Novel approach to antibiotic discovery earns SU biochemist place in US$60 million global consortium

Prof Erick Strauss from Stellenbosch University’s Department of Biochemistry is leading one of two African project teams selected to participate… Read More

Prof Erick Strauss from Stellenbosch University’s Department of Biochemistry is leading one of two African project teams selected to participate in a global consortium to transform antibiotic discovery to counter the growing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) crisis.

Other News:

OneBio secures R20M grant to expand their biotech venture building approach

OneBio Venture Studio, has secured a R20 million grant facility designed to accelerate the growth of high-impact biotechnology startups across the continent.

Deploying this capital marks a strategic intervention in the African venture landscape, where early-stage biotechnology often faces a structural funding vacuum. By providing non-dilutive capital, OneBio intends to bridge the high-risk “valley of death” that separates academic intellectual property from institutional investment readiness.

Objectives

The facility will be utilised to dismantle the barriers between laboratory research and global markets through three key pillars:

Venture-Building Acceleration: Directly funding the operational and technical requirements of OneBio’s venture-building programs to reduce time-to-market.
De-risking Early-Stage Innovation: Providing the necessary capital to achieve technical proof-of-concept.
Bridging the Commercialisation Gap: Aligning high-impact research outputs with commercial market demands to ensure local scientific breakthroughs achieve global scale.

OneBio Venture Studio remains committed to building a local biotech ecosystem that leverages local talent to solve global challenges. This grant facility reinforces OneBio’s role as a catalyst for biotech entrepreneurship in Africa, ensuring that the continent’s scientific intellectual property is fully realised.

Novo Nordisk Foundation grants 25 million euros to the BioInnovation Institute (BII) to power the next generation of biosolutions companies

This allocation will launch the new initiative, ‘Upscalator’, to support Danish and European early-stage startups with facilities, services, and expertise to support that novel biosolutions reach the market and can drive the green transition.

Immobazyme Raises R50 Million to Scale Biologics Platform and Advance Therapeutic Programs

The new capital will accelerate the expansion of Immobazyme’s proprietary biologics platform and advance its therapeutics program as part of the company’s global growth strategy.