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12.073C0 18.1 4.388 23.094 10.125 24v-8.437H7.078v-3.49h3.047v-2.66c0-3.025 1.791-4.697 4.533-4.697 1.313 0 2.686.236 2.686.236v2.971H15.83c-1.491 0-1.956.93-1.956 1.886v2.264h3.328l-.532 3.49h-2.796V24C19.612 23.094 24 18.1 24 12.073Z" fill="currentColor"></path></svg></button><button data-title="Share on X" networkName="twitter" class="react-share__ShareButton SocialShare_socialButton__37dkf" style="background-color:transparent;border:none;padding:0;font:inherit;color:inherit;cursor:pointer"><svg viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="SocialShare_socialIcon___HqJj"><path d="M18.901 1h3.68l-8.04 9.319L24 23h-7.406l-5.8-7.691L4.155 23H.474l8.6-9.968L0 1h7.594l5.243 7.03L18.901 1ZM17.61 20.766h2.039L6.486 3.116H4.298l13.312 17.65Z" fill="currentColor"></path></svg></button></div></div><div class="ContentRenderer_renderer__tPJbs"><section class="prezly-slate-document" data-version="0.50"><p class="styles_paragraph__GiKq6"><strong>Peptides make powerful drugs, but they are difficult to synthesize. The pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson teams up with VIB experts to explore how to harness the biosynthetic creativity of microbes to make peptide mass manufacturing more cost-effective and</strong><em><strong> </strong></em><strong>sustainable. </strong></p><p class="styles_paragraph__GiKq6">Peptides are taking the therapeutic space by storm. We have all heard of the obesity wonder drugs Ozempic and Wegowy, originally developed to help diabetes patients; but other peptide-based drugs like Copaxone (to treat relapsing MS) or Lupron (for endometriosis) have also reached ‘blockbuster’ status, generating more than a billion euro in annual revenue.</p><p class="styles_paragraph__GiKq6">From cancer to heart disease, metabolic disorders, or immune disease, drug developers are increasingly looking at peptides as the go-to therapeutic modality. Successful peptide drugs typically act as agonists, replacing naturally missing or low-abundant hormones or other regulators. They combine the advantages of small molecules—high specificity, efficacy, and safety—with those of biologics—low immunogenicity and membrane permeability. </p><h3 class="styles_headingTwo__ZQS6u"><strong>Finetuning therapeutic peptides with non-natural amino acids</strong></h3><p class="styles_paragraph__GiKq6">Therapeutic peptides often incorporate non-natural amino acid building blocks to further expand the possibilities offered by combining the twenty naturally occurring amino acids. These modified amino acids can be used to introduce new chemical functionalities that improve the peptide’s stability or efficacy, or its resistance to enzymatic degradation. </p><p class="styles_paragraph__GiKq6">Non-natural amino acids allow, for example, to create peptides that remain active in the bloodstream for longer, or that bind with more specificity to their targets. New computational approaches greatly facilitate the search for increasingly stable peptide designs, however <em>creating</em> them quickly becomes tricky.</p><p class="styles_paragraph__GiKq6">Contrary to peptide drugs like insulin or Semaglutide (the active compound of Ozempic and Wegowy), which consist entirely of natural amino acids and can be produced through recombinant biotechnology, therapeutic peptides that contain a mix of natural and non-natural amino acids require synthetic approaches, such as solid or liquid-phase peptide synthesis. It’s already clear that neither of these approaches will be able to cover the huge projected rise in demand.</p><h3 class="styles_headingTwo__ZQS6u"><strong>Mass manufacturing synthetic peptides</strong></h3><p class="styles_paragraph__GiKq6">Nico Vervoort is Director of High Throughput Experimentation at J&J Innovative Medicine. He knows like no other that bringing a new drug to market involves much more than just finding the right molecule. “We need to figure out how to synthesize new drug candidates in a scalable, sustainable, and cost-effective way. We need to ensure the process can be transferred across production plants and so on.”</p><figure class="prezly-slate-image prezly-slate-image--contained"><a class="prezly-slate-image-rollover" id="image-fb7df655-ac74-4ebf-b927-4b34ed30fa14" href="https://cdn.uc.assets.prezly.com/fb7df655-ac74-4ebf-b927-4b34ed30fa14/-/crop/1920x1951/0,609/-/preview/Nico%20Vervoort.jpg" style="width:44.12%;max-width:1920px"><span class="prezly-slate-image-rollover__content"><img alt="Nico Vervoort" class="prezly-slate-media prezly-slate-image__media prezly-slate-media--image" src="https://cdn.uc.assets.prezly.com/fb7df655-ac74-4ebf-b927-4b34ed30fa14/-/crop/1920x1951/0,609/-/preview/-/format/auto/Nico%20Vervoort.jpg" srcSet="https://cdn.uc.assets.prezly.com/fb7df655-ac74-4ebf-b927-4b34ed30fa14/-/crop/1920x1951/0,609/-/preview/-/resize/1200/Nico%20Vervoort.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.uc.assets.prezly.com/fb7df655-ac74-4ebf-b927-4b34ed30fa14/-/crop/1920x1951/0,609/-/preview/-/resize/800/Nico%20Vervoort.jpg 800w, https://cdn.uc.assets.prezly.com/fb7df655-ac74-4ebf-b927-4b34ed30fa14/-/crop/1920x1951/0,609/-/preview/-/resize/1600/Nico%20Vervoort.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.uc.assets.prezly.com/fb7df655-ac74-4ebf-b927-4b34ed30fa14/-/crop/1920x1951/0,609/-/preview/-/resize/400/Nico%20Vervoort.jpg 400w, https://cdn.uc.assets.prezly.com/fb7df655-ac74-4ebf-b927-4b34ed30fa14/-/crop/1920x1951/0,609/-/preview/-/resize/800/Nico%20Vervoort.jpg 800w" sizes="(max-width: 992px) 800px, (max-width: 576px) 400px, 1200px" title="Nico Vervoort"/><span class="prezly-slate-image-rollover__dim"></span><span class="prezly-slate-image-rollover__caption prezly-slate-image-rollover__caption--empty"><span class="prezly-slate-image-rollover__caption-icon-container"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 16 16" role="img" class="prezly-slate-image-rollover__caption-icon"><path fill="currentColor" fill-rule="evenodd" d="M5.828 10.172a.5.5 0 0 0-.707 0l-4.096 4.096V11.5a.5.5 0 0 0-1 0v3.975a.5.5 0 0 0 .5.5H4.5a.5.5 0 0 0 0-1H1.732l4.096-4.096a.5.5 0 0 0 0-.707m4.344-4.344a.5.5 0 0 0 .707 