GlycosBio http://www.glycosbio.com Just another WordPress weblog Fri, 02 Jul 2010 15:16:35 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 en hourly 1 Glycos Biotechnologies to Present at BIO’s Seventh Annual World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing http://www.glycosbio.com/glycos-biotechnologies-to-present-at-bio%e2%80%99s-seventh-annual-world-congress-on-industrial-biotechnology-and-bioprocessing/ http://www.glycosbio.com/glycos-biotechnologies-to-present-at-bio%e2%80%99s-seventh-annual-world-congress-on-industrial-biotechnology-and-bioprocessing/#comments Tue, 29 Jun 2010 14:36:27 +0000 client http://www.glycosbio.com/?p=835 HOUSTON, TX – June 29, 2010 – Glycos Biotechnologies, Inc. (GlycosBio), an emerging biochemical company pioneering metabolic engineering and microbiology innovations to produce sustainable biochemicals, is presenting at BIO’s World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing taking place June 28th – 30th in Washington, DC.

Paul Campbell, Chief Science Officer for GlycosBio, will participate in a panel with other leading biotechnology scientists discussing the advances in fermentation and bioprocesses. Campbell will present about GlycosBio’s microbial technology and its unique ability to convert non-sugar carbon sources such as glycerin into high value chemicals including technical grade alcohols, acetone, isoprene, succinc acid, diols and lactic acid.

BIO’s World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing is a unique interdisciplinary forum presenting the latest developments in biotechnology for biofuels, renewable chemicals, biobased materials, and biotech-based manufacturing and processing.  In its seventh year, the event will explore ways that public policy can help drive innovation and the commercialization of industrial biotechnology and bioprocessing.

What: “Advanced Biofuel Technologies: Advances in Fermentation”

Who: Paul Campbell, PhD., Chief Science Officer, Glycos Biotechnologies

Jan de Bont, Manager, Research & Development, Royal Nedalco

Kevin Gray, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Qteros

Where: Gaylord Resort & National Convention Center, Washington, DC.

When: Tuesday, June 29th, 9:00am – 10:30am

For more information about the 2010 World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing, visit http://www.bio.org/worldcongress.

About Glycos Biotechnologies, Inc.

Glycos Biotechnologies, Inc. (GlycosBio) is an emerging biochemical company pioneering the metabolic engineering of microbial strains to consume multiple non sugar-based, low value feedstocks for the production of sustainable chemicals and advanced ethanol.  By designing differentiated microorganisms, GlycosBio’s bioconversion technology lowers production cost and provides a non food energy balance savings to the chemical and biofuel industries.  GlycosBio is privately held with established global relationships focused on product commercialization.  For more information, visit www.glycosbio.com.

]]> http://www.glycosbio.com/glycos-biotechnologies-to-present-at-bio%e2%80%99s-seventh-annual-world-congress-on-industrial-biotechnology-and-bioprocessing/feed/ 0 Bugs to bucks: Microbes make biochemicals http://www.glycosbio.com/bugs-to-bucks-microbes-make-biochemicals/ http://www.glycosbio.com/bugs-to-bucks-microbes-make-biochemicals/#comments Mon, 21 Jun 2010 14:22:29 +0000 client http://www.glycosbio.com/?p=832 By MONICA HATCHER Copyright 2010 Houston Chronicle

June 10, 2010, 7:46PM

It was no small feat getting common microbes to produce biochemicals from cheap, green and plentiful sources in the lab, but Houston-based Glycos Biotechnologies thinks it may have hit the jackpot by getting them to do it in a large scale, commercial-size facility.

The 2½-year-old firm, whose 13 scientists have been quietly toiling on the microbial technology in a small lab off Washington Avenue, recently announced it had produced lactic acid and advanced ethanol in a plant in Hempstead capable of producing 40,000 gallons a year.

That takes the start-up biotech firm an enviable step closer to commercializing its technology of producing high-value biochemicals from non-sugar-based feedstocks in a short amount of time.

Rich Cilento, the company’s CEO, said the firm will be announcing several joint ventures to bring the technology to Latin America. In May, the company said it is expanding in Malaysia, partnering with Malaysian biotech firm, Bio-Xcell Snd. Bhd., to build a new biochemical plant and research facility.

Construction of the plant begins in the third quarter.

The company’s business plan and technology can support the production of 20,000 metric tons of biochemicals, though long-term plans double that capacity.

“We’re moving quite rapidly, and we’re happy with our success,” said Cilento, whose entrepreneurial portfolio includes founding FuelQuest, a prominent energy supply chain technology and consulting company. He began his career as a space shuttle flight controller at NASA in the late 1980s.

