Oppilotech awarded Innovate UK grant to expand model of outer wall of bacteria

LONDON, UK - Apr 26, 2018 - Oppilotech Ltd, a biopharmaceutical company founded to develop safe, first-in-class, antibacterial therapies, announced today it has been selected for funding by Innovate UK - the UK’s innovation agency.

Oppilotech has been taking a systems biology approach to building a detailed, sophisticated, experimentally validated, computational network model of the outer wall of Gram-negative bacteria. Gram-negative bacteria are responsible for many of the hard-to-treat infections and include pathogens such as Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Neisseria gonorrhoeae. The funding will be used to:

• Expand the model to incorporate peptidoglycan - a key constituent of bacterial cell walls
• Incorporate 3D spatial elements that can simulate entry and activities of antibacterial agents across the cell wall
• Utilise the model to select first-in-class viable drug targets that will form the basis for the development of the next generation of antibiotics

The 12-month project is in partnership with Prof Waldemar Vollmer from Newcastle University - a world-leading expert on bacterial cell wall biology.

John George, PhD Co-founder/CSO of Oppilotech and Reader at Leeds Beckett University, commented, “We are all aware of the growing antibiotic resistance crisis and the need for the development of novel classes of antibiotics. This funding will expand our understanding of how the outer wall of Gram-negative bacteria is assembled and reveal new insights into how this wall can be disrupted. This will form the basis for the development of the next generation of antibiotics. We’d like to thank Innovate UK for providing this vital funding that will go towards developing solutions to the antimicrobial resistance crisis.”

The power and utility of the model has already been employed for Oppilotech’s OPT-200 programme: an early-stage first-in-class antibacterial R&D programme targeting the synthesis of LPS - an important component of the outer wall.

Ends

For further information, please contact:

Oppilotech Ltd
Ajay Mistry PhD, Founder/CEO
T: +44(0)7881 811 739
E: ajay.mistry@oppilotech.com

Sciad Communications, Media Relations
Deborah Cockerill / Emma Pickup / Juliette Craggs
T: +44(0)20 7470 8801
E: oppilotech@sciad.com

Notes for Editors

About Oppilotech Ltd
Oppilotech is a science-led biotech company focused on the discovery and development of first-in-class antibacterial compounds against drug resistant organisms. The company is taking a systems biology approach to build one of the most detailed, accurate, computational network models of bacterial cell envelope (including LPS, peptidoglycan & phospholipids components) biogenesis that has ever been assembled. The model provides valuable insights into selecting the most viable drug targets. The company intends to take the antibacterial programmes derived from the model into the clinic. Visit www.oppilotech.com

About Innovate UK
Innovate UK is the UK’s innovation agency. It works with people, companies and partner organisations to find and drive the science and technology innovations that will grow the UK economy. For-further-information visit https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/innovate-uk