0l4.096-4.096V4.5a.5.5 0 1 0 1 0V.525a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H11.5a.5.5 0 0 0 0 1h2.768l-4.096 4.096a.5.5 0 0 0 0 .707"></path></svg></span><span class="prezly-slate-image-rollover__caption-text"><span class="" title=""></span></span></span></span></a><figcaption class="prezly-slate-image__caption">Nico Vervoort</figcaption></figure><p class="styles_paragraph__GiKq6">This part of drug development typically takes pharma players years to complete. Major regulatory challenges need to be met in the process, and the competition is fierce. </p><p class="styles_paragraph__GiKq6">For peptides specifically, more efficient production routes will be needed to make these drugs affordable at scale. </p><p class="styles_paragraph__GiKq6">“Current methods have limitations in terms of cost and sustainability. They are very resource-intensive, generate a lot of waste, and have a high process mass intensity. The latter is a measure of all materials used within a pharmaceutical process, including reactants, reagents, solvents (used in the reaction and purification), and catalysts. The many cycles of protection and deprotection steps, along with chromatographic purification steps, make it all very expensive.”</p><p class="styles_paragraph__GiKq6">That is why, as Scientific Director of High-Throughput Experimentation, Vervoort and his team are looking into biocatalysis as a way to leverage the high specificity of enzymes to create a diverse spectrum of peptides and proteins.<strong> </strong></p><p class="styles_paragraph__GiKq6">“The biocatalysis group at J&J explores how to make different peptides enzymatically. It's a very complex problem, and we turned to experts at VIB to help us discover new, alternative enzymes that could enable us to synthesize specific types of peptides.”</p><p class="styles_paragraph__GiKq6">More specifically, the company reached out to Joleen Masschelein, group leader at the VIB-KU Leuven Center for Microbiology.</p><h3 class="styles_headingTwo__ZQS6u"><strong>Biocatalysis: more cost-effective and sustainable</strong></h3><p class="styles_paragraph__GiKq6">“Bacteria are brilliant chemists,” says Masschelein, whose team is focused on the many potentially useful biocatalytic processes that have yet to be discovered in different bacterial species. </p><p class="styles_paragraph__GiKq6">“Bacteria can make the most impressive, complex compounds with remarkable ease. We study how they create secondary metabolites and characterize the enzymes they employ. Often, these enzymes are relatively promiscuous and can couple even unnatural substrate analogs.”</p><figure class="prezly-slate-image prezly-slate-image--contained"><a class="prezly-slate-image-rollover" id="image-4958f5a5-1a80-46bc-aa09-97264030a6dd" href="https://cdn.uc.assets.prezly.com/4958f5a5-1a80-46bc-aa09-97264030a6dd/Joleen.jpg" style="width:36.18%;max-width:300px"><span class="prezly-slate-image-rollover__content"><img alt="Joleen Masschelein" class="prezly-slate-media prezly-slate-image__media prezly-slate-media--image" src="https://cdn.uc.assets.prezly.com/4958f5a5-1a80-46bc-aa09-97264030a6dd/-/format/auto/Joleen.jpg" srcSet="https://cdn.uc.assets.prezly.com/4958f5a5-1a80-46bc-aa09-97264030a6dd/-/resize/1200/Joleen.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.uc.assets.prezly.com/4958f5a5-1a80-46bc-aa09-97264030a6dd/-/resize/800/Joleen.jpg 800w, https://cdn.uc.assets.prezly.com/4958f5a5-1a80-46bc-aa09-97264030a6dd/-/resize/400/Joleen.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 992px) 800px, (max-width: 576px) 400px, 1200px" title="Joleen Masschelein"/><span class="prezly-slate-image-rollover__dim"></span><span class="prezly-slate-image-rollover__caption prezly-slate-image-rollover__caption--empty"><span class="prezly-slate-image-rollover__caption-icon-container"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 16 16" role="img" class="prezly-slate-image-rollover__caption-icon"><path fill="currentColor" fill-rule="evenodd" d="M5.828 10.172a.5.5 0 0 0-.707 0l-4.096 4.096V11.5a.5.5 0 0 0-1 0v3.975a.5.5 0 0 0 .5.5H4.5a.5.5 0 0 0 0-1H1.732l4.096-4.096a.5.5 0 0 0 0-.707m4.344-4.344a.5.5 0 0 0 .707 0l4.096-4.096V4.5a.5.5 0 1 0 1 0V.525a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H11.5a.5.5 0 0 0 0 1h2.768l-4.096 4.096a.5.5 0 0 0 0 .707"></path></svg></span><span class="prezly-slate-image-rollover__caption-text"><span class="" title=""></span></span></span></span></a><figcaption class="prezly-slate-image__caption">Joleen Masschelein</figcaption></figure><p class="styles_paragraph__GiKq6">Masschelein and Vervoort have teamed up to develop more efficient biotransformation approaches that could give the Belgian pharmaceutical industry a competitive edge.</p><p class="styles_paragraph__GiKq6">While developing and integrating biocatalytic processes in commercial manufacturing will be vital for a knowledge-based bioeconomy like Flanders, Vervoort stresses that cost-effectiveness is only part of the story. “First and foremost, we need to find more <em>sustainable</em> synthetic approaches.”</p><p class="styles_paragraph__GiKq6">Conventional chemical processes rely on metal catalysts and strong acids, and they use energy-intensive processes that require high temperatures and pressures.</p><p class="styles_paragraph__GiKq6">Biocatalysis is based on renewable resources, like sugars, and employs biodegradable enzymes produced through sustainable fermentation. These enzymes catalyze reactions under mild conditions—ambient temperature, neutral pH, and aqueous solvents—minimizing energy and hazardous reagent use. Their high selectivity reduces side reactions and purification steps, making biocatalysis a greener, more efficient alternative for peptide synthesis.</p><h3 class="styles_headingTwo__ZQS6u"><strong>A joint project with complementary expertise</strong></h3><p class="styles_paragraph__GiKq6">To make their ambitious plans a reality, Vervoort and Masschelein have applied for funding through the VLAIO program of the Flemish government, designed to expand or enhance the R&D capacity of companies in Flanders through an academic collaboration [decision pending at the time of writing]. In a typical VLAIO mandate, both partners contribute something—knowledge, prior expertise, funding—and the government provides additional funding. The academic partner brings knowledge and resources, and the output is shared so that all parties benefit, allowing the results to be applied to other fields.