NunaBio, is one of three North East based Biotech SMEs to be awarded a BMC Grant from Innovate UK.
For the project, Nunabio will apply their multi-patented technology to forge a new improved method of DNA synthesis that will reduce manufacture and shipping delays, increase workflow autonomy and control, reduce solvent usage and contamination, and produce more ready-to-use material, faster and at lower cost. The outputs of the project will help save £583Mn in future industry costs and remove 4.4M litres of harmful phosphoramidite synthesis reagents from industrial use by 2029.
Synthetic DNA is a mainstream component for a wide range of established and emerging industries including cell and gene therapies and molecular diagnostics. The global DNA synthesis market is forecast to reach £3.4bn by 2025, with demand reaching hundreds of kilograms in the coming years and vastly outstripping supply. Solid phase phosphoramidite chemistry, the mainstay DNA production method over the past 40 years, suffers from an over-dependence on hazardous chemicals, limited accuracy and length, manufacturing delays, expensive shipping, and low yield/quality. High DNA yields largely rely on manufacturing level scale-up by cloning via plasmids into bacteria, which poses safety concerns and is a costly manufacturing bottleneck.
The UK Government Life Sciences Strategy prioritizes an escalation in molecular therapeutics and advanced diagnostics development and manufacture to build resilience against future pandemics. This will depend on new tools for versatile, low-cost, high yield oligonucleotide synthesis.
Dr Joe Hedley, NunaBio Founder & CEO commented
“As someone who was born and raised in the North East, I am extremely proud that the region has been recognized for its innovation and talent. At NunaBio, we are committed to driving the development of novel products and techniques, this funding will help us immensely to achieve some of our goals.”
NunaBio is a privately owned life sciences company based in the northeast of the UK.
Founded in 2021, our multi-patented technology can quickly produce large quantities of pure synthetic DNA using environmentally conscious processes.
NunaBio’ platform enables the synthesis of whole genes and DNA fragments of unprecedented length without the use of plasmids or primers, which are existing bottlenecks in the synthetic biology industry. Our technology has broad applications across multiple areas of life sciences, including gene therapy, T cell engineering, viral vector synthesis, hybridisation capture and targeted biomarker panels.
Our mission is to enable game changing technologies across the life sciences and biotech sectors by providing novel high-quality material at scale – we are not only making products, we are empowering the most cutting-edge technologies to make an impact on the world.
