Two projects from the University of York have been awarded funding to work with industry partners to develop new sustainable technologies for healthcare, agriculture, cosmetics, and wastewater treatment.
Working with specialist chemical company Croda Europe Ltd, Professor Ian Graham from the University of York’s Centre for Novel Agricultural Products in the Department of Biology, is to develop new sustainable technologies to improve the performance of new medicines and increase food production.
The technologies will also help to reduce the use of ingredients in cosmetic products from unsustainable sources.
The project is part of the £42m BioYorkshire programme, which will deliver a new green agenda to create jobs and boost the economy through sustainable solutions.
Professor Graham said: “This funding will enable us to develop sustainable production platforms for bioactive chemicals from plants that have the potential to replace petrochemical-derived products across a range of industrial sectors.”
Improving wastewater treatment
Professor James Chong, from the University’s Department of Biology, will work with Yorkshire Water Services Ltd in the second project to understand how groups of microbes respond to design and process engineering in wastewater treatment.
The project will develop digital models to improve anaerobic digestion. In this process, bacteria break down organic matter like food and animal waste in the absence of oxygen.
Professor Chong said: “Through this new award we will be able to develop and enhance the biobased technologies used to recover resources from wastewater. Our partnership with Yorkshire Water provides a route for lab-based results to be rapidly applied as process innovations.”
Investment into sustainable technologies to foster innovation
The two projects, along with eight others, are supported in their aim to develop sustainable technologies by £17m from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.
They are also part of its first round of bioscience prosperity partnership funding, including funds from the Medical Research Council and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
The UKRI cross-council investment is supported by more than £21m in funding from industry partners.
Science, Research and Innovation Minister, Andrew Griffith, said: “Our new bioscience prosperity partnerships are a valuable opportunity for government, business, and academia to come together and help unleash world-class, pioneering discoveries across the UK while growing our local economies.”
Dr Lee Beniston FRSB, Associate Director for Industry Partnerships and Collaborative R&D at BBSRC, said: “The projects supported will deliver on UK ambitions for private sector investment in research and innovation as outlined in the Science and Technology Framework, helping to drive economic growth and societal impact through key bioscience and biotechnology sectors and industries.”
