Newsletter April 2009

What is common between wastewater treatment, an innovative detergent and a chlorine-free biodegradable decontaminant? The answer is: the use of enzymes that are outstandingly active natural molecules.

« For scientists, enzymes are proteins » explains Gilles Ravot (Chairman and CEO of Protéus). « But, for Industry, they are tools allowing dramatic improvements of processes ». Actually,  enzymes are key factors in all environmental applications : methanisation, hydrogen production, decontamination, digestion and degradation of organic wastes from diverse origins, or recycling of wastes into new feedstock or energy sources.

Founded in 1998, Protéus is a world-class expert for the discovery, engineering and production of novel high-performance enzymes for industrial and environmental applications.    

Since inception, Protéus works with leaders in the environment industry such as Veolia Environment,  in chemistry such as Henkel, or in agri-industry such as Syngenta, and with many other key players.

« Our fully integrated platform combines exclusive capabilities in microbiology, chemistry, molecular biology and fermentation, that enable the discovery of new enzymes, and their optimisation for delivering the performances required in the final application. » Gilles Ravot says.

Protéus provides outstanding capabilities to strategic industrial partnerships, that enable existing products and processes to be dramatically improved, and new IP rights to be created to reinforce the leading position of Protéus' partners on their market.

« Our environmental programs aim at improving the productivity, the energy and environmental balance of industrial processes, and at giving access new renewable feedstocks. » he explains.

The applications currently covered by Protéus focus on :

• cleaning, decontamination, disinfection and detoxification (chemicals and biologicals) in industrial, agricultural, military, hospital or home environment with more efficient products, harmless to humans and fully biodegradable 
• improving the efficiency of industrial, agricultural or municipal wastewater treatement, and of methanisation processes
• recycling of industrial and municipal waste into new feedstocks and new energy sources.  

« Over the past decade, Protéus has acquired a unique experience in these industrial sectors » concludes Gilles Ravot. « We are constantly approached  by  industrial players for new projects in order to develop environmental solutions that fulfill their industrial requirements. »

The companies will develop new enzymes for the creation of next generation biofuels
 
Nîmes, France, January 15, 2009 - Proteus announced today that it has entered into a collaboration agreement with agribusiness leader, Syngenta. The two companies will work together on the development of novel high performing enzymes for next generation biofuel production. Both diversity screening and directed evolution methods will be used for the discovery and the optimization of such targeted enzymes for the conversion of biomass into biofuels.

more information...

White biotechnology for improved and environmentally friendly value creation from agri-resources

Nîmes and Pomacle, France, March 24, 2009 – Protéus, a leading biotechnology company focusing on the discovery, engineering and manufacturing of proteins of industrial interest, and ARD, the non-food agro-industry R&D company, today announced the signature of a collaborative agreement. ARD (Agro Industrie Recherches et Développements) is a research and development center for agro-industry groups which together represent a turnover of more than EUR 3 billion and are specialized in the development of agroresources for non-food applications.

The aim of the cooperation agreement is to develop a molecule of interest to a wide range of industries. The two companies expect the partnership to improve the process of bioproduction of natural origin molecules in an economically competitive and environmentally friendly way.

more information...

SMi’s 5th Annual Global Protein Summit

June 01-02, 2009 London, UK

Efficient strategies for process development and protein production for diagnosis screening and therapeutical applications

Sabrina Guillermer, 
Protein Expression Group Leader, Proteus

BIOTRANS 2009

July 5-9, 2009 Berne, Zwitzerland

Directed evolution of a 13-hydroperoxide lyase dedicated to cosmetic application 

Denis Wahler, PhD, 
Head of R&D, Proteus 


Meet us on the Protéus' stand at these two conferences  

Please contact us for more information