TRANSIENT DELIVERY FOR AGRONOMIC PERFORMANCE

Started in 2008; main approach is based on spraying plants with Agrobac­teria.
Extensive proof of prin­ciple with multiple crops, multiple traits. Several patent applic­a­tions. In search of a stra­tegic partner.

Natural Non-Antibiotic Antibacterials for Food Safety and Healthcare


There is an urgent need in novel anti­bac­terials because of increased anti­bi­otic resis­tance of human and animal patho­gens. Target patho­gens for food safety are patho­genic Escheri­chia coli, Listeria mono­cyt­o­genes, Salmon­ella enterica, Clostridium perfrin­gens, Campy­lob­acter spp., etc. Non-anti­bi­otic anti­mi­cro­bials are known for all target patho­gens (coli­cins, lysins, bacteri­ocins, etc.), but current produc­tion costs are too high and specificities are too narrow.

NOMAD’s SOLUTION

We propose using plant-made anti­mi­cro­bial proteins as an altern­ative to conven­tional anti­bi­otics. We cloned and success­fully expressed over 130 coli­cins, colicin-like proteins and phage endolysins. We tested them for control of patho­genic Escheri­chia coli, Listeria, Salmon­ella, Clostridium, etc. We developed effic­a­cious colicin cock­tails against the ‘Big Seven’ STEC coli strains. These data were published in mile­stone paper in PNAS in Sep 2015.
We obtained excel­lent results with Salmon­ella and multidrug resistant E. coli.
Process of manu­fac­turing and storage for coli­cins was developed; corres­ponding techno-economic analysis was performed.
First two GRAS applic­a­tion for the US were approved in 2015 and 2017; several GRAS applic­a­tions are in prepar­a­tion.

Bioethanol and Industrial Enzymes

Cellulases

Cellu­lase enzymes account for 30-40% of bioeth­anol cost-of-goods. For bioeth­anol produc­tion, high tonnage of cellu­lases is needed to achieve required 1-6% w/w of cellu­lose residues treated. NOMAD’s tech­no­logy allows to produce cellu­lases in green plants at commodity agri­cul­tural prices. We expressed over 30 recom­binant cellu­lases and showed them to be active. Silage storage as an inter­me­diate was developed. Proof of concept with indu­cible trans­genic hosts was completed.

OTHER ENZYMES, PROTEINS

NOMAD provides low cost manu­fac­turing solu­tions. Our manu­fac­turing plat­forms are broadly applic­able. Our plat­forms allows produc­tion of recal­cit­rant enzymes and other proteins. We developed the process for manu­fac­turing sweet protein thau­matin and received GRAS regis­tra­tion for it.

Healthcare: ICON Genetics subsidiary

  • ICON Genetics was founded in 1999 by Yuri Gleba; the company raised €26 M (equity, debt, grants).
  • ICON was acquired by Bayer in January 2006.
  • 2006-2011, Bayer invested over €100 M in the project:
    – Developed expres­sion processes, including magnICON® tech­no­logy;
    – Indi­vidu­al­ized vaccines for Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL) developed for Bayer;
    – Built GMP-certi­fied manu­fac­turing unit in Halle;
    – Phase I clin­ical trials with indi­vidu­al­ized cancer vaccines, completed 2013;
    – ‘Biobetter’ and other product candid­ates in pre-clin­ical phase.
  • January 2012, NOMAD acquired ICON from Bayer.
  • January 2013, NOMAD acquired NHL product candidate from Bayer.
  • August 2015, NOMAD sold ICON (but only IP rights to vaccines and diagnostics) to Denka for $85 M.
  • September 2015, NOMAD created Nambawan Biotech GmbH, a wholly owned subsi­diary, to continue commer­cialize health­care product candid­ates other than vaccines.

Lysis of Clostridium perfrin­gens NCTC8237 cells with plant-made bacterio­phage endolysin psm (3-18 min post treat­ment). Video by Dr. Vaiva Kazanavi­ciute, UAB Nomads.