Biotechnology company Ingenza is excited to report the successful conclusion to its recent six-month project with Johnson Matthey, a speciality chemicals and sustainable technologies supplier. Together, the companies have developed new, efficient approaches for the production of industrially-relevant enzymes – including cytochrome P450 – through judicious selection of suitable microbial hosts.

Ingenza combined its comprehensive panel of microbial hosts, including Pichia pastoris,Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis with its visABLE® platform, and a proprietary predictive codon modification algorithm to select favourable genetic elements and significantly increase expression of the candidate enzymes. This approach was combined with automated high throughput screening of thousands of colonies performed at the Edinburgh Genome Foundry, using highly sensitive functional enzyme assays designed by Ingenza to rapidly identify the optimally performing clones with the highest level of enzyme secretion and activity towards different substrates.

Dr Ian Fotheringham, Managing Director at Ingenza, commented: “We have thoroughly enjoyed working closely with the team at Johnson Matthey over the last six months. We truly value this relationship, and the ease of communication between our companies has been critical to the project’s success. We look forward to a continued collaboration with Johnson Matthey, sharing our expertise and knowledge while consistently delivering our services.”

Dr Martin Hayes, Biotechnology Lead at Johnson Matthey, added: “We are very happy with the outcome of our collaboration with Ingenza, which has resulted in the successful expression of two very valuable enzymes. Ingenza was able to promptly deliver cell banks of different microbial strains, along with comprehensive reports, enabling us to conduct our in-house work in a timely manner. The company’s team of experts has shown great capacity to help us on this project, and we look forward to working with Ingenza again in the future.”

About Ingenza

Ingenza is a worldwide leader in the application of industrial biotechnology and synthetic biology, providing efficient scalable bioprocesses to manufacture chemicals, biologics, pharmaceuticals and biofuels, from sustainable sources. Its scientific and commercial activities are led by a management team with over 30 years’ experience in applied bioscience and the development and commercialisation of bio-based products. In addition to engaging in strategic partnerships to tailor its bioprocess services for clients, the company also licenses its proprietary bioprocess technologies.