Global Bioenergies discovers synthetic metabolic pathway for producing isobutene

Oct 14 2009

Philippe Marliere, cofounder and initiator of the project, has announced the establishment of the scientific advisory board:

Dr. Bernard Badet heads a research group at the Institut de Chimie des Substances Naturelles (Gif-sur-Yvette, France) that is interested in the understanding of the enzyme mechanism towards the development of chemical tools for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.

Prof. Donald Hilvert heads a research group at the ETH Zurich (Zurich, Switzerland). His research program focuses on understanding how enzymes work and evolve and on mimicking the properties of these remarkable catalysts in the laboratory. 

Prof. Jean-Marc Paris led the R&D division responsible for antibiotic discovery at Rhone Poulenc Rorer before joining Rhodia, where he worked as Scientific Director for organic chemistry and biotechnologies. He is honorary Professor at the Ecole Nationale Superieure de Chimie de Paris.

Prof. Dieter Soll heads a research laboratory at Yale University in New Haven (Connecticut, USA), investigating the biocatalytic and evolutionary basis of protein biosynthesis. Prof. Soll is a member of the US Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Jean Weissenbach is the Director of Genoscope, the French genome sequencing center, which he founded in 1997. Now part of the Genomics Institute of the CEA, Genoscope is searching new enzyme activities using genomics and large scale experimentation. Dr. Weissenbach is a member of the French Academy of Sciences.

Global Bioenergies, located on the Genopole campus close to Paris, has today announced the proof-of-concept of a synthetic metabolic pathway for producing isobutene, a key building block that can be converted into transportation fuels, polymers and various commodity chemicals.

Macha Anissimova, Head of Research, said "We are very proud to have reached this key milestone in advance on schedule. We have benefited from the assistance of Genoscope and of the analytical chemistry platform of Evry-Val d'Essonne University. The bioproduction of a gaseous hydrocarbon will make it possible to obtain pure products at high yield and low cost.".

According to Prof. Dieter Soll, "The data on isobutene formation presented by Global Bioenergies are convincing, and I am now impatient to see the process optimized and scaled up."

"Development of such an artificial metabolic pathway represents a signal accomplishment with enormous implications. Standard technologies for enzyme and metabolic engineering can now be applied to transform this proof of concept into a viable industrial process," added Prof. Donald Hilvert.

Marc Delcourt, cofounder and CEO of the company concludes: "We are now focusing on industrializing the process, which will be financed through a second round currently in preparation."

SOURCE Global Bioenergies