HotHouse BioEngineering and Leaf Expression Systems Sign Plant-Based Expression License Agreement

NORWICH, UK – 13 April 2021: HotHouse BioEngineering (HHBE), which was founded on a body of work from the laboratory of Professor Anne Osbourn FRS OBE of the John Innes Centre, and Leaf Expression Systems (Leaf), a contract development and manufacturing organisation specialising in plant-based expression and production of proteins, today announced a non-exclusive agreement granting HHBE use of Leaf’s expression technology, Hypertrans^® for research and development.

HHBE has the ability to rapidly identify and isolate entire biosynthetic pathways from members of the plant kingdom and reconstruct those pathways in other plants in a rapid and scaleable manner. By using Leaf’s Hypertans^® technology HHBE aims to produce non-protein secondary metabolites through the assembly and manipulation of multi-enzyme biosynthetic pathways.

Martin Stocks, CEO of HotHouse BioEngineering, said:

Access to the Hypertrans^® system is a major plus for HHBE. The power and flexibility of the system will enable us to rapidly prototype new biosynthetic pathways, and then scale production without having to significantly re-engineer our constructs. We are very pleased to have concluded this licence with Leaf.

Simon Saxby, CEO, Leaf Expression Systems, commented:

We are delighted to have signed a licensing agreement with HHBE. The agreement further demonstrates the capabilities of Hypertrans^® and its ability to help enable commercial applications for use within the life sciences industry.