Wichita, Kan.-based fibers and polymers manufacturer Invista and Portugal-based computational
biology company SilicoLife have agreed to work together to develop new technologies for the
creation of bio-derived processes for industrial chemicals production.
The collaboration will take advantage of Invista’s biotechnology and catalysis capabilities
and knowledge of the chemicals industry, as well as SilicoLife’s in silico metabolic engineering
and rational synthetic biology capabilities to develop biobased chemicals. Initial efforts will
include a focus on bio-derived production of butadiene.
“We anticipate this collaboration with SilicoLife will help us accelerate our timeline to
develop new bio-derived processes for a range of industrial chemicals – helping us further improve
our cost and sustainability position in this area,” said Warren Primeaux, president, Invista
Intermediates.
“The collaboration with Invista combines our state-of-the art engineering expertise with
Invista’s world-class research team to accelerate the design of optimized microbial strains for the
cost-effective production of industrial chemicals from renewable feedstocks,” said Simão Soares,
CEO, SilicoLife.
September 10, 2013
