Antimicrobial biomaterials from bio-based feedstocks with novel feedstock supplementation strategies

气候危机和公共卫生危机，如新冠肺炎疫情，都给我们的社区和经济带来了巨大的挑战。为了应对气候崩溃，我们需要迅速减少我们的制造业对化石燃料的依赖，并建立新的脱碳供应链，在不断变化的世界中保持活力和弹性。2016/2017年度，与医疗保健相关的感染导致英国国民健康保险制度2.1B，并导致约22,800名住院患者死亡。为了保护公众健康并减轻医疗保健提供者的负担，我们需要新的技术和产品来减少携带医疗保健相关感染(如猩红热、甲型链球菌)的微生物病原体的传播，以及伴随新冠肺炎等疾病的细菌混合感染。除了履行这些功能外，新产品还必须能够在不依赖化石燃料的情况下制造。在这个项目中，进化者正在通过开发生产具有抗菌特性的先进和高度功能化的生物材料的生产工艺来应对这些挑战。我们将使用我们的专业加速进化平台来开发微生物生产宿主，通过精密发酵，可以将废物转化为完全可生物降解和生物兼容的生物材料。此外，我们将测试新的策略和制造工艺，通过在发酵原料中添加一系列天然化合物来赋予这些材料天然的抗菌性能。通过这些项目的输出，我们将生产和分析几小批新型生物材料的性能：*是100%天然的；*具有可定制的抗菌功能；*由废物生产；*不需要直接输入化石燃料；*完全可生物降解和无毒；*产生的化学污染明显低于传统材料；总而言之，该项目的成功将推动英国生物经济的扩张，使我们更接近零净世界，并有助于减少微生物病原体的传播和相关医疗成本的负担。它还将加速进化者在英格兰北部建立其世界领先的生物铸造厂加拉帕戈斯塔的雄心。在该项目完成后，所取得的创新将使进化者能够探索大规模生产其抗菌生物材料，并进行原料补充的研发，以定制除抗菌功能之外的材料特性。例如，性能包括颜色(用于高级服装和建筑材料)、香气(用于化妆品和洗涤剂)、抗拉强度(用于工业和建筑用途)和渗透性(用于废水处理和污染控制)。

Both the climate crisis and public health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic are presenting substantial challenges to our communities and economies.To address the climate collapse, we need to rapidly reduce our manufacturing industries' reliance on fossil fuels and build new decarbonised supply chains that are robust and resilient in an ever-changing world.In 2016/2017 healthcare associated infections cost the NHS £2.1B, and were responsible for approximately 22,800 inpatient deaths. To protect public health and reduce the burden on health care providers, we need new technologies and products that can reduce the spread of microbial pathogens carrying healthcare associated infections such as scarlet fever, strep A and bacterial co-infections that accompany conditions like COVID-19\. As well as fulfilling these functions, new products must also be manufacturable without any reliance on fossil fuels.In this project, Evolutor is addressing these challenges by developing production processes for the manufacture of advanced and highly-functionalized biomaterials with antimicrobial properties. We will use our specialist Accelerated Evolution Platform to develop microbial production hosts that, through precision fermentation, can turn waste products into biomaterials that are fully biodegradable and biocompatible. Additionally, we will test new strategies and manufacturing processes to impart natural antimicrobial properties to these materials by supplementing fermentation feedstocks with a range of natural compounds.Through these project outputs, we will produce and analyse the performance of several small batches of novel biomaterial that:* is 100% natural;* has customizable antimicrobial functionality;* is produced from waste;* requires no direct fossil fuel input;* is completely biodegradable and non-toxic;* produces significantly less chemical pollution than conventional materials; and* can be tailored to a wide range of applications.Overall, the success of this project will drive the expansion of the UK's bioeconomy, bring us closer to a Net Zero world, and help to reduce the spread of microbial pathogens and the burden of associated healthcare costs. It will also accelerate Evolutor's ambition to build its world-leading bio-foundry Galapagos Towers in the North of England.Beyond the completion of this project, the innovations achieved will allow Evolutor to explore scaled-up manufacture of its antimicrobial biomaterials as well as conduct onward R&D of feedstock supplementation to customise material properties beyond antimicrobial functionality. Example properties include colour (for advanced clothing and construction materials), fragrance (for cosmetics and detergents), tensile strength (for industrial and construction use) and permeability (for wastewater treatment and pollution control).