A Liverpool city region biotech firm that helped develop an ‘ultra-sensitive’ COVID-19 test to measure the effectiveness of vaccines has secured a £250,000 investment. Tony McDonough reports

Liverpool city region biotech Daresbury Proteins has secured £250,000 from a project to support early-stage healthtech firms.

Based at Sci-Tech Daresbury, Daresbury Proteins produces proteins used in academic and industrial research. The ‘one of a kind’ catalogue of proteins was produced for university-based scientists and is unavailable commercially elsewhere.

It can also rapidly assess the functionality of proteins, while reducing cost and risk by removing manufacturing bottlenecks. It was able to develop an ultra-sensitive COVID-19 test to assess the effectiveness of the vaccines and natural infection.

Previously the business had secured funding from Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram’s £3.2m Future Innovation Fund. Now it has won a further £250,000 from another city region funding project.

LYVA Labs is a new non-profit organisation set up by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority. It works with entrepreneurs and businesses that are at the ‘idea stage’ of their healthcare business journey.

It helps them access funding and resources to progress from an idea to a functioning product or service. Its mission is to be a partner for healthcare innovators which would otherwise struggle to access the support, expertise, and resources they need.

This latest funding comes from LYVA Labs’ Health and Life Science Challenge fund. Three new jobs will be created at Daresbury Protein, with plans to expand this to 50 new jobs within the region in the next five years.

Jennet Beesly, director at Daresbury Proteins said: “The growth of the market is attributed to some key driving factors such as increasing incidence of chronic diseases, growth in the geriatric population, and increasing demand for protein biologics.

“Emerging economies are likely to create significant growth opportunities for players in the market. Companies such as LYVA Labs are noticing this and understanding the impact this sort of business will have on the region.”

The investment into Daresbury Proteins will enable the development of its proprietary enabling technology for difficult-to-express biotherapeutics.

Lorna Green, chief executive of LYVA Labs, added: “It’s an exciting time for biotech and in particular the global protein expression market, and innovators like Daresbury Proteins are impacting the industry in a big way.

“Bringing such an interesting, and growing, sector to the city region, as well as the opportunity for the increased workforce, is great and we’re proud to be a part of Daresbury Proteins’ journey.”