Mk2 Biotechnologies, Wacker and TUM cooperate

In a joint project, the consortium of three companies aims to find ways to produce antimicrobial peptides cost-effectively. They are suitable as natural preservatives, for example.

The start-up Mk2 Biotechnologies, the chemical industry company Wacker and the Technical University of Munich have announced a partnership. For two years, the companies will jointly develop antimicrobial peptides for various applications, produce them cost-effectively in large quantities and refine them.

Antimicrobial peptides are bioactive compounds consisting of amino acid chains that also occur in the human body. There, for example, they ward off infections caused by bacteria and fungi and kill tumor cells. They are also suitable as a natural alternative to artificial preservatives in food production and for use in plant protection and animal breeding.

"Antimicrobial peptides are a highly interesting product class that we can produce with our innovative peptide synthesis platform," says Mk2 Biotechnologies Director and project coordinator Konstantinos Antonopoulos. "Conventional technologies offer high activity but struggle to produce antimicrobial peptides on a large scale at low cost - a problem we aim to solve in the joint project." Mk2 Biotechnologies, Wacker and the Technical University of Munich are being supported in their project by the Bavarian State Ministry of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy. The consortium will receive funding of up to 980,000 euros.