Four unis to team on plant biotech project

Four Australian universities have made an unusual decision to form a 'virtual company', Meristomics, to commercialise discoveries from basic research in their jointly operated ARC Centre of Excellence for Integrative Legume Research (CILR).

The four universities -- the University of Melbourne, the University of Queensland, the Australian National University, and the University of Newcastle -- have collectively decided to spin out the new company through UQ's commercialisation arm, UniQuest.

The universities established the CILR in 2003, appointing leading legume researcher Prof Peter Gresshoff as its director.

Meristomics -- a name that distils its research focus on the genomics and phenomics of legume meristem development -- is already being wooed by pharmaceutical companies interested in its discovery of a prospective broad-spectrum anti-cancer drug, according to the University of Queensland.

Meristomics is an unincorporated joint venture between the four universities, but operated through UniQuest.

"We realised we needed an efficient, cost-effective way of proceeding to commercialisation, without going through all four universities," said Meristomics CEO Ian Harris. "In a genuine spirit of collaboration, the universities decided that the University of Queensland's commercial arm, UniQuest, provided the best solution.

"Meristomics will be operated by UniQuest until we have enough collateral to spin it out as a company in its own right."

He described the partners' decision to allocate their commercialisation rights to UniQuest as "ground-breaking", and said it would provide a single point of contact with industry, as well as immediate access to substantial commercial expertise and clout

The CILR is investigating the genetic mechanisms controlling the differentiation of apical meristem tissues in two model legumes, Lotus japonica and Medicago truncatula. Like Arabidopsis, both are notable for their compact genomes.

It hopes to apply its discoveries to modifying the architecture of legumes, and improving their environmental tolerance and productivity, and to improve legume symbioses with nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Given this focus, Harris, who is also the centre's chief operating officer, conceded it was "somewhat odd" that Meristomics had found itself involved pharmaceutical development so early.

"Drug discovery isn't our core activity," he said. "Our primary objective is discovery and development using genomics and phenomics [the study of the phenotypic effects of gene knockout or knockdown] in legumes.

"But in the process, we're identifying genes for novel cellular compounds and signalling molecules."

Harris said the first stem cells were found in plant meristem tissue, and CILR researchers are "getting down to the nitty-gritty of stem-cell differentiation", trying to understand the genetic mechanisms that mould unspecialised meristem cells to new, specialised roles.

The company is not disclosing the identity of its legume-derived anti-cancer lead, until it secures a provisional patent. Harris said it has recently identified a second legume compound with promising anti-cancer activity.