CATALYSTS
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cost-effective approaches for food applications to highly pure processes for pharmaceuticals. The production strain, fermentation processes and DSP must be aligned with scaling up to industrial manufacture to ensure seamless transfer without major obstacles( Figure 3).
Figure 3- Interdisciplinary enzyme development from discovery to final product
multiple production platforms simultaneously.
To achieve this, we have established‘ Plug & Produce’, a process that uses standardised technologies for strain set-up to quickly identify a promising initial situation in terms of enzyme production titre. This also includes a small-scale fermentation to get an initial assessment on performance in stirred-tank reactors, which more closely resembles the final fermentation conditions.
We expect that further advances in AI will make it possible in the future to predict the most suitable production strain. For now, laboratory testing, such as through Plug & Produce, remains essential.
Improving enzyme production
All our production strains have already been developed towards high enzyme titres and for use in commercial production environments. Furthermore, the strains have been optimised for regulatory compliance and market readiness, for instance being antimicrobial resistance-free, methanol-free and / or mycotoxin-free.
Maximising enzyme yields requires enzyme-specific optimisation of strain, fermentation and DSP. It begins with optimising the strain’ s enzyme production titres. We apply various methods from the fields of expression technology and strain engineering.
BRAIN Biotech developed its proprietary genome-editing tool through the MetXtra platform, hence the name BRAIN Metagenomic Cas( BMC). Today, CRISPR-BMC is one of our standard tools for targeted gene knockouts, gene integrations and chromosomal DNA modifications. In the context of improving enzyme production titres, a CRISPR-BMC powered workflow typically includes increasing gene expression cassettes, copy numbers and knockout of host genes that interfere with enzyme production( e. g. proteases).
At the end of each development process, the enzymes must be produced at an industrial scale. Design of Experiment methods are used in fermentation development to optimise parameters such as media, temperature, pH and growth strategies.
DSP offers optimisation opportunities ranging from simple,
Outlook
Industrial biotechnology will play a crucial role in enabling more sustainable production. To firmly embed biological solutions in industry, we need new and improved biocatalysts that can outperform those available today. Modern technologies in biotechnology along with advances in AI and bioinformatics are helping us do so faster and more effectively than ever before.
This facilitates the development of innovative solutions that can create a competitive advantage. To create this competitive advantage for our clients, we support them in achieving their goals through our R & D portfolio, enzyme manufacturing capabilities and enzyme products. ●
* Also contributing to this article was Dr Erik de Vries
k J j
Dr Alexander Pelzer
VP, HEAD OF R & D
+ 49 6251 9331-0 ap @ brain-biotech. com www. brain-biotech. com
JAN / FEB 2026 SPECCHEMONLINE. COM
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