Objective The focus of this proposal is to develop an economically viable production process for the lantibiotic NAI-107, a new antibiotic with the potential to treat life-threatening infections caused by multidrug-resistant Gram-positive pathogens. NAI-107 is produced by fermentation of the actinomycete Microbispora sp., is undergoing formal toxicology studies and is expected to enter Phase I clinical trials in the second half of 2009. NAICONS, an SME participating in the project and acting as coordinator, is developing NAI-107. A challenge in advancing a new antibiotic into clinical development is to devise a production process that will deliver a high quality compound at reasonable yields. This is particularly relevant for NAI-107 since no lantibiotics are industrially produced as drugs for human use and there are no examples of industrial use of Microbispora. The development of a robust and economically feasible production process for NAI-107 requires the integration of basic knowledge of the physiology of the strain which can be best obtained by a combination of classical and post-genomic approaches (proteome/transcriptome), with a detailed knowledge of the production process and its scalability to industrial level. This will be achieved by flux analyses and 2D-maps for discovering primary metabolism proteins up-regulated during antibiotic production. Combined with a study of other limiting steps, such as precursor uptake, product excretion and the intrinsic resistance of the producing strain, and with analysis of the transcriptional regulation of the NAI-107 biosynthetic genes, bottlenecks in production will be identified and bypassed by metabolic engineering leading to an optimized metabolic pathway for the production of this life-saving antibiotic and an efficient production process utilizing a high producing strain, an improved production medium and an efficient recovery process. Fields of science engineering and technologyindustrial biotechnologymetabolic engineeringnatural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculesproteinsproteomicsmedical and health sciencesbasic medicinepharmacology and pharmacypharmaceutical drugsantibioticsmedical and health sciencesbasic medicinetoxicologyengineering and technologyindustrial biotechnologybioprocessing technologiesfermentation Programme(s) FP7-KBBE - Specific Programme "Cooperation": Food, Agriculture and Biotechnology Topic(s) KBBE-2009-3-3-01 - Novel industrial microorganisms with optimised metabolic pathways Call for proposal FP7-KBBE-2009-3 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme CP-FP - Small or medium-scale focused research project Coordinator New Anti-infective Consortium EU contribution € 553 400,00 Address Via Fantoli 16/15 20138 Milano Italy See on map Activity type Research Organisations Administrative Contact Margherita Sosio (Dr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data Participants (6) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all JOHN INNES CENTRE United Kingdom EU contribution € 450 118,00 Address NORWICH RESEARCH PARK COLNEY NR4 7UH Norwich See on map Region East of England East Anglia Breckland and South Norfolk Activity type Research Organisations Administrative Contact Mary Anderson (Dr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data DANMARKS TEKNISKE UNIVERSITET Denmark EU contribution € 430 200,00 Address ANKER ENGELUNDS VEJ 101 2800 Kongens Lyngby See on map Region Danmark Hovedstaden Københavns omegn Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Anna Eliasson Lantz (Dr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI PALERMO Italy EU contribution € 347 400,00 Address PIAZZA MARINA 61 90133 Palermo See on map Region Isole Sicilia Palermo Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Anna Maria Puglia (Prof.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data UNIVERSITATSKLINIKUM BONN Germany EU contribution € 353 100,00 Address VENUSBERG-CAMPUS 1 53127 Bonn See on map Region Nordrhein-Westfalen Köln Bonn, Kreisfreie Stadt Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Beate Becker (Ms.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data EBERHARD KARLS UNIVERSITAET TUEBINGEN Germany EU contribution € 476 318,00 Address GESCHWISTER-SCHOLL-PLATZ 72074 Tuebingen See on map Region Baden-Württemberg Tübingen Tübingen, Landkreis Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Wolfgang Wohlleben (Prof.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data GNOSIS SPA Italy EU contribution € 165 000,00 Address Piazza del Carmine 4 20121 MILANO See on map Activity type Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments) Administrative Contact Marco Berna (Dr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data