NGI has recently awarded four Booster Grants for public-private partnerships (PPPs) in the Life Sciences. Edwin Cuppen and Frank Grosveld both receive grants to develop consortia working on diagnostic tests for personalised health. A consortium led by Jack Pronk will develop sustainable biobased materials. Gerco Angenent will start a consortium focusing on increased food security by improving crop yields.
NGI is a proponent of an incubator model in which new public-private partnerships are created, financially stimulated during a certain period and then successfully embedded. Therefore, NGI recently organised an open call to encourage public-private partnerships in the Life Sciences.
The proposals had to focus on one of the following three themes:
- Development of diagnostic tests for personalised health
- Development of sustainable biobased chemicals, materials
and energy
- Increasing food security by improving crops yields
For each of these themes, the leading technology for the approach had
to be: epigenomics, next generation sequencing, or synthetic biology,
or a combination of these technologies.
Initially, 13 preproposals were received. After a 2-round procedure
4 proposals were granted:
In theme 1:
Netherlands Consortium for Personalised Genome Diagnostics (NCPGD): Next-generation sequencing-based diagnostics as a routine clinical decision making tool in health care, led by Edwin Cuppen of UMC Utrecht. Participants are Johan den Dunnen (LUMC), Joris Veltman (RUMC) and Raoul Hennekam (AMC). Supporting companies include Service XS, BaseClear, Illumina, Life Technologies, Agilent Technologies and Roche.
The epigenetics of leukemias and myeloid/erythroid cells (ELMEC) consortium, led by Frank Grosveld of Erasmus Medical Centre. Participants are Henk Stunnenberg (RU), Peter Verrijzer and Peter van der Spek (both EMC). Other partners are Sanquin, Skyline Diagnostics, VX Company and Oracle.
In theme 2:
Microbial synthetic biology for exploitation of plant biodiversity,
a consortium led by Jack Pronk of TU Delft. Participants are Robert Hall (WUR), Marcel Reinders and Patricia Osseweijer (both TUD),
Han Wösten (UU) and Bert Poolman (RUG). Supporting companies include Isobionics, AB Mauri, Heineken, DSM, Fluxome and Synthon.
In theme 3:
Consortium for Improving Plant Yield (CIPY): Towards stable crop yield for enhanced food security, led by Gerco Angenent of Wageningen UR. Participants are Ben Scheres (UU), Ritsert Jansen (RUG), Paul Hooykaas, (LU) and Willem Stiekema (UvA). Other partners are Enza Zaden, Rijk Zwaan Zaadteelt and Plantum NL.