Companies will exploit designer bugs and plant compounds to generate steroid intermediates.

Bayer Schering Pharma and BRAIN are pooling their expertise to develop methods for the energy-efficient and sustainable production of steroid compounds by fermentation.

The goal is to use optimized designer-bug microbial production strains and plant-derived raw materials. The companies hope the new process could enable the achievement of higher yields using lower energy input and potentially reduce greenhouse gas output by some 10%.

BRAIN is an industrial biotech company specialized in the discovery and development of natural bioactive compounds and enzymes for partners and customers. The company is leveraging its BioArchive, which reportedly comprises millions of genes, proteins, and metabolic pathways from microbial isolates and metagenome libraries.

Previous articleRoche Takes a Stab at Getting mAbs Under the Skin
Next articleScientists Associate Modified Form of Protein with Three Neurodegenerative Diseases