biology in December 2023, citing its potential to support key objectives in healthcare, manufacturing, environmental management and agriculture.
In this new project, GitLife Biotech will provide their cloud-based "version control" platform CellRepo to generate unique bacterial barcodes and effectively track digital arising from the cell engineering process of a specific bacteria species recognised for its pivotal role in gut health. NCIMB will engineer this bacteria to augment the production of essential substances relevant to gut health. If successful, a new engineered bacterial strain that can be used to maintain a healthy gut microbiome and treat or present disease will be developed.
Elaborating on the successful funding bid, Orr Ewing said: "We are delighted to have won this Innovate UK funding. Our goal is to be the global standard setter in the management, provenance and integrity for engineering biology, and collaborating with an established partner in NCIMB will help our progress.
"While this project is focused on a healthcare application there is potential to work in many other areas. Society increasingly looks to microorganisms to provide sustainable solutions to key challenges and this technology has a key role to play."
