New $4.5 million facility opens doors to stronger collaboration

16 Jan 2014
Bioproton managing director Henrik von Hellens (left), AIBN's Dr Rob Speight, Bioproton technical manager Juhani von Hellens and Minister Ian Walker.
Bioproton managing director Henrik von Hellens (left), AIBN's Dr Rob Speight, Bioproton technical manager Juhani von Hellens and Minister Ian Walker.

A new facility for enzyme formulation and production has been opened, strengthening a collaboration between the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology and industry partner Bioproton.

Queensland Science and Innovation Minister Ian Walker yesterday opened Bioproton’s new $4.5 million state of the art export factory and laboratory at Acacia Ridge.

The facility will provide a route to validate and scale up development and production of new and improved animal feed enzymes resulting from AIBN research.

Enzymes are used in animal feed to speed up biochemical reactions and help improve digestive processes leading to healthier animals and more efficient use of feed.

AIBN Associate Professor Stephen Mahler said the enzymes could be engineered to achieve desired properties such as increased thermostability and activity.

“The engineered enzymes can now be tested in the new Bioproton lab and directly compared to industrial products already on the market,” A/Prof Mahler said.

The collaboration with Bioproton and A/Prof Mahler was initiated in 2008 and has since expanded to involve Prof Kirill Alexandrov from the Institute for Molecular Bioscience and AIBN’s Dr Robert Speight.

It has resulted in an Australian Research Council Linkage Project grant, using novel technology developed in Prof Alexandrov’s lab for selecting and testing engineered enzymes.

Dr Speight said testing results in an industrial lab would help direct future research “to produce enzymes that have real benefits for farmers and for Bioproton’s business”.

“This new facility will strengthen the collaboration. It will also be a catalyst to help us collaborate with researchers and companies in the fermentation scale-up, feed milling and animal feed testing areas.”

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