Strain and Process Optimisation

Background: The production of natural products by fermentation can often be improved by several orders of magnitude through the optimisation of growth conditions, extraction methods and strain improvements. At MerLion, we have succesfully developed improved production methods for many natural products for internal and external projects and can work with customers and third parties to transfer strains and protocols to GMP manufacturing facilities.

Service Details: MerLion will undertake projects with defined goals and timelines to optimise the production of specific components from microbial fermentations.

This may involve:

• Fermentation protocol optimisation for flasks and bioreactors
• Fermentation media optimisation
• Strain improvement using mutagenesis techniques (not involving genetic engineering)
• Extraction and downstream processing optimisation
• Transfer of strains and protocols to GMP manufacturing facilities

Strain and protocol improvements are driven by the use of chemical fingerprinting methods to provide rapid quantitative feedback information and the use of DOE (Design of Experiment) tools for multifactorial optimisation.

Deliverable: Written report and SOP.