The rapid success of Glycos Biotechnologies, which calls itself GlycosBio for short, underscores the push by clean-tech start-ups to position themselves at the forefront of the emerging biochemicals market. It seeks to replace petroleum-based ingredients with renewable ones to make chemicals used in a vast array of consumer goods.

As the U.S. presses forward to find cleaner-burning motor fuels, much of the same technology is being repurposed or extrapolated to also make high-value clean chemicals, said Mike Rosenberg, vice president of business development at OPXBIO in Boulder, Colo.

The fuel market remains the big prize, but biochemicals can provide companies a revenue stream until the market for renewable fuel improves through better technology and stronger demand, Rosenberg said.

Renewable chemicals

Jim Lane, editor and publisher of Biofuels Digest, said many venture capital sources are investing in renewable chemicals, at least in the near term, because chemicals generally sell for higher prices than fuels.

Dan Watkins, a managing director at Houston-based venture capital firm DFJ Mercury, which invested $5 million in Glycos along with Draper Fisher Jurvetson of Menlo Park, Calif., said that as the cost of petrochemical feedstocks continues to rise, industry will be looking to biochemical technology as a low-cost, high-margin alternative.

“Because prices are increasing on petrochemical feedstocks and because of the energy-intensive nature of the petrochemical production, we think that the economics of biological production are going to be increasingly profitable,” Watkins said. “Anecdotal evidence of this shift is that we are seeing a number of traditional petrochemical companies that have started to explore biological production.”

Using technology developed by Dr. Ramon Gonzalez at Rice University, Glycos is genetically engineering common microbes to digest glycerin, a low-value waste from biodiesel production, as opposed to higher-cost sugar-based sources more broadly in use by clean tech companies. Through a fermentation process, the microbes produce the desired chemicals.

Cilento said the technology easily can be added on to existing biodiesel plants to convert those waste streams into advanced ethanol or other chemicals.

“The feedstock is very cheap and economical. If you can get large volumes of it, then you can make very large volumes of very high-valued chemicals,” Cilento said.

International interest

Cilento said the technology is drawing the attention of investors in some Latin American countries that now produce biodiesel from soybean, grape seed and other plant oils and sell or discard the glycerin byproduct. Part of the attraction is that it also offers the option of making ethanol in countries that don’t have their own crude oil reserves, he said.

Malaysia is one of the biggest exporters of palm oil in the world, making the company’s technology a perfect fit, the company said in a news release.

Although Houston is not a biotech hotbed like California’s Silicon Valley or Boston, Cilento said he believes other firms will launch in the area as the sector gains more of a toehold commercially and attracts greater interest from the traditional energy industry centered here.

The area is home to the largest chemical-producing complex in the country, infrastructure that eventually could be used to distill and refine biochemicals on a large scale.

It also has a highly skilled labor force of engineers, microbiologists and chemists who work in the petrochemical and medical industry.

“It makes perfect sense to have this company here now, diversifying away from the petrochemical industry, which is under pressure internationally,” Cilento said.

monica.hatcher@chron.com

]]> http://www.glycosbio.com/bugs-to-bucks-microbes-make-biochemicals/feed/ 0 Glycos Biotechnologies’ SAB Chairman Presented Award for Research Converting Glycerine into High Value Products http://www.glycosbio.com/glycos-biotechnologies%e2%80%99-sab-chairman-presented-award-for-research-converting-glycerine-into-high-value-products/ http://www.glycosbio.com/glycos-biotechnologies%e2%80%99-sab-chairman-presented-award-for-research-converting-glycerine-into-high-value-products/#comments Wed, 26 May 2010 21:13:51 +0000 client http://www.glycosbio.com/?p=806 HOUSTON, TX – May 25, 2010 – Glycos Biotechnologies, Inc. (GlycosBio), a metabolic engineering innovator in biologically converting non-sugar feedstocks into next generation bioproducts, today announced that Dr. Ramon Gonzalez, Scientific Advisory Board Chairman of GlycosBio, has received the 2010 Glycerine Innovation Award during the Annual Meeting of the American Oil Chemists’ Society (AOCS).  The award is sponsored annually by The Soap and Detergent Associate (SDA) and the National Biodiesel Board (NBB).

The William W. Akers Assistant Professor in the Departments of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Bioengineering at Rice University in Houston, Gonzalez and his team of researchers identified the metabolic processes and conditions that allow a known strain of E. coli to convert glycerine, the major byproduct of biodiesel production, into ethanol.

