The development of a commercially scalable extraction process for Aramune™ a novel plant based immunomodulatory polysaccharide with ICURe substantiated commercial application in animal feed, nutraceutical and pharmaceutical markets

现代农业系统的目标是以最大的产量和最低的成本生产最高质量的食物。为了实现这些目标，农民积极管理牲畜的健康和福祉，以减少疾病。使用现代畜牧技术，农民可以预防许多疾病和感染，否则会给他们的动物带来痛苦，并危及他们的牛群或牛群的商业生存能力。农民历史上一直部分依赖于在动物饲料中加入抗菌化合物来控制细菌感染。这导致了牲畜对抗生素的抗药性，并加剧了人类的抗药性。此外，一些抗菌化合物，如氧化锌，通过牲畜的粪便，造成严重的环境污染。氧化锌对环境的污染已经变得如此令人担忧，以至于从2022年起，它将在欧盟被禁止，而在动物饲料中使用抗生素正变得越来越受到全球的限制。这些监管措施剥夺了农民获得确保牛群/羊群健康和生产性能的有效治疗的机会，现在迫切需要安全有效的替代疗法。据估计，仅氧化锌禁令就将对养猪业产生深远影响，仅在欧盟每年就可能导致高达9.5亿GB的产量损失。这样的经济损失将不可避免地导致消费者价格上涨。贝尔法斯特女王大学(Queens University Belfast)的布莱恩·格林(Brian Green)及其同事发现，在植物中发现了一种天然多糖(碳水化合物)化合物，当对其进行纯化并添加到饲料中时，可以增强仔猪的自然免疫力。这种化合物使猪能够抵抗肠道感染，并保持最佳的生长速度。在农场试验中，这种新化合物的性能与氧化锌相当。这一突破为猪和其他家畜生产商提供了及时的生命线。在由Innovate UK资助的一项商业可行性计划中，QUB研究科学家Gonçalo Rosas da Silva发现，在伴生动物物种(如狗和猫)中，同样需要通过饮食控制肠道细菌，以避免相关的过敏性皮肤和其他疾病，否则将使用抗生素治疗。Aramune Technologies Ltd(ATL)是QUB的一个分支，专门开发新的植物多糖技术。在这个项目中，ATL将开发一种可扩展的工艺，用于该化合物的商业提取，最初将用于猪饲料，后来用于其他牲畜和同伴动物的饲料。

Modern farming systems aim to produce the highest quality food at maximum volume and lowest cost. To achieve these objectives farmers actively manage the health and wellbeing of livestock to reduce disease. Employing modern husbandry techniques, farmers can prevent many diseases and infections that would otherwise cause distress to their animals and compromise the commercial viability of their herd or flock.Farmers have historically relied in part on the inclusion of antimicrobial compounds in animal feed to control bacterial infection. This has led to antibiotic resistance in livestock and fuelled resistance in humans. Additionally, some antimicrobial compounds such as Zinc Oxide (ZnO) pass through livestock in their dung and cause serious environmental contamination. Environmental contamination by ZnO has become so concerning that it will be banned in the EU from 2022 onwards, whilst use of antibiotics in animal feed is becoming more restricted globally. These regulatory measures deprive farmers of effective treatments to ensure herd/flock health and performance, and there now exists an urgent need for replacement therapies that are safe and effective. It is estimated that the ZnO ban alone will have a profound impact on the pig industry and could result in production losses of as much as £950m per year in the EU alone. Such financial losses will inevitably result in increased consumer prices.Prof. Brian Green and colleagues at Queens University Belfast (QUB) have discovered a natural polysaccharide (carbohydrate) compound found in plants that when purified and added to their feed, boosts the natural immunity of piglets. The compound enables pigs to fight gut infections and maintain optimum growth rates. In farm trials, the performance of the new compound was equal to that of ZnO. This breakthrough offers a timely lifeline to pig and other livestock producers.In a commercial feasibility programme, funded by Innovate UK, QUB research scientist, Gonçalo Rosas da Silva, discovered that there is equal need for dietary control of gut bacteria in companion animal species, e.g., dogs and cats, to avoid associated allergic skin and other conditions which otherwise would be treated with antibiotics.Aramune Technologies Ltd (ATL) is a QUB spin-out created specifically to exploit the new plant polysaccharide technology. In this project, ATL will develop a scalable process for commercial extraction of the compound, which will initially be used in pig feed and later in the diets of other livestock and companion animals.