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

真菌在英国和全球造成各种严重的社会和经济问题。除了致命的人类疾病，真菌破坏粮食作物，破坏有价值的产品和材料，在全球范围内产生价值约300亿美元的抗真菌剂/杀真菌剂产业。在以前的BBSRC资助的工作中，我们已经发现了针对新分子靶标的协同杀真菌剂组合，并且还产生了对腐败真菌的防腐作用的新理解。尽管这些进展能够减少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剂的技术的采用，而耐药性的传播加剧了这一问题。因此，用于对抗真菌的潜在无生物活性物技术对该行业具有高度吸引力。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上。针对细菌病原体的类似方法现在具有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，我们的重点是解决真菌更广泛的社会经济影响。这包括对粮食、健康和物资安全的影响。我们已经确定了聚合物抵抗各种真菌，包括植物病原体的附着;有商业先例的喷涂聚合物配方的作物，但那些依赖于添加农药的真菌控制活性。我们最近与专注于真菌控制的不同市场需求的公司进行的讨论突出了我们需要解决的关键跨学科挑战（例如，目标真菌的光谱、HIT聚合物材料特性的优化），以便他们能够对我们受专利保护的技术感兴趣。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.