Co-locator Profiles
IIB co-locators come from across the
life sciences spectrum and share a focus on accessing our resources
in order to move from idea to market. We provide state-of-the-art
technology and expertise, and flexible, cost-effective lease terms in
dedicated biotech lab space where IP can be fully protected.
AgResearch Structural Biology Laboratory
Providing a new atom’s eye view in solving major farming challenges
Biologists often aim to retain the benefits of a natural process while eliminating any harm. Naturally occurring in most New Zealand pastoral grasses, the fungus Neotyphodium lolii confers to the grass valuable drought and insect resistance, but can also cause neurological problems, called ryegrass staggers, in livestock. Current strategies to address this use traditional selective grass breeding. But the AgResearch Structural Biology Laboratory, owned by New Zealand's largest Crown Research Institute and based at the Institute for Innovation in Biotechnology (IIB), is now seeking a more certain remedy based on the insights of structural biology.
Androgenix Ltd
Applying medical genomics to a major agricultural need
With over 90% of dairy stock now bred by artificial insemination, farmers are keen to better determine gender. The relative amount of DNA per sperm is a reliable indicator for sorting sperm with either the X or Y chromosome. But the current technology to differentiate for this requires investigating each sperm individually for this characteristic. (A single ejaculate from a healthy bull contains ~1 x1010 sperm.) By contrast, scientists at Androgenix Limited, at the Institute for Innovation in Biotechnology (IIB), are identifying “surface” markers that effectively self-sort sperm across millions of samples at once. Instead of analysing each sperm’s quantity of DNA, they want the sperm to signal each future calf’s gender to them.
Bioscience Strategies (NZ) Ltd
A catalyst for commercial success in the life sciences
Jim Mervis is managing director at Bioscience Strategies NZ Ltd, chairman of CoDa Therapeutics, director of Polybatics and special advisor to NZTE and Auckland UniServices.
Drawing on this experience, his consultancy, Bioscience Strategies NZ, is helping
scientists more effectively capture their research’s commercial potential. Key
strengths are in structuring international partnerships and understanding what
type of partnership will work best for both inventor and investor.
CoDa Therapeutics, Inc.
Developing a new class of therapeutics to heal wounds faster
One of medicine’s oldest challenges, tissue damage, is also among its most intractable. Acute wounds heal slowly, chronic ones sometimes not at all. Effective drug treatment has proved elusive. But by turning previous approaches on their heads CoDa Therapeutics is already seeing significant gains from a whole new class of therapeutics it is now advancing through Phase II clinical trials.
Comvita New Zealand Ltd
Identifying the compounds in honey-based therapeutics that can deliver the most benefit
To get the best results from any health compound you need to know not only that it delivers benefits but also why. This approach has become standard with new therapeutics, but in also applying it to naturally-based treatments Comvita is now aiming to better explain their efficacy and thereby pursue new health benefits as well.
Highbury Pacific Ltd
Creating market value from innovation
Successfully going from a great idea to market requires more than just science. Where even valuing a discovery can in itself be a serious challenge, business expertise also counts for a lot. And, in helping New Zealand biotech realise value from new ideas and products, Highbury Pacific has built a special track record that uniquely draws on more than ten years international experience.
Innate Therapeutics Ltd
New therapeutics from unique technology
activating innate immune signaling
Along with discovery, biotech success often turns on prioritising precious resources. In mid-2010 Innate Therapeutics, which is developing a novel immune response technology, marked a milestone with a US$550,000 grant from the US National Multiple Sclerosis Society and EMD Serono to begin Phase 2 clinical trials for a potential treatment for the progressive form of Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
Symansis Ltd
Making new cell signalling technologies more widely available to researchers
Often the value of a new technology can lie as much in the number of people it reaches as in the task it performs. Certainly in 2002, when a group of scientists began considering the idea behind Symansis, the benefits of new cell signalling technologies were well known. Being able to see precisely which among a myriad of cell signalling pathways responded to a cancer drug was clearly more effective than conducting a conventional experiment. But the technology was expensive and required substantial laboratories. No one had focussed on how to make it cheaper and easier for more researchers to use.
ViaLactia BioSciences Ltd
Enabling higher value, sustainable milk production - and creating new products and benefits for New Zealand’s dairy industry
No matter how sophisticated its production, all milk depends on just three core building blocks: water, grass and cows. New Zealand has long been a leader in combining all three effectively to create a world-leading dairy farming and manufacturing sector. Each year Fonterra, a cooperative of 96% of the country’s dairy farmers, collects and processes over 14 billion litres of fresh milk from the country’s farms, contributing one third of world dairy trade and making it the world’s largest dairy exporter.
