Enzyme technology goes to market
massey-university
Wed Oct 13 2010 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)
Enzyme technology goes to market
Wednesday, 13 October 2010, 2:09 pm
Press Release: Massey University
Enzyme technology goes to market
A novel technology with the potential to improve high performance molecular biology applications has been licensed for manufacture and sale worldwide.
The technology, invented in the laboratory of Dr Wayne Patrick from the Institute of Natural Sciences at Albany, has resulted in a family of more active and efficient DNA ligases – proteins that catalyse the joining of adjacent DNA molecules. Ligases play a critical role in the rapidly expanding global market for commercial nucleic acid analysis technologies.
The University has signed a license agreement with United States-based Enzymatics, which will further develop, manufacture and market the improved enzymes. Enzymatics is a leader in the specialised production of analytical grade enzymes for DNA sequencing and molecular diagnostics.
Dr Patrick says the research addresses fundamental questions about the evolution of enzyme structure and function. “We used that fundamental understanding to help us engineer bio-molecules with new or improved functions.”
The biggest potential market for the improved enzyme is in next generation sequencing, estimated to be worth $US1.7 billion by 2013. It could lead to the faster development of personalised medicine.
In March, Dr Patrick was named Young Biotechnologist of the year by the organisation NZBIO. He is one of the youngest scientists to have received two Marsden Grants. He joined Massey in 2007 after four years of postdoctoral research at Emory University in Georgia, one of the world's leading research universities. His PhD is from Cambridge University and he has an honours degree in science from Otago University.
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Dr Patrick says he has gained a new understanding of the technology transfer process from what has been his first commercialisation experience. “It’s been extremely satisfying to watch my idea be brought to life by the talented young researchers in my lab group, and then to become a commercial reality thanks to the enthusiasm of Enzymatics.”
His research was partly funded by the Massey University Research Fund with support for commercialisation from the Pre-Seed Accelerator Fund. The license agreement was brokered by the Bio Commerce Centre (BCC), which is a commercialisation partner of Massey University.
ENDS
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