By discovering innovative pathways that mediate glycerol fermentation in E. coli, Gonzalez was able to develop new technologies for converting glycerol into high-value chemicals. Through this research and discovery, Gonzalez and his team designed strains of E. coli that could produce a range of products from biofuels, ethanol, hydrogen and organic acids.

GlycosBio was founded based on Gonzalez’s discovery.  The company is using this technology innovation to enable petrochemical, palm oil, oleochemical and biofuel producers to convert by-products including glycerol and free fatty acids into higher-value green chemicals.  By not following the typical sugars-based fermentation research, GlycosBio offers the industry an alternative approach to traditional corn or sugar-based biofuel and chemical production.

About Glycos Biotechnologies, Inc.

Glycos Biotechnologies, Inc. (GlycosBio) is an emerging biochemical company pioneering the metabolic engineering of microbial strains to consume multiple non sugar-based, low value feedstocks for the production of sustainable chemicals and advanced ethanol.  By designing differentiated microorganisms, GlycosBio’s bioconversion technology lowers production cost and provides a non-food energy balance savings to the chemical and biofuel industries.  GlycosBio is privately held with established global relationships focused on product commercialization.  For more information, visit www.glycosbio.com.

]]> http://www.glycosbio.com/glycos-biotechnologies%e2%80%99-sab-chairman-presented-award-for-research-converting-glycerine-into-high-value-products/feed/ 0 Bio-XCell’s first 3 tenants to invest RM300mil http://www.glycosbio.com/bio-xcell%e2%80%99s-first-3-tenants-to-invest-rm300mil/ http://www.glycosbio.com/bio-xcell%e2%80%99s-first-3-tenants-to-invest-rm300mil/#comments Thu, 06 May 2010 19:07:00 +0000 client http://www.glycosbio.com/?p=828 By YVONNE TAN
yvonne@thestar.com.my
CHICAGO: Bio-XCell, a biotechnology eco-system and park to be built in Nusajaya, Iskandar Malaysia, welcomed its first three tenants yesterday after sealing memoranda of agreement (MoA) with the respective companies in deals valued at a collective RM300mil.

“We expect their operations to start in 2012 or latest, by 2013,” Malaysian Biotechnology Bhd (BiotechCorp) CEO Datuk Iskandar Mizal Mahmood said.

The tenants are biotech feedstock technology firm Glycos Biotechnology Inc from the United States, agriculture-related MGM Ingredients AG from Switzerland and an India-based pharmaceutical company.

“These will be our mini anchor tenants. We expect to close three more deals involving platinum-status or main anchor tenants before the year-end,” Iskandar said.

He was speaking to Malaysian journalists after the global launch of Bio-XCell and the signing of MoA at the Bio Chicago 2010 convention here yesterday.

Bio-XCell is a tie-up between government agency BiotechCorp and UEM Land Holdings Bhd. The development, measuring some 70 acres, is expected to be completed by 2015.

Yesterday also saw a series of other significant milestones for BiotechCorp. Among these, it signed a memorandum of collaboration with General Electric International Inc (GE) for the latter to provide strategic infrastructure for the eco-system, particularly for the development of centralised utilities facilities within the park.

“The tie-up with GE may include the provision of life sciences and manufacturing equipment and potential investment into biotech-related innovation,” Iskandar said.

BiotechCorp also launched yesterday the country’s first biotechnology country report in collaboration with Ernst & Young.

“The report allows for benchmarking and tracking of the industry’s initiatives and development, identifies gaps in the implementation framework and allows us to identify key actions which must be put into place to ensure the success of initiatives towards commercialisation.”

It announced that Stempeutics Research Sdn Bhd, a BioNexus-status company with origin in India, would start conducting clinical trials, which include studying the safety of its new drug for patients with Ischemic Cerebral Stroke, after obtaining approvals from the Health Ministry.

It also revealed that Pakistan-based Getz Pharma was looking to invest about RM150mil in Malaysia for R&D and the production and commercialisation of biopharmaceutical products.

Getz Pharma was looking to acquire 15 acres of land in Enstek Tech Park, Negri Sembilan.

Meanwhile, Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili expected the level of commercialisation of public research output in Malaysia to double to 10% in five years from 5% now, aided by the setting up of the National Innovation Centre.

Maximus, who witnessed the global launch and signing of the MoAs, said the ministry had prepared a paper on the proposed centre which would be tabled to the Cabinet by the end of this month.

Among the proposed centre’s objectives is to focus on public research output and ways to market it to generate wealth for the nation.

