Biostart invests in Qld start-up Farmacule

Queensland's government has bought a slice of farming's value-added future with a $125,000 investment in Farmacule Bioindustries..

The investment was made under the state government's $6 million Biostart program, established to foster new biotechnology industries.

Farmacule aims to use its proprietary gene technologies to become Australia's first producer of 'biopharmed' crops that are tipped to produce high-value proteins such as edible vaccines and other protein-based therapeutics, and biopolymers for industrial feedstocks.

The crops will employ its proprietary INPACT (In-Plant ACTivation) technologies, developed by Prof James Dale, of the Queensland University of Technology, who is also Farmacule's CEO and scientific officer.

INPACT technology allows the genes encoding valuable proteins to remain inactive until they are switched on by an external signal, such as a chemical trigger in a spray, or some natural environmental cue.

Farmacule's technology also allows the 'pharmed' proteins to be expressed in specific tissues such as sees, leaves or roots, depending on requirements.

According to a statement by Queensland Innovation Minister Paul Lucas, Farmacule will harvest its first small-scale crop of protein-rich plants in Queensland next year. The proteins will be purified and sold through established domestic and export markets.

Lucas said biopharming could allow traditional crops like sugarcane, bananas, legumes, maize and tomatoes to become future factories producing new medicines, plastics or even paper.