Development and exploitation of a bioactives-free technology for tackling fungal threats to food security, goods and health

真菌在英国和全球范围内引起了各种严重的社会和经济问题。除了致命的人类疾病外，真菌还会破坏粮食作物，破坏有价值的产品和材料，在全球范围内催生出价值约300亿美元的抗真菌/杀菌剂产业。在之前BBSRC资助的工作中，我们发现了针对新分子靶点的协同杀菌剂组合，并对腐败真菌的防腐作用有了新的认识。尽管这些进步减少了化学活性物质的使用，但监管障碍越来越多地限制了仍然依赖生物活性物质的技术的采用，而耐药性的蔓延加剧了这一问题。因此，潜在的对抗真菌的无生物活性技术对该行业具有很高的吸引力。为了满足这一需求，我们一直在开发一种创新的方法：使用（甲基）丙烯酸酯聚合物被动阻断真菌附着在表面。一种对付细菌性病原体的类似方法现在有CE标志作为导管涂层。我们已经证明，与细菌相比，不同的聚合物在抵抗真菌方面是有效的，并且在行业反馈的支持下，我们在这里的重点是解决真菌更广泛的社会经济影响。其中包括对粮食、卫生和物质安全的影响。我们已经鉴定出抗多种真菌附着的聚合物，包括植物病原体；在作物上喷洒聚合物配方有商业先例，但那些依赖于添加农用化学品来控制真菌的活性。我们最近与关注真菌控制不同市场需求的公司进行了讨论，强调了我们需要解决的关键跨学科挑战（例如，目标真菌的光谱，击中聚合物的材料特性优化），以便他们可以对我们的专利保护技术感兴趣。该提案的目的是实现这一目标，与商业里程碑保持一致，以便与工业合作伙伴达成许可协议。

Fungi cause diverse, serious societal and economic problems in the UK and globally. Besides fatal human diseases, fungi devastate food crops and spoil valuable products and materials, spawning antifungals/fungicides industries worth approximately $30Bn globally. In previous BBSRC funded work, we have discovered synergistic fungicide combinations against a novel molecular target and also produced new understanding of preservative action against spoilage fungi. Although such advances enable reduced usage of chemical actives, regulatory barriers are increasingly restricting the take up of technologies that still rely on bioactive agents, while spread of resistance exacerbates this problem. Consequently, potential bioactives-free technologies for combatting fungi are highly attractive to the industry. To meet this need, we have been developing an innovative approach: passive blocking of fungal attachment to surfaces, using (meth)acrylate polymers. A similar approach against bacterial pathogens now has CE mark as a catheter coating. We have shown that different polymers are effective in resisting fungi compared with bacteria and, supported by industry feedback, our focus here is on tackling broader socio-economic impacts of fungi. These include impacts on food-, health- and materials-security. We have identified polymers resisting attachment by diverse fungi, including plant pathogens; there is commercial precedent for spray-coating polymer formulations to crops, but those relied on added agrichemicals for their fungal control activity. Our recent discussions with companies focused on different market needs for fungal control has highlighted key, inter-disciplinary challenges for us to address (e.g., spectra of target fungi, optimisation of material properties of hit polymers), so that they can pursue their interest in our patent-protected technology. The aim of this proposal is to achieve that, aligned with commercial milestones, in order to progress to a licensing deal with an industrial partner.