Growing a plant-based biotech from seed – challenges, successes and future perspectives

Leaf Expression Systems is a contract development business specialising in the production of proteins and complex natural products for bio-medical and research applications using a proprietary, plant-based transient expression technology, Hypertrans®. In this seminar, I will use selected case studies to illustrate the application of our technology platform across a variety of protein classes; including virus-like particle-based vaccines, antibodies, enzymes and allergens. I will also discuss the journey so far and the various challenges to turning a scientific discovery into a growing biotechnology business.

The Hypertrans® system, originally developed by Professor George Lomonossoff and colleagues at the John Innes Centre, is based on a deleted version of Cowpea Mosaic Virus RNA-2. High-throughput vacuum infiltration of Agrobacterium tumefaciens is used to transfer the heterologous target gene(s) encoded within the T-DNA section of the pEAQ-HT vector to Nicotiana benthamiana leaves, facilitating extremely high-level and rapid production of recombinant proteins without viral replication.

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