libragen Tells of PolyModE Project Success

libragen has played a pivotal role in the successful PolyModE, a large collaborative research project which looked into developing new polysaccharide modifying enzymes for the optimized use of hydrocolloids. We caught up with libragen to find out more about this project amd the company's involvement.

TN: Libragen has played a large part in the recent PolyModE project. Please could you tell us about this venture?
Libragen (L): The real challenge for libragen in this project was the discovery of completely new sulphatases expressed in E.Coli.  This class of enzymes has unique structural properties and detecting their activity was a real challenge. These enzymes are presently under investigation for their ability to modify sulphated carbohydrates. libragen’s technologies were also used for the isolation of new polysaccharide hydrolysing enzymes.

TN: What part did libragen play in making the project successful and are there any other research projects on the horizon?
L: libragen succeeded in the exploitation of one of its internal and proprietary metagenomic libraries - a  Human Gut metagenomic library, and in developing the right screening tool in-house.  This shows libragen’s expertise in creating workable metagenomic DNA libraries and also in setting up the right screening for an activity of interest. The achievement is that libragen discovered new, never seen before sulphatases

TN: What impact will this research collaboration have on the industry?
L: It may lead to new drug development, but above all, it shows that metagenomic enzyme libraries have an tremendous potential for discovering and isolating new activities (of enzymes –e.g. sulphatase activity)

TN: What does the next year hold for libragen?
L: We hope to disclose new successes in our ongoing and innovative projects that we are currently engaged in. We will also be using next generation sequencing for the development of our metagenomic platform.

TN: Who do libragen cater to and how should they contact libragen about their biocatalysis and metagenomics needs?
L: libragen caters to the Pharma, Food, Flavours and Cosmetics industries. Contact : Marie-Joëlle Gaufrès, Site Director [email protected]