]]> http://www.glycosbio.com/bio-xcell%e2%80%99s-first-3-tenants-to-invest-rm300mil/feed/ 0 GlycosBio expands to Malaysia http://www.glycosbio.com/glycosbio-expands-to-malaysia/ http://www.glycosbio.com/glycosbio-expands-to-malaysia/#comments Wed, 05 May 2010 18:55:20 +0000 client http://www.glycosbio.com/?p=814 By Lisa Gibson

Posted May 5, 2010, at 4:00 p.m. CST

Texas-based Glycos Biotechnologies Inc. is expanding its biochemical production capabilities to Malaysia under an agreement with Malaysian Bio-XCell Sdn. Bhd., a government-supported industrial ecosystem focused on the advancement of biotechnology in the country.

The two will collaborate on the construction of a biochemical and biotechnology facility within Bio-XCell’s industrial park in Malaysia. The center will include a research and development lab, along with a 20,000-metric-ton (22,000 tons) commercial biochemical production facility that will manufacture acetone, technical-grade ethanol and isoprene, according Rich Cilento, GlycosBio CEO.

Research and production at the facility will use waste products from the palm oil industry including crude glycerin and fatty acids, Cilento said. No contracts for supply are in place as of yet, but several companies have shown an interest in providing their waste streams for the process. GlycosBio takes a unique approach to biochemicals production, using mostly waste streams, especially glycerin, in lieu of sugars, which are more commonly utilized in such processes. “It’s sort of hand in glove with our technology,” Cilento says of the decision to expand to Malaysia. “Their natural resources align with our feedstock strategy. They don’t have a lot of sugar.” The country also has a long-standing oleochemicals industry, he added. “It completely makes sense for us to have a long-standing partnership with them.”

The Malaysian government, through its Malaysian Biotechnology Corp., is promoting and encouraging a biochemical industry through financial support for companies willing to expand there. “Their program is to support entirely the cost to construct and purchase equipment,” Cilento said, adding that a cost estimate has not yet been established and, through a long-term agreement, GlycosBio will pay it back. The developing biochemicals industry will be both for domestic and export markets, he said, although the country only has a population of about 25 million to 30 million. “Malaysia doesn’t have a huge addressable market. Most will be more than likely export.”

Bio-Xcell’s industrial park is the perfect location for the plant, Cilento said, as all the infrastructure is already in place. Construction is scheduled to begin in the third quarter of this year and completed in 2012, followed shortly by operation.

“Ultimately, our goal will be to show that we can integrate into an existing oleochemical plant to make an additional chemical,” Cilento said.

]]> http://www.glycosbio.com/glycosbio-expands-to-malaysia/feed/ 0 GlycosBio Presents at BIO International Convention http://www.glycosbio.com/glycosbio-presents-at-bio-international-convention/ http://www.glycosbio.com/glycosbio-presents-at-bio-international-convention/#comments Wed, 05 May 2010 15:00:39 +0000 client http://www.glycosbio.com/?p=799 Panel Participants to Discuss Malaysian Biotechnology Commercialization Opportunities

HOUSTON, TX – May 5, 2010 – Glycos Biotechnologies, Inc. (GlycosBio), an emerging biochemical company pioneering metabolic engineering and microbiology innovations for the production of sustainable biochemicals, today announced it is presenting at the BIO International Convention taking place May 3rd – 6th in Chicago, IL.  GlycosBio’s Chief Executive Officer, Richard Cilento, will participate in the Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation (BioTechCorp) Business Roundtable addressing Malaysia’s biotech environment, work underway, and how the industry and government are collaborating to bring products to the marketplace.

As the lead development agency for the biotech industry in Malaysia and central contact point providing support, facilitation and advisory services for biotech and life sciences companies in Malaysia, BioTechCorp is bringing together Malaysian dignitaries and biotechnology executives to discuss and develop a further understanding of the business and development opportunities in Malaysia for biotechnology commercialization.

What: “Accelerating Commercialization in Biotechnology”

Who: Richard Cilento, Glycos Biotechnologies, Chief Executive Officer

Dato’ Iskandar Mizal Mahmood, BioTechCorp, Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Shermal Perrera, Siogen  Biotech, Managing Director

Madhukumar MK, Stempeutics Research, Country Manager

Meiert J. Grootes, Panadoro Group, Chief Executive Officer

Where: Room CC 11B, Hyatt McCormick Regency Hotel, Chicago, IL

When: Wednesday, May 5th, 11:00am – 12:15pm

About Glycos Biotechnologies, Inc.