</p><p class="styles_paragraph__GiKq6">Masschelein has extensive knowledge of bacterial metabolic pathways and enzymes, as well as methods to find them in the genome, and characterize and engineer them. Vervoort and the team at J&J bring deep expertise in applying these enzymes in a productional setting and moving them forward into industrial processes.</p><p class="styles_paragraph__GiKq6">“VLAIO makes it more feasible for us to invest in high-risk research and to establish connections with academic partners,” says Vervoort. Apart from the opportunity to connect with academic research, such collaborations also serve as a way to engage in talent development. “In projects like these, we can share our challenges with the academic world, and they can help us to address them. Ideally, we don’t just work with people or teams for two years, but hope to retain partnerships in some shape or form in the long term.”</p><p class="styles_paragraph__GiKq6">Masschelein stresses the importance of funding channels such as VLAIO to get collaborations like this one off the ground. “I am very glad that programs like the Baekeland mandate for PhDs and VLAIO for postdocs exist to enable industrial collaborations. Without VLAIO, the collaboration with J&J in its current form would not have been possible."</p><h3 class="styles_headingTwo__ZQS6u"><strong>On successful matchmaking</strong></h3><p class="styles_paragraph__GiKq6">The initial contact that led to the collaboration was sparked via a shared connection in the VIB Innovation and Business team and evolved pretty organically from there, recalls Masschelein. </p><p class="styles_paragraph__GiKq6">“The team at J&J was interested in our capabilities and immediately came up with several projects and questions. It made me realize that as academics, we sometimes don’t even realize the possible application routes for our work and the variety of problems we could assist with." Masschelein is grateful for the help she got from VIB Innovation & Business. “Especially for a relatively new lab like ours, still building a name for itself, their involvement has made a real difference."</p><p class="styles_paragraph__GiKq6">Vervoort: “The advantage of working with VIB and KU Leuven is, of course, their close geographic proximity, which allows for more frequent interactions through VLAIO and similar initiatives. Conferences like those organized by VIB can also be helpful for getting in touch with research we might otherwise not come across. In the end, a strong personal network remains very beneficial,” he says.</p><p class="styles_paragraph__GiKq6">Masschelein concurs. “Sometimes people ask me directly, ‘Do you know anyone at that company I could talk to?’ I advise anyone seeking to set up industrial research collaboration to just ask around in their network.”</p><p class="styles_paragraph__GiKq6">In the absence of direct connections, she recommends getting in touch with institutional valorization officers like the Business Development team at VIB or the Leuven Research & Development Office. “They have the network. Make sure you highlight the unique aspects of your lab and where you think you can add value. It's important to present yourself well—industrial partners value efficiency and solution-oriented approaches; they want things to be practical and applied.”</p><p class="styles_paragraph__GiKq6">J&J also creates space for its different teams to explore new academic partnerships, through the organization of its annual R&D Symposium, for example, or at knowledge-exchange and match-making events at the different Flemish universities. If there is a good scientific match, academic researchers are usually open to collaboration, says Vervoort: “Academic partners recognize the scientific challenge in the problems we present them. If there is a good match in expertise, that usually gets the ball rolling.” </p><h3 class="styles_headingTwo__ZQS6u"><strong>Tapping into cutting-edge expertise</strong></h3><p class="styles_paragraph__GiKq6">Vervoort: “For a company like ours, having a strong connection within the local academic network is crucial. At our site in Beerse, there are around 5,000 employees, many of whom have PhD degrees. We’re constantly on the lookout for people with the right expertise, from data scientists to people with expert knowledge on complex modalities such as cell and gene therapy.” </p><p class="styles_paragraph__GiKq6">Knowledge evolves rapidly, and that also counts for developments in the biocatalysis space, he adds: “We have many chemists and engineers in our process development and supply teams. In the past, there wasn’t much demand for molecular biologists or enzymologists, but with biocatalysis becoming increasingly important, we need to recruit the relevant profiles. Naturally, it is much easier to recruit good talent in Flanders than internationally.”</p><p class="styles_paragraph__GiKq6">It also means there is more and more overlap in scientific interest between the activities of J&J and VIB, says Vervoort: “While historically, there has been a lot of focus on small molecules and antibodies, we’re now seeing that modalities are becoming much more complex—oligo’s combined with peptides, antibodies with peptides—we’re increasingly moving towards life sciences.”</p><p class="styles_paragraph__GiKq6">For Masschelein, industrial collaborations make for a rewarding addition to the research performed in her lab. “I find it fascinating to hear industry perspectives on developments in our field. Being able to work on projects that are much closer to clinical applications, like drug development, is a true enrichment to our work. It is great to see how our expertise can contribute directly to solving some of the practical challenges pharmaceutical developers face.”