Promoters for Improved Protein & Biopharmaceutics Production in Mammalian Cells

Online, March 7, 2013 (Newswire.com) - The TSB grant will fund a collaborative project to develop synthetic promoters that constitutively drive high levels of gene expression in mammalian cell lines. These promoters will have applications in life science research tools as well as in biologics manufacturing, increasing production yields for biopharmaceuticals and reagents. Over half of currently marketed biopharmaceuticals are manufactured in mammalian cell lines.

Dr Michael L Roberts, Synpromics CEO, commented, "we are excited at the opportunity to lead this important project and we applaud the support being provided by the Technology Strategy Board to the rapidly emerging field of synthetic biology. The project will bring together Synpromics's innovations in synthetic promoter design, Genabler's technology platform for controlled and efficient DNA assembly, and SynthSys's leading expertise in robotics and systems biology. The combination of these technologies is expected not only to deliver synthetic promoters that can drive higher expression levels for biologics manufacturing and drug discovery applications, but also to generate a novel and more efficient means of synthetic promoter construction with broader uses across the biotech spectrum."

For more information on the UK Government's £5.3 million investment in the Synthetic Biology sector, from which the Synpromics grant has been awarded, please see the following announcement from the cabinet office Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

About Genabler

Genabler provides synthetic biology solutions to corporate partners to accelerate new product development, increase sustainability, and cut costs. Genabler solutions are based on a proprietary technology for DNA assembly, the key step in making new biologies for innovations in biopharmaceuticals, agricultural biotechnology, energy, industrial biotechnology, and consumer products. For more information visit www.genabler.com, or contact: [email protected].

About the University of Edinburgh

Founded in 1583, the University of Edinburgh has for more than 400 years been one of the most influential centres of knowledge in the world. Inventions linked to Edinburgh include the thesaurus, the TB vaccination, the microchips that power iPod music players and Dolly the Sheep, the world's first cloned animal. Today Edinburgh is home to some 31,000 students and 12,000 staff. The University of Edinburgh was ranked 21st in the world in the last QS World University Rankings. SynthSys is the Centre for Synthetic and Systems Biology originally established in 2007 at the University's Kings Buildings campus. Research carried out at the center aims to extend our understanding of genetic and chemical regulation in biological systems and to use this understanding to solve the challenges facing industrial biotechnology, clinical medicine and agriculture. For more information visit www.synthsys.ed.ac.uk.

About the Technology Strategy Board

The Technology Strategy Board is the UK's innovation agency. Its goal is to accelerate economic growth by stimulating and supporting business-led innovation. Sponsored by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), the Technology Strategy Board brings together business, research and the public sector, supporting and accelerating the development of innovative products and services to meet market needs, tackle major societal challenges and help build the future economy. For more information please visit www.innovateuk.org.