Genomatica Licenses SimPheny(TM) Software to The Wageningen Centre for Food Sciences, a Major Food Research Alliance of the Netherlands
Genomatica, Inc., a leading in silico systems biology company, announced that it has licensed ts proprietary SimPheny(TM) enterprise software modeling platform to The Wageningen Centre for Food Sciences (WCFS) of the Netherlands. As part of this agreement, Genomatica is providing training and scientific support for the co-development of an in silico metabolic model of Lactobacillus plantarum, a lactic acid bacterium that is used for improving the flavor and texture of food as well as for extending the shelf-life of food products and for contributing to overall gastrointestinal health.
“We are excited to have licensed SimPheny to WCFS,” commented Christophe Schilling, Ph.D., President and Chief Scientific Officer for Genomatica. “WCFS is performing groundbreaking research in food science and generating a tremendous amount of biological knowledge that will be captured within the metabolic model of L. plantarum. This model, together with SimPheny, will provide WCFS with an important strategic tool to strengthen their microbial research programs, and, in turn, provide incredible value to their industry partners.”
“We have achieved a substantial acceleration in our research project by using SimPheny for reconstruction and modeling of the Lactobacillus plantarum metabolic network,” commented Dr. Eddy Smid, group leader at WCFS and responsible for the metabolic engineering research program. “SimPheny’s quality control features have been very helpful in constructing a high-quality, genome-scale model of Lactobacillus plantarum. Together with the interactive graphical interface, SimPheny allows for the navigation through the metabolic network without losing the general overview,” commented Dr. Bas Teusink, of WCFS, who carried out the metabolic reconstruction.
About WCFS
WCFS was formed in 1996 from an alliance of major Dutch food and fermentation companies that pulled together financial resources to perform multidisciplinary research relevant to the food industry. This public-private partnership of government, industry and research institutes aims to carry out fundamental research directed at strengthening the innovative power and competitive strength of the Dutch food industry. As lactic acid bacteria are among the most important microbes used in the food industry, considerable attention is given to their improvement and control. This is realized in the WCFS Programme Microbial Functionality and Safety, in which the complete genome of L. plantarum has been determined and made subject of advanced functional and comparative genomics.
About Genomatica
Genomatica is a leading innovator of biological modeling and simulation technologies transforming biological research and the way organisms are engineered and drugs are discovered. Genomatica’s proprietary SimPheny(TM) technology enables the rapid generation of cellular-level models of biological systems focused on metabolism. With an established and growing collection of organism specific models this fully integrated technology is designed to accelerate biological discovery by rapidly generating comprehensive information about genes, proteins, and biological pathways, along with information on the expression, regulation, and potential products that affect these biological systems. Genomatica is currently pursuing commercial relationships with major bioprocessing, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies seeking to leverage the power of model-driven systems biology for rapid discovery. http://www.genomatica.com
