An 8 million Euros grant was attributed by the EU to
the ShikiFactory100 project,
an international effort coordinated by biotech SME SilicoLife, in cooperation
with some of the most relevant players in Europe, covering leading research
institutions, SMEs and a large industrial company. The ShikiFactory100 project
aims towards the production of a universe of more than 100 high-value compounds
from the shikimate pathway, a hub in cell metabolism, through the development
of an optimized chassis and the proposal and implementation of novel
biosynthetic routes for the production of known and new to nature molecules.
NNFCC joins 10 other partners from 7 countries, including Portugal, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, the UK, and the Netherlands.
The development of economically feasible and sustainable
biotechnological processes as alternatives to oil-based chemistry is one of the
major goals of the bio-based economy. The global chemical industry has
initiated a crucial transition from petrochemical processes to bio-based
chemical processes. Synthetic biology and bio-based processes are expected to
become the preferred approach to produce chemicals from renewable feedstocks
using cell factories.
The project will develop and consolidate an integrated
Synthetic Biology platform for engineering tailored strains, based on
simplified and optimized genomes for the efficient, cost-effective bio-based
production of chemicals around the shikimate hub.
Facts and figures about ShikiFactory100
- The ShikiFactory100 (Modular cell factories for the production of 100 compounds from the shikimate pathway) grant was given as part of a call from EU within the Horizon2020 program “Synthetic biology to expand diversity of nature's chemical production”.
- The research partners will develop novel methods for pathway discovery and compound design, collaborating with the companies in the rapid prototyping of genetic pathway designs, implementation and optimization of the chassis, while the SMEs and the industrial partner will lead the assessment of the products and the exploitation of the results for different application areas.