Glycos Biotechnologies, Inc. (GlycosBio) is an emerging biochemical company pioneering the metabolic engineering of microbial strains to consume multiple non sugar-based, low value feedstocks for the production of sustainable chemicals and advanced ethanol.  By designing differentiated microorganisms, GlycosBio’s bioconversion technology lowers production cost and provides a non food energy balance savings to the chemical and biofuel industries.  GlycosBio is privately held with established global relationships focused on product commercialization.  For more information, visit www.glycosbio.com.

MEDIA CONTACT
Suzanne Tormollen
Atingo Public Relations
281-785-1280suzanne@atingo.com

]]> http://www.glycosbio.com/glycosbio-presents-at-bio-international-convention/feed/ 0 GlycosBio expands in Malaysia http://www.glycosbio.com/glycosbio-expands-in-malaysia/ http://www.glycosbio.com/glycosbio-expands-in-malaysia/#comments Tue, 04 May 2010 19:05:01 +0000 client http://www.glycosbio.com/?p=825 Houston-based Glycos Biotechnologies announced today that it is building a biochemical plant as well as a biotech R&D facility in Malaysia under a collaboration with the country’s biotech hub Bio-XCell Sdn. Bhd., a government-supported industrial ecosystem focused on the advancement of biotechnology in Malaysia.

Recalling from a previous post on GlycosBio, the company licensed in 2008 a fermentation process developed by Rice University that can convert glycerine into high value organic acids such as formate, lactate, and succinate. GlycosBio are also working on biocatalytic production systems for renewable-based chemicals and fuels from starting materials other than crude glycerin.

But since they’ve been perfecting their glycerine-based acids, Malaysia is the perfect base for their new facility with tons of palm oil-based glycerine within reach. With their new 20,000 – 40,000 tonne/year facility, GlycosBio plans to produce bio-based acetone, technical grade ethanol and isoprene.

“The company’s expansion into Malaysia makes GlycosBio one of the first companies to be focused on research and development as well as the commercialization of advanced biochemicals in the region, and we plan to leverage this position to help the Malaysian government maintain and improve its sustainability production goals in the downstream palm oil industry,” said Rich Cilento, Chief Executive Officer of Glycos Biotechnologies.

Construction of the plant will begin in third quarter 2010 with an expected completion date in early 2012. In addition to the partnership with Bio-XCell, GlycosBio will also be working closely with the Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation, the national agency set up by the Malaysian government for the development of biotechnology in Malaysia.

]]> http://www.glycosbio.com/glycosbio-expands-in-malaysia/feed/ 0 Glycos Biotechnologies enters Malaysia http://www.glycosbio.com/glycos-biotechnologies-enters-malaysia/ http://www.glycosbio.com/glycos-biotechnologies-enters-malaysia/#comments Tue, 04 May 2010 19:01:53 +0000 client http://www.glycosbio.com/?p=822 Glycos Biotechnologies Inc. has scored a deal with Bio-XCell Sdn. Bhd. that will expand GlycosBio’s presence into Malaysia.

The Houston-based biochemical company’s expansion into Malaysia makes it one of the first companies to be focused on research and development as well as the commercialization of advanced biochemicals in the region, according to Rich Cilento, chief executive officer of GlycosBio.

“We plan to leverage this position to help the Malaysian government maintain and improve its sustainability production goals in the downstream palm oil industry,” he added.

The company said it sees the palm oil industry as being a long-term source of “renewable feedstocks.”

Under the agreement, GlycosBio and Malaysian-based Bio-XCell will collaborate on the construction of a biochemical plant and biotechnology research and development facility within Bio-XCell’s industrial park in Malaysia.

Bio-XCell is a government-supported industrial ecosystem focused on the advancement of biotechnology.

Construction of the plant will begin later this year with an expected completion date in early 2012.

In addition, GlycosBio will also be working closely with the Malaysian Biotechnology Corp., the national agency set up by the Malaysian government for the development of biotechnology in Malaysia.

]]> http://www.glycosbio.com/glycos-biotechnologies-enters-malaysia/feed/ 0 Glycos Biotechnologies Expands into Malaysia; Focus on Palm Oil http://www.glycosbio.com/glycos-biotechnologies-expands-into-malaysia-focus-on-palm-oil/ http://www.glycosbio.com/glycos-biotechnologies-expands-into-malaysia-focus-on-palm-oil/#comments Tue, 04 May 2010 18:59:57 +0000 client http://www.glycosbio.com/?p=819 4 May 2010

Glycos Biotechnologies, Inc. (GlycosBio), a biochemical company using metabolic engineering and microbiology for the production of sustainable biochemicals, is expanding into Malaysia.