</p><div class="prezly-slate-callout prezly-slate-callout--align-inherit" data-icon="🧬"><p>Bacterial chemists are among the topics covered during our <a class="styles_link__gwrpq" href="https://www.vibconferences.be/events/next-generation-synthetic-biology-5th-edition" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>Next-Generation Synthetic Biology (5th edition)</u></a> conference in Ghent, from December 10 to 11. Experts from academia and industry will be there to talk about engineering living systems, from molecules to ecosystem</p></div><hr class="prezly-slate-divider"/><p class="styles_paragraph__GiKq6"><em>Want to be kept up-to-date on our biotechnological news and stories? 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General\",\"bold\":true}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"1.1\\tThis Privacy Policy explains how personal information is protected, stored and used when someone visits or otherwise interacts with a Company’s site that is hosted by Prezly. By using the site or opting in to receive emails from the Company through the site, the data subject acknowledges to have read and understood this Privacy Policy.\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"1.2\\tThis Privacy Policy may be updated from time to time. When this happens, the “published” date given above will be changed. The most recent version of this Privacy Policy will become applicable, supersede an replace all earlier versions with immediate effect. The most recent version of the Privacy Policy can always be found on the Company’s site. \"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Continued use of the site after such changes have been published to the Privacy Policy will constitute acknowledgement that the data subject has read and understood such changes.\"}]},{\"type\":\"heading-two\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"2. Roles and responsibilities\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"2.1\\tThe company or organisation that uses the site to make press releases and articles available to the public is the responsible publisher of the site (“Company”). The Company decides on the content that is published on the site and to whom it is distributed. The Company also decides which personal data is linked to the site for these purposes.\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Hence, the Company determines why and how the personal data collected from the site visitors or press contacts is processed. This means that the Company is to be considered as the data controller in relation to the processing of such data. \"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Please find the Company details below:\"}]},{\"type\":\"table\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"table-row\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"table-cell\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Company name:\"}]}]},{\"type\":\"table-cell\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"VIB vzw\"}]}]}]},{\"type\":\"table-row\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"table-cell\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Registered address:\"}]}]},{\"type\":\"table-cell\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Suzanne Tassierstraat 1 Ghent 9052 Belgium\"}]}]}]},{\"type\":\"table-row\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"table-cell\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Email:\"}]}]},{\"type\":\"table-cell\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"communications@vib.be\"}]}]}]}],\"border\":true},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"2.2\\tThe site is facilitated for the Company by Prezly BV, a company incorporated under Belgian law, having its registered office at Tiensevest 100, bus 1, 3000 Leuven, with company registration number 0829.855.487 (“Prezly”), through a dedicated online application.\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Any personal data processing via the site is always done by Prezly on behalf of and on the explicit instruction of the Company. This means that Prezly is to be considered as the data processor in relation to the processing of such data.\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"For further information about Prezly’s privacy practices, please visit Prezly’s Trust Center at \"},{\"type\":\"link\",\"href\":\"https://trust.prezly.com/\",\"new_tab\":false,\"children\":[{\"text\":\"https://trust.prezly.com\"}]},{\"text\":\". \"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"2.3\\tFor any question relating to this Privacy Policy you may contact Prezly via email at \"},{\"type\":\"link\",\"href\":\"mailto:privacy@prezly.com\",\"new_tab\":false,\"children\":[{\"text\":\"privacy@prezly.com\",\"underlined\":true}]},{\"text\":\". Prezly will share your question with the Company.\"}]},{\"type\":\"heading-two\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"3. Information the Company collects and how the Company uses it\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"3.1\\tThe following personal data may be collected from the Company’s press contacts when they visit the Company’s site, when they opt-in to receive Company emails through the site or when they otherwise interact with the Company or the site in the field of PR:\"}]},{\"type\":\"numbered-list\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"list-item\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"list-item-text\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Name and surname;\"}]}]},{\"type\":\"list-item\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"list-item-text\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Function;\"}]}]},{\"type\":\"list-item\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"list-item-text\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Email address;\"}]}]},{\"type\":\"list-item\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"list-item-text\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Interests;\"}]}]},{\"type\":\"list-item\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"list-item-text\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Communication Preferences\"}]}]}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"The Company collects these personal data in order to allow it to communicate its press releases and/or press articles to its press contacts.