Smart cells are cells with artificially modified genes that allow for efficiently mass producing targeted beneficial substances. Combining biotechnology, such as genome editing or genome synthesis, with digital technology, such as AI or IT, is expected to improve production efficiency for substances that were previously difficult to mass produce using conventional methods. Therefore, it will result in technical innovation in various areas, such as pharmaceuticals, foods, new materials, and environmental measurement. Smart cells are also considered essential from the perspective of a carbon-free society. In other words, smart cells will help us stop using fossil fuels by transitioning from manufacturing based on petroleum or natural gas to manufacturing based on biotechnology. Furthermore, if conventional production methods that consume large quantities of energy can be replaced with biotechnology-based methods, it would result in lower carbon dioxide emission levels and enable a carbon-free society.
Nevertheless, adopting biotechnological production methods in industry presents various challenges, such as the ability to quickly and accurately confirm whether intended substances were actually produced and the ability to scale up production of new substances created in a laboratory and mass produce them at high quality levels. Meanwhile, only a few large companies in
Shimadzu has been contributing to the field of smart cells with the analytical and measuring technologies based on liquid chromatographs (LC) and mass spectrometers (MS). For five years since 2016, Shimadzu has been engaged in joint research with
Bacchus is a startup company spun off from
Based on a partnership agreement, in
Row of Shimadzu Liquid Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer Systems at the
Row of Shimadzu Liquid Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer Systems at the
Overview of
CompanyName : Bacchus Bio innovation Co., Ltd.
Location of Head Office :Nada Ward ofKobe City
Representative :Mikio Tanji , President and CEO
Established :March 2020
Business Scope : Integrated biofoundry
Primary Investor :DEFTA Limited (Hong Kong , Director:George Hara ),DEFTA Healthcare Technologies, L.P. (Cayman Islands ),ROHTO Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Osaka City ,Osaka Prefecture , President:Masashi Sugimoto ),Taiyo Oil Co., Ltd. (Chiyoda City,Tokyo Prefecture , President:Yutaka Oka ), andSojitz Corporation (Chiyoda City,Tokyo Prefecture , President:Masayoshi Fujimoto )
Website : https://www.b2i.co.jp/
Biofoundry
Biofoundries are systems for efficiently mass producing targeted beneficial substances using cells with modified genes (smart cells) developed based on biotechnology, such as for editing the genomes of microorganisms or plant/animal cells, and AI technology.
Design: First, AI is used to design metabolic pathways and genes that can efficiently produce targeted substances. Build: Next, genome editing or other biotechnology is used to manipulate genes for producing corresponding microorganisms or plants according to the design. Test: Then, the substances produced by those microorganisms or plants are tested to evaluate whether they are produced with the intended quality and quantity. Learn: Lastly, AI is used again to analyze the results and learn about the substance production patterns. The information learned is then applied to designing new genes. That development cycle is referred to as 'DBTL,' the acronym for each step. Biofoundries rationally and efficiently develop new substances by repeating that DBTL development cycle very rapidly.
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