Tackling Key Limitation for Plant-Based High-Value Products in Arkansas

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Tackling Key Limitation for Plant-Based
High-Value Products in Arkansas

• AR EPSCoR Meeting
• September 1, 2005

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Plant-based Bioproductionthe opportunity

• Why pursue plant-made specialty products (PMPs,
  PMIPs, biofuels)?
• New medicines addressing complexity, scale,
  safety and cost
• New sources for biofuels, enzymes and other
  industrial compound
• Uses Ag to meet diverse markets

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Limitations to commercial development
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• Goal is to develop collaborative
  cross-disciplinary projects that directly address
  these issues in a way that builds on AR strengths
  and ensures active economic development of new
  high-value Ag products and product testing in
  Arkansas.

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Protecting the productBlocking protein
degradation
BioInformatics UALR
Arabidopsis genomics ASU, UAF
Inhibition strategies (RNAi) ASU, UALR, UAF
Product Assessment UAF
Model proteins (MAb, lectin fusion) and small
molecules UAF, UAMS, ASU
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Output/Deliverables

• New understanding of mechanisms mediating protein
  accumulation and physiological roles of proteases
  in plants
• New technologies for enhancing plant-based
  bioproduction
• Technologies applicable to multiple bioproduction
  platforms
• Also applicable to traditional food applications
  (including non-GMO strategies)
• New high through-put assessment tools
• Training and workforce development

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Physical and Genetic Containment and Testing
Strategies
Fully contained in vitro cGMP systems - ASU
Genetic systems Terminator Transients Signatur
e biomarkers
Substantial equivalence and safely HTP analytics
- ASU
Containment testing facilities
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The test bed Containment Assessment Facilities

• Containment greenhouses
• Growth and assessment of genetic containment and
  biomarker strategies
• Biomass production for residue and fate
  studies
• Modular test bed facility
• Soil fate
• Water fate
• Biomass longevity/fate
• Eco-tox bioactivity

Available for nano-particle Fate and toxicity
studies
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Output/Deliverables

• Service facility for biotech assessment (for
  government and industry) spin-out potential
• Development of specialty crops (non-food or
  genetically contained) fully compatible with AR
  Ag and food industries
• Technology development in high-sensitivity HTP
  monitoring for Ag and food industries and
  regulators
• Production platforms/cGMP capabilities for
  plant-based medical compounds
• Training and workforce development

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Project Fit with NSF Parameters

• Regional Importance
• Major Ag/food production state
• Rural areas remain depressed would benefit from
  new high-value crops
• Strong interface of Ag and medicine
• Already have initial start-up companies that
  would benefit from technology

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Project Fit with NSF Parameters

• Strength-based project
• Nationally/Internationally recognized expertise
  in PMPs and PMIPs
• Significant state-wide commitment at interface of
  Ag and medicine
• Commercial spin-offs already in progress
• InterveXion
• Nature Diagnostics
• Hood-Ideas, LLC
• BioDefense Technologies

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Project Fit with NSF Parameters

• Inclusive collaborative base
• ASU Expertise in PMPs, metabolic engineering,
  containment, and high-throughput detection
  product models of medical significance
  industrial partners and start-ups.
• UALR Strength in bioinformatics to support
  genomics approaches to proteinase issues plant
  molecular biologists
• UAF/UAMS Expertise in PMPs, bioengineering,
  protein analytics (MS, Protein struct/funct.
  Center) soils, product model (Ab) of medical
  significance industrial partners and start-ups.
• NCTR?

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Project Fit with NSF Parameters

• Potential for Economic Development
• Technologies supports recent AR start-up
  companies
• Service potential for entire PMP and PMIP
  industries
• Spin-out potential for analyses in food crops and
  bio-equivalency assessments in new biotech crops
• Technologies will be broadly applicable (i.e.,
  platform-independent) opening up licensing
  opportunities