\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"By providing the Company with abovementioned personal data, the data subject consents to receiving email messages from the Company in the framework of its PR-activities. In some cases the Company may also collect and process the abovementioned personal data from third parties or public sources on the basis of the legitimate interest it has in distributing its press releases and press articles to the press. \"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Within the framework of the Company’s site, the Company does not use the abovementioned personal data for any other purpose. \"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"The data subject has the right to object to the receipt of email messages from the Company through the site at all times by using the unsubscribe button provided in such email messages or by using our dedicated Privacy Portal.\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"3.2\\tThe Company site also may use cookies and social media plugins, primarily to optimise the visitor experience on the site. For specific information about the cookies used on the site, please consult the Cookie Policy. \"}]},{\"type\":\"heading-two\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"4. Sharing of personal data\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"The Company will share abovementioned personal data with Prezly in order to allow Prezly to facilitate the site and the distribution of emails through the site. Prezly merely acts as a data processor for the Company. A data processing agreement has been concluded between Prezly and the Company to cover this data processing activity by Prezly.\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Aside from this, the Company does not transfer or share personal data with any third party in the framework of the site. \"}]},{\"type\":\"heading-two\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"5. International data transfers\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Prezly will try to process personal data as much as possible within the EU. In so far as data transfers outside the EU are necessary, Prezly will only transfer data to third countries that offer an appropriate level of data protection, in accordance with the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation. This may include having the data recipient sign a copy of the standard contractual clauses of the European Commission. \"}]},{\"type\":\"heading-two\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"6. Retention of personal data\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"The Company does not keep personal data any longer than necessary to achieve the intended purpose for which the personal data are collected. In principle, the personal data will be deleted as soon as the data subject has unsubscribed.\"}]},{\"type\":\"heading-two\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"7. Security of personal data \"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Prezly has taken all reasonable and adequate technical and organisational security measures to protect the personal data as best as possible when processed in the framework of the Company’s site. This includes protection against accidental or intentional (and unauthorised) manipulation, modification, publication, loss, abuse, destruction or access by unauthorised persons. Such measures include amongst others a limited access policy and strong password protection, multi-factor authentication.\"}]},{\"type\":\"heading-two\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"8. Rights relating to personal data\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"8.1\\tThe data subject has the following rights in relation to his/her personal data:\"}]},{\"type\":\"bulleted-list\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"list-item\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"list-item-text\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Access to and information about the personal data processed about the data subject; \"}]}]},{\"type\":\"list-item\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"list-item-text\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Be forgotten, or ask to delete its personal data;\"}]}]},{\"type\":\"list-item\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"list-item-text\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Rectification and completion;\"}]}]},{\"type\":\"list-item\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"list-item-text\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Transferability of personal data;\"}]}]},{\"type\":\"list-item\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"list-item-text\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Restriction of processing;\"}]}]},{\"type\":\"list-item\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"list-item-text\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Object to the processing.\"}]}]}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"To exercise these rights, please contact Prezly via email at \"},{\"type\":\"link\",\"href\":\"mailto:privacy@prezly.com\",\"new_tab\":false,\"children\":[{\"text\":\"privacy@prezly.com\",\"underlined\":true}]},{\"text\":\". Prezly will share your request with the Company for further processing. \"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"8.2\\tIn case of questions or complaints about the processing of personal data, the data subject can always inform Prezly via email at \"},{\"type\":\"link\",\"href\":\"mailto:privacy@prezly.com\",\"new_tab\":false,\"children\":[{\"text\":\"privacy@prezly.com\"}]},{\"text\":\". Prezly will share the question or complaint with the Company for further processing. \"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"The data subject may also file a complaint with the Belgian Data Protection Authority at any