Emerging Technologies Competition: Oxford BioTrans

Oxford BioTrans: novel range of biocatalysts

Winner of the Emerging Technologies Competition 2018

Oxford Biotrans is helping transform the flavour and fragrance market with a novel way of producing high-value compounds using enzyme technology. Its first product on the market is nootkatone – which has the flavour and scent of grapefruit.

As global trends highlight a growing preference among consumers for natural and sustainable products, the compounds created by Oxford Biotrans mean less reliance on current sources that include anything from endangered species to environmentally challenging synthetic chemistry. 

The company won the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Emerging Technology competition’s ‘food and drink’ category in 2018, following an application process described by the team as “simple and streamlined”, and in the year since has been concentrating on expanding its technology to develop new and exciting projects.

Since winning the competition

Since winning the Emerging Technology competition, the biotechnology company has gone from strength to strength, noting that the publicity generated off the back of the win resulted in several business leads and conversations with prospective customers.

Dr Hodges added: “As we continue to grow, we’ve already identified several further high-value flavour products, accessible via our technology, where the feedstock is a relatively low cost, natural material with ready availability. We intend to realise scalable, ‘green’, biocatalytic processes for these products.”

Oxford Biotrans’ team of fifteen scientists is now working on enzyme technology for new industries, including the agrochemical and pharmaceutical sectors. The team will continue to roll out new products and well as growing sales of nootkatone and aims to become a leader in high-value chemical production, with investment into the industry continuing to grow.

Why did they apply

“When the information on the Emerging Technology competition came through, entering was a no-brainer. The streamlined process made it simple for us to share information on the company and what we do here, and why we would benefit from winning – with our prize including a sum of money and the resulting publicity with organisations and academia” said commercial director Dr Matthew Hodges who is excited about the prospect of using biotech to address some of the world’s most complex challenges.

Adding: “We’re really excited to be in a position to develop high value, natural compounds in sustainable and economical ways''.