Project description
Microalgae powerhouses do it better when it comes to production of anticancer therapeutics
Demand for recombinant pharmaceutical proteins is growing globally and the use of microorganisms as small bioreactors for rapid and cost-effective production is an important area of research. Microalgae, like mammalian cell lines, enable post-transcriptional and post-translational modifications, high production quality and high protein yield. However, unlike mammalian cell culture, they offer fast large-scale production, low overall cost, low risk of contamination, and easy reproduction and distribution. MABIOS has developed a microalgae platform for producing anticancer biopharmaceuticals that could lower the cost of treatment for millions of patients worldwide. EU-funding is providing the opportunity to develop the best business plan, meet regulatory requirements, and bring the platform to market.
Objective
Manufacturing costs remain one of the major obstacles to providing effective treatment of cancer patients. Anticancer agents are often complex biopharmaceuticals that are expensive to manufacture, requiring use of living cell lines with difficult-to-control production processes, limited yields and time-consuming purification steps. There is an urgent unmet need for an improved manufacturing process of biopharmaceuticals, to meet the high demand and lower the price of oncologic treatments. We will revolutionize the way biopharmaceuticals are produced by developing a microalgae based biorefinery platform. These biorefineries will utilize genetically engineered microalgae to efficiently produce pharmaceutical agents. Microalgae are photosynthetic micro-organisms that have unique advantages as biopharmaceutical production systems, including high growth rate, ease of cultivation and low growth costs, enabling cost effective and scalable yield of active ingredients. These will be recombinant proteins, small molecules or therapeutic peptides, starting with Paclitaxel as showcase, one of the world’s best sold anticancer drugs used as the first line treatment of a several solid tumours. Our platform has the potential to become the new manufacturing method of choice for production of highly needed biopharmaceuticals. Microalgae Works is an ambitious Dutch start-up with the mission to make anticancer treatment affordable for every patient through a drastic reduction of manufacturing costs. We are supported by leading companies in the field of biomanufacturing. The MABIOS project will (1) create a clear overview of the market opportunity for micro-algae based production of paclitaxel, (2) develop a de-risked plan for the technical development of our platform, (3) evaluate the necessary regulatory roadmap to enter the market, and (4) formulate an investor-proof business plan. We aim to become the frontrunner in biopharmaceutical production utilizing microalgae.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- engineering and technology mechanical engineering manufacturing engineering
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine oncology
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology
You need to log in or register to use this function
We are sorry... an unexpected error occurred during execution.
You need to be authenticated. Your session might have expired.
Thank you for your feedback. You will soon receive an email to confirm the submission. If you have selected to be notified about the reporting status, you will also be contacted when the reporting status will change.
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
-
H2020-EU.2.3. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme -
H2020-EU.3. - PRIORITY 'Societal challenges
See all projects funded under this programme -
H2020-EU.2.1. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies
See all projects funded under this programme
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020
See all projects funded under this callCoordinator
Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
2333 CW LEIDEN
Netherlands
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.