Bioengineering a non-pathogenic bacteria to produce medically-relevant biopolymers

Project Summary AbstractAlginate is a biopolymer with a wide array of applications infoodpersonal care products and biomedicineIn addition to its role as a tablet excipient and antacid treatmentalginates play an important role as a nonadherentexudate absorbing gelfor advanced wound care dressingsHistoricallyalginates for this application have been obtained from brown seaweedbut the problems with this source include decreasing yielddemand that is larger than the supplyand a fixed polymer composition that cannot be changed to produce unique alginates customized to enhance wound closure and prevent infectionsCertain species of bacteriaAzotobacterPseudomonasproduce alginatebut commercialization has been blocked by decreased or unstable synthesis of this polymer in cultureBreakthrough and patented technology was developed by Progenesis co founderDrHongwei Yu that involves a genetic signal to activate high and stable production in an engineered strain of PaeruginosaThe product of this SBIR project will be alginates of different monomer compositions and modificationacetylationthat are not produced by seaweedThese alginates will produce sodium or calcium gels with varying tensile strengthpore sizefluid retention and drug release rates that can be customized for improving the effectiveness of their application for alginate wound dressingIn the Phase I projecta strain of PaeruginosaPGNwas engineered that lacked the genes encoding products of concern to the FDA and essential to pathogenesisPGNis non pathogenic in mice similar to the FDA approved E coli KIn this phase II proposal Progenesis will further bio engineer the PGNstrain to produce alginates that will form gels of different tensile strengthporosity and fluid adsorption capability so that alginate wound dressings can be individualized for each patient s needsaimAimwill determine the physical chemical properties necessary to reduce wound closure time byrelative to seaweed alginate dressingsTo ensure adequate supply and profit margin Progenesis will bio engineer central carbon metabolism to increase the current yield of alginates byand scale up to aL bioreactoraimAchieving these aims will allow Progenesis to produce unique alginates tailored to enhance the healing of chronic wounds with a reportedglobal market of $billion USDAlginate containing dressings comprise aboutof the market$million USDThey are also the component of wound care that has the highest projected CAGR growth ratethroughThe preclinical data will be used to develop RandD agreements containing milestone payments with companies selling wound care productsAlso licensing agreements will be sought with companies producing seaweed alginate providing additional cash flow from royaltiesProgenesis will also market its suite of alginates to RandD laboratories for use in various research applications such as stem cell differentiationD cancer cell growthand tissue engineeringThis will provide a revenue stream while RandD and licensing agreements are negotiated