Two University of York study projects have been given funding, as part of a £42 million programme, to collaborate with industry associates in co-developing new supportable technologies for health care, cosmetics, agriculture and wastewater treatment.
Working with Croda Europe Ltd, a professional chemical company, Professor Ian Graham, from the University’s Centre for Novel Agricultural Goods in the Department of Biology, will co-develop novel sustainable technologies to expand the performance of new drugs, surge food production and help decrease the use of ingredients in cosmetic preparations from unsustainable sources.
The scheme is part of the BioYorkshire programme, with intentions to deliver a new green program to generate jobs and increase the regional economy through sustainable solutions to ecological challenges.
Professor Graham informed, that this funding will permit us to advance sustainable production platforms for bioactive chemicals from plants that have the possibility to substitute petrochemical derived goods across a range of industrial sectors.
In the second scheme, Professor James Chong, from the University’s Department of Biology, will collaborate with Yorkshire Water Services Ltd, to recognize how groups of microorganisms answer to design and process engineering in wastewater handling. The venture will result in digital models to help advance anaerobic digestion – a procedure through which bacteria break down organic matter – such as animal and food wastes – in the absence of oxygen.
Professor Chong said, with this new award we will be able to progress and improve the biobased technologies used to recover resources from wastewater. Our corporation with Yorkshire Water offers a route for lab-based outcomes to be quickly applied as process innovations.
The two schemes, together with eight others, are reinforced by £17 million from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), and is part of its primary round of bioscience success partnership funding, as well as funds from the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). This UKRI cross-council venture has been additionally supported by more than £21 million invested by business partners.
Andrew Griffith, Science, Research and Innovation Minister said, our new bioscience prosperity partnerships are a valued opportunity for government, business and academia to come together to assist unleash world-class, ground-breaking discoveries across the UK while growing our local economies.
Dr Lee Beniston FRSB, Associate Director for Industry Partnerships and Collaborative R&D at BBSRC, informed the ventures maintained will deliver on UK desires for private sector investment in exploration and innovation as outlined in the Science and Technology Framework, assisting to drive economic development and societal impact through key bioscience and biotechnology subdivisions and industries.
