The UK’s University of Portsmouth is to share in £15.9 million of investment from the Solent Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP). The Solent LEP was formed after the UK government offered local areas the opportunity to take control of their future economic development. The Solent LEP will use the Government’s ‘Getting Building Fund’ allocation to finance the expansion of the University’s Centre for Enzyme Innovation (CEI), which takes enzymes from the natural environment and adapts them in the laboratory to recycle and reuse some of our most polluting plastics. The CEI will receive £1m investment from the Solent LEP.
The CEI is one of several projects that have been funded by the Solent LEP, who play a leading role in determining economic priorities in the region. According to the Solent LEP, the projects will benefit the region’s economic recovery in the post-Covid-19 pandemic environment.
The CEI was established in June 2019 following £5.8 million funding from Research England as part of the Government’s modern Industrial Strategy. Its aim is to discover and engineer new enzymes that break down plastics and then to work with industry partners to transform the research into real-world solutions. The work stems from previous research, led by Professor John McGeehan at the University of Portsmouth, which engineered an enzyme that could digest polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic, returning it to its original monomers, or building blocks.
Source: Biomarket Insights
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