time:\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Website:\",\"bold\":true}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"link\",\"href\":\"https://www.autoriteprotectiondonnees.be/citoyen/agir/introduire-une-plainte\",\"new_tab\":true,\"children\":[{\"text\":\"https://www.autoriteprotectiondonnees.be/citoyen/agir/introduire-une-plainte\"}]},{\"text\":\"\\n\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Contact details:\",\"bold\":true}]},{\"type\":\"contact\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"\"}],\"uuid\":\"a7a66663-cacd-4953-904c-7f694a4ef44f\",\"reference\":\"b67d2088-0dd4-4fbe-9a50-bd35c98586b8\",\"contact\":{\"avatar_url\":null,\"company\":\"Rue de la Presse 35, 1000 Brussels, Belgium\",\"description\":\"\",\"email\":\"contact@apd-gba.be\",\"facebook\":\"\",\"mobile\":\"+32 (0)2 274 48 35\",\"name\":\"Data Protection Authority\",\"phone\":\"+32 (0)2 274 48 00\",\"twitter\":\"\",\"website\":\"https://www.autoriteprotectiondonnees.be/citoyen/agir/introduire-une-plainte\",\"address\":\"\"},\"show_avatar\":true,\"layout\":\"card\"},{\"type\":\"heading-two\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"9. Applicable law\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Any dispute in relation to this Privacy Policy must be interpreted in accordance with Belgian law. \"}]}],\"version\":\"2.6\"}"])</script><script>self.__next_f.push([1,"3f:T335e,"])</script><script>self.__next_f.push([1,"{\"type\":\"document\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"placeholder:media\",\"uuid\":\"897100cb-1af7-51f5-9609-1ae0e49a6b1d\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"\"}]},{\"type\":\"heading-one\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Cookie Policy\",\"bold\":true}],\"role\":\"title\"},{\"type\":\"heading-two\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Version 1.0\"}],\"role\":\"subtitle\"},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Published: 2025-02-06\",\"italic\":true}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"This Cookie Policy describes how cookies and similar technologies are used on the Company site to collect information from site visitors and/or contacts who receive emails through the site.\",\"italic\":true}]},{\"type\":\"heading-two\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"1. General\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"1.1\\tThis Cookie Policy explains how cookies and similar technologies (e.g. web beacons) are used on the site to collect information from site visitors and/or contacts who receive emails through the site. By using the site or opting in to receive emails through the site, the data subject acknowledges to have read and understood this Cookie Policy.\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"1.2\\tThis Cookie Policy may be updated from time to time. When this happens, the “published” date given above will be changed. The most recent version of this Cookie Policy will become applicable, supersede an replace all earlier versions with immediate effect. The most recent version of the Cookie Policy can always be found on the site. \"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Continued use of the site after such changes have been published to the Cookie Policy will constitute acknowledgement that the data subject has read and understood such changes.\"}]},{\"type\":\"heading-two\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"2. Roles and responsibilities\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"2.1\\tThe company or organisation that uses the site to make press articles available to the public is the responsible publisher of the site (“Company”). The Company decides on the content that is published on the site, to whom it is distributed and whether and how cookies may be used to check the success of such distribution (i.e. user and usage analytics). \"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"The site is facilitated for the Company by Prezly BV, a company incorporated under Belgian law, having its registered office at Tiensevest 100, bus 1, 3000 Leuven, with company registration number 0829.855.487 (“Prezly”). Prezly processes information captured via cookies or similar technologies on behalf and on instruction of the Company.\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"2.2\\tFor any question relating to cookies you may contact Prezly via email at \"},{\"type\":\"link\",\"href\":\"mailto:privacy@prezly.com\",\"new_tab\":false,\"children\":[{\"text\":\"privacy@prezly.com\",\"underlined\":true}]},{\"text\":\". \"}]},{\"type\":\"heading-two\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"3. What is a cookie?\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"In general, a cookie is a small text and number file that the site can send and store in the web browser, on a mobile device and/or on the hard drive of a computer during a visit to the site. Cookies help, for example, to remember visitor preferences when using the site so that Prezly can immediately set these preferences as default when the visitor revisits the site.\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"There are different types of cookies:\"}]},{\"type\":\"bulleted-list\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"list-item\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"list-item-text\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Essential or strictly necessary cookies \",\"bold\":true},{\"text\":\"are (as their name indicates) necessary to be able to use a website. They ensure, for example, that a certain connection can be established. These cookies can be used without prior consent.\"}]}]},{\"type\":\"list-item\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"list-item-text\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Functional cookies \",\"bold\":true},{\"text\":\"are cookies that enable a website to offer certain functions that the website visitor has requested. They contain information about choices and preferences on the website (e.g. cookies for remembering log-in or registration details, language preference, products in shopping cart). These cookies can be used without prior consent.