Research into the gut microbiome at the Quadram Institute at Norwich Research Park has discovered that infant gut bacteria could hold the key to protecting humans from serious diseases.
It is widely acknowledged that the gut microbiome – natural bacteria, viruses and fungi in the gut – plays a significant role in our mental and physical health as we age.
The good bacteria found in an infant’s gut feeds off breast milk it receives from the infant's mother in early life. This friendly bacteria increases immunity and protects infants against conditions like asthma, cancer and other inflammatory diseases.
Cancer is caused by a disorder in the immune system. If the immune system does not function properly, tumours form.
Scientists now understand that certain types of gut bacteria, such as infant bacteria, are associated with better cancer outcomes through boosting immunity.
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Led by Prof Lindsay Hall, Dr Stephen Robinson and PhD graduate Dr Chris Price, the research team at the Quadram Institute believe that reintroducing friendly bacteria into a person’s gut can reduce the risk of inflammatory diseases.
Prof Hall’s human work showed that the reintroduction of beneficial bacteria into pre-term infants reduced their risk of serious infections and intensive care stays by 50pc.
The researchers are also identifying specific compounds taken from infants’ bacteria that help fight illness in adults. Once the team have worked out the multitude of different compounds that can be found, they will then look to replicate and manufacture these – rather than relying on live bacteria.
This exciting discovery has led to the team forming a new spin-out company called Bioscopic that will develop this approach and make it commercially viable. In the future, they hope the bacterial compounds will be made available on the market.
Chris has taken the reins as CEO of the business and is currently raising funds from investors to develop their patented concept further.
Being based at Norwich Research Park has enabled Bioscopic to secure £60,000 in funding, raised from Anglia Innovation Partnership’s pre-seed fund.
Anglia Innovation Partnership is the campus management organisation at the Park. Its Enterprise Strategy gets companies like Bioscopic off the ground by ensuring that their proposition and organisation is investment-ready before they approach private investors and venture capital funds, or seek to secure funding from science bodies.
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Chris was recently able to take part in the Halo programme, sponsored by Anglia Innovation Partnership and run by Anglia Capital Group.
Halo is an investment readiness programme that takes participants through an intensive two-month series of workshops to help them prepare their businesses to pitch to angel investors. Each of the participants was supported by two mentors drawn from Anglia Capital Group's network of angel investors and successful company founders.
The programme culminated with a showcase event which saw the participants deliver their polished pitches to a panel of expert judges. Chris was judged the winner by both the assembled audience and the judges.
“At Bioscopic, our proposition is to isolate therapeutics from infant bacteria to treat chronic diseases in adults," said Chris. "We believe we possess the largest collection and genome-sequenced database of infant gut bacteria in the world. This is thanks to the pioneering work of Lindsay and Stephen over the past 10 years, where they have extracted, analysed and stored the bacteria from faecal samples from new mothers and their newly born infants.
“We aim to identify and isolate specific bacterial compounds that can be used as therapies. In pre-clinical trials, we found that good gut bacteria can shrink tumours, especially in cases of breast cancer, by up to 50pc in mice.
"They can also enhance chemotherapy and immunotherapy treatments and we are able to see evidence of changes that occur in the body as a result of these compounds being given to patients.”
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With the support of Anglia Innovation Partnership, Chris is looking to raise the necessary funds to scale up the patent process so that Bioscopic can start to build a number of successful bacterial compounds ready to use as treatments in clinical trials. Typically, it costs hundreds of millions of pounds and up to 10 years to get a treatment such as this on the market, which is why the Bioscopic team needs funding.
Chris continued: “Being here at Norwich Research Park has been a real bonus. Without the financial and mentoring support from Anglia Innovation Partnership, we wouldn’t have gotten this off the ground.
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"Not only have they helped with the pre-seed funding, but they have helped me to develop my skills as a business person. I am a scientist at heart and didn’t possess the skillset of a CEO to run and manage a business, pitch to investors for funding or liaise with pharmaceutical manufacturers. They don’t teach you that when you are doing your PhD!
"The pre-seed funding and the networking and entrepreneur events that have been put on have enabled me to develop those skills. Anglia Innovation Partnership has been with us every step of the way and I am very thankful for their support.”
Roz Bird, CEO of Anglia Innovation Partnership, said: “It is really heartening when a breakthrough research discovery is recognised as having commercial potential. Our job is to nurture these ideas and support their development so that their findings can have a positive impact on the world as well as create jobs and wealth for the region.
“What I find so rewarding is that discoveries are not confined to one type of person or research. Despite Chris being a recently graduated PhD student, it didn’t stop him working on something that could have a profoundly positive impact on the health of adults.
"Bioscopic has huge potential and we are supporting Chris and the team in their sourcing of further investment funds to take their approach to market. We are lucky to have such fine people on the campus and we will continue to build an eco-system here that offers them the very best opportunities to maximise their potential.”
For more information, visit norwichresearchpark.com
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