Aquapharm and CABI sign collaborative agreement
03 October 2011
Scottish marine biotechnology firm Aquapharm has signed an
agreement with the Centre for Agricultural Bioscience International
(CABI) which will allow the organisations to access and co-promote
one another's unique microbe collections.
Aquapharm specialises in the discovery, isolation and
development of novel functional active ingredients, sustainably
harvested from marine micro-organisms for potential use in a wide
range of commercial sectors.
Meanwhile not-for-profit organisation CABI - which is highly
respected for its cutting-edge research - applies scientific
expertise to solve problems in agriculture and the environment,
with a focus on scientific publishing, development and research,
and microbial services.
The agreement sets out how Aquapharm and CABI will share
know-how and resources, paving the way for the future
commercialisation of a variety of microbial strains/extracts.
Jon Williams, Aquapharm's Business Development Director, said:
"This collaboration recognises Aquapharm's position as a leader in
the sustainable commercial exploitation of marine resources, and we
are excited by the opportunities it will bring.
"We and CABI now have access to strains which were outside our
own collections, and will also share know-how on the production and
culturing of select extracts.
"Our fields of interest are wide-ranging, from pharmaceutical
and nutrition, to personal care and speciality chemicals and we
believe this partnership agreement will undoubtedly maximise our
opportunities to identify suitable compounds or active ingredients
going forward."
Paul Bridge, CABI's Director of Bioservices, said: "The
properties of microorganisms have been exploited by man for
thousands of years, particularly in food preservation, brewing, and
baking. They have been the source of many marvellous discoveries
that have saved millions of lives and solved problems as diverse as
pest attacks on agricultural crops and over-consumption of energy
and chemicals in industrial processes. We find more uses for them
every day: in products used to control pollution, improve food
storage, fight bacteria, and develop medicines.
"This agreement between Aquapharm and CABI will allow us
combined access to a wide variety of strains that our researchers
can use in the future development of products for the benefit of
mankind and the environment."
Aquapharm, which has bases in Edinburgh and Oban, has assembled
a unique collection of marine micro-organisms, comprising over
8,750 viable strains of bacteria, fungi and yeasts, from a wide
variety of marine habitats.
CABI, a United Nations treaty-level organisation owned by its
member countries, operates the CABI Bioservices unit specialising
in the provision of microbiological services to worldwide clients
and maintains a collection of some 28,000 living cultures including
microfungi and bacteria.
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