\"}]}]},{\"type\":\"list-item\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"list-item-text\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Non-functional cookies\",\"bold\":true},{\"text\":\" are cookies that can be placed for statistical, social, targeting and commercial purposes. They have nothing to do with the purely technical support of the website. These cookies can only be used with prior consent.\"}]}]}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"In some cases, but certainly not always, cookies also collect certain personal data, such as the identification number of a computer. \"}]},{\"type\":\"heading-two\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"4. Information about the cookies used\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"4.1\\tThe site uses essential and functional cookies to ensure the site’s functioning. When someone visits the site, the following \"},{\"text\":\"essential and functional cookies\",\"bold\":true},{\"text\":\" are used:\"}]},{\"type\":\"table\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"table-row\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"table-cell\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Name\"}]}]},{\"type\":\"table-cell\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Function\"}]}]},{\"type\":\"table-cell\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Validity\"}]}]}]},{\"type\":\"table-row\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"table-cell\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"XSRF-TOKEN\",\"italic\":true}]}]},{\"type\":\"table-cell\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Essential cookie that ensures visitor browsing-security and website security by preventing cross-site request forgery\",\"italic\":true}]}]},{\"type\":\"table-cell\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Session\",\"italic\":true}]}]}]}],\"border\":true,\"header\":[\"first_row\"]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"The cookies used do not allow the systematic gathering of data that could allow the identification of the users of the site. They only help to ensure and improve the functioning of the site. \"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"4.2\\tIn addition, the site or email campaigns generated through the site also use certain non-functional cookies upon prior consent via the cookie banner. This consent can be withdrawn at any time by deleting the cookies stored in the browser (\"},{\"text\":\"see below\",\"italic\":true},{\"text\":\"). When a visitor uses the website and has given prior consent, the following \"},{\"text\":\"non-functional cookies\",\"bold\":true},{\"text\":\" are used: \"}]},{\"type\":\"table\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"table-row\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"table-cell\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Name\"}]}]},{\"type\":\"table-cell\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Function\"}]}]},{\"type\":\"table-cell\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Validity\"}]}]}]},{\"type\":\"table-row\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"table-cell\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"_ga\",\"italic\":true}]}]},{\"type\":\"table-cell\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Statistical cookie used by Google Analytics to identify unique users in order to allow it to store and count page views\",\"italic\":true}]}]},{\"type\":\"table-cell\",\"children\":[{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"2 years\",\"italic\":true}]}]}]}],\"border\":true,\"header\":[\"first_row\"]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Through these non-functional cookies Prezly may collect (on behalf of the Company) non-personal data about site visitors or Company contacts, including the following types of data: common information found in every communication sent over the internet, being information such as browser type (e.g.Chrome or Internet Explorer), operating system (e.g. Macintosh or Windows), browser language (e.g. Java or Unix), internet service provider (e.g. Verizon Fios or AOL) and information about the usage of the sites/sites and various pages on the internet.\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Prezly (on behalf of the Company) also uses web beacons to track behavior relating to email campaigns. When the Company sends an email to its contacts, Prezly may track behavior such as who opened the emails and who clicked the links. This type of data enables Prezly to figure out how often visitors use different parts of individual sites. In addition, Prezly may provide aggregate statistical visitor information to the Company so that the Company understands how often people use specific components of their site.\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"As these non-functional cookies and similar technologies will only be used by Prezly when instructed or requested to do so by the Company, the Company is to be regarded as data controller in relation to the personal data collected on its contacts (if any). The responsibility for the use of these cookies and similar technologies therefore lies with the Company.\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"4.3\\tThe site may also contain certain social media buttons or embeds (like videos, social posts, images, …) that allow visitors to directly see, interact and navigate to those platforms ( for example Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube). If the site visitor clicks on these social media buttons or embedded videos, posts or images, it is possible that the social network in question places a cookie in order to retrieve the site visitor’s identity on the respective social network or to determine the site visitor’s preferences. More information about which cookies are used by these social networks can be found in the privacy and cookie statements of these social networks. Therefore, please always read the privacy and cookie statements of the respective social networks carefully. The Company or Prezly cannot influence the content of these cookie statements or the content of the cookies of these third parties.