The ultimate aim of the collaboration is to develop products that can replace petrochemicals in a variety of industries including plastics, adhesives and cosmetics.

Biochemical growth

Danisco spokesperson Natalie Weber said the biochemical industry is expected to make up 10 per cent of the overall chemical market by 2010.

Weber said growth will come from the importance of creating environmentally-friendly products and the desire to escape oil price volatility.

The research collaboration with BRAIN is designed to exploit this anticipated growth and comes after the two companies worked together in 2004 to develop a new enzyme product platform.

This time round, enzymes and biosynthetic pathways of interest will be genetically engineered in microbial strains for the production of biochemicals.

Great potential

Genencor decided to work with BRAIN because of the great potential offered by its collection of 150 million genes of yet uncultured microorganisms.

BRAIN will also bring to the table expertise in metagenomics and screening technologies while Genencor will draw on its own capabilities in metabolic pathway engineering and manufacturing of industrial bio-products.

“BRAIN’s capabilities and expertise in metagenomic enzyme discovery fits nicely within our model for open innovation where we look to make the transition from bench to market more effective and efficient,” said Dr Karl Sanford, VP technology development at Genencor.