We’re excited to announce that we were recently awarded an Innovate UK SPARK award.
Innovate UK Business Connect SPARK awards facilitate new collaborations between business and academia to accelerate the development of innovative solutions in farmed animals.
We will be joining forces with the University of Glasgow and the Becky Meyer Centre for Phage Research to develop phage-based alternatives to antibiotics. Our collaborative project will run until November 2026.
By the end of this project we will have produced prototypes of phase formulations ready for testing and commercial development.
Phages are naturally occurring viruses that have shown great promise in being used as targeted treatments against harmful bacteria. They infect and kill specific species of bacteria, while leaving surrounding microorganisms untouched.
Shellfish farming in the UK plays an important role in the UK’s blue economy, but production has declined in recent years, partly due to the hurdles faced at the hatchery level.
High mortality rates of larvae are mostly caused by bacterial pathogens, with the Vibrio species being one of the largest culprits. The traditional use of antibiotic treatments was the industries main health management tool, but their effectiveness has declined and restrictions have been placed on their use.
This has left shellfish farmers with few options when it comes to defending against harmful pathogens and has heavily restricted the industry’s ability to grow.
For the duration of this project, we will be using our metagenomic sequencing platform, Detect, to identify and genetically characterise the bacterial and phage communities present within shellfish hatcheries in the UK.
Our collaborators will use their expertise to isolate and study the phage species capable of controlling harmful bacteria in controlled trials.
If you'd like to find out more about this project or how metagenomics can be used to improve aquatic livestock health on your farm, please get in touch.