\"}]},{\"type\":\"heading-two\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"5. Accepting cookies\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"A cookie banner will appear when visiting the site for the first time. This cookie banner informs about the cookies used on the site, and also asks for prior consent to use non-functional cookies (where applicable).\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Site visitors are free to agree to this or not. A visitor will not be denied access to the site if he/she does not agree to the use of non-functional cookies, but there is a possibility that the site may in such case not work like it was intended to. \"}]},{\"type\":\"heading-two\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"6. 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Successful peptide drugs typically act as agonists, replacing naturally missing or low-abundant hormones or other regulators. They combine the advantages of small molecules—high specificity, efficacy, and safety—with those of biologics—low immunogenicity and membrane permeability. \"}]},{\"type\":\"heading-two\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Finetuning therapeutic peptides with non-natural amino acids\",\"bold\":true}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Therapeutic peptides often incorporate non-natural amino acid building blocks to further expand the possibilities offered by combining the twenty naturally occurring amino acids. These modified amino acids can be used to introduce new chemical functionalities that improve the peptide’s stability or efficacy, or its resistance to enzymatic degradation. \"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Non-natural amino acids allow, for example, to create peptides that remain active in the bloodstream for longer, or that bind with more specificity to their targets. New computational approaches greatly facilitate the search for increasingly stable peptide designs, however \"},{\"text\":\"creating\",\"italic\":true},{\"text\":\" them quickly becomes tricky.\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Contrary to peptide drugs like insulin or Semaglutide (the active compound of Ozempic and Wegowy), which consist entirely of natural amino acids and can be produced through recombinant biotechnology, therapeutic peptides that contain a mix of natural and non-natural amino acids require synthetic approaches, such as solid or liquid-phase peptide synthesis. It’s already clear that neither of these approaches will be able to cover the huge projected rise in demand.\"}]},{\"type\":\"heading-two\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Mass manufacturing synthetic peptides\",\"bold\":true}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Nico Vervoort is Director of High Throughput Experimentation at J\u0026J Innovative Medicine. He knows like no other that bringing a new drug to market involves much more than just finding the right molecule. “We need to figure out how to synthesize new drug candidates in a scalable, sustainable, and cost-effective way. We need to ensure the process can be transferred across production plants and so on.”\"}]},{\"type\":\"image-block\",\"href\":\"\",\"file\":{\"version\":2,\"uuid\":\"fb7df655-ac74-4ebf-b927-4b34ed30fa14\",\"filename\":\"Nico Vervoort.jpg\",\"mime_type\":\"image/jpeg\",\"size\":849482,\"original_width\":1920,\"original_height\":2560,\"effects\":[\"/crop/1920x1951/0,609/\",\"/preview/\"]},\"layout\":\"contained\",\"align\":\"center\",\"new_tab\":true,\"width\":\"44.12%\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Nico Vervoort\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"This part of drug development typically takes pharma players years to complete. Major regulatory challenges need to be met in the process, and the competition is fierce. \"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"For peptides specifically, more efficient production routes will be needed to make these drugs affordable at scale. \"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"“Current methods have limitations in terms of cost and sustainability. They are very resource-intensive, generate a lot of waste, and have a high process mass intensity. The latter is a measure of all materials used within a pharmaceutical process, including reactants, reagents, solvents (used in the reaction and purification), and catalysts. The many cycles of protection and deprotection steps, along with chromatographic purification steps, make it all very expensive.”\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"That is why, as Scientific Director of High-Throughput Experimentation, Vervoort and his team are looking into biocatalysis as a way to leverage the high specificity of enzymes to create a diverse spectrum of peptides and proteins.\"},{\"text\":\" \",\"bold\":true}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"“The biocatalysis group at J\u0026J explores how to make different peptides enzymatically. It's a very complex problem, and we turned to experts at VIB to help us discover new, alternative enzymes that could enable us to synthesize specific types of peptides.”\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"More specifically, the company reached out to Joleen Masschelein, group leader at the VIB-KU Leuven Center for Microbiology.\"}]},{\"type\":\"heading-two\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Biocatalysis: more cost-effective and sustainable\",\"bold\":true}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"“Bacteria are brilliant chemists,” says Masschelein, whose team is focused on the many potentially useful biocatalytic processes that have yet to be discovered in different bacterial species. \"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"“Bacteria can make the most impressive, complex compounds with remarkable ease. We study how they create secondary metabolites and characterize the enzymes they employ. Often, these enzymes are relatively promiscuous and can couple even unnatural substrate analogs.”\"}]},{\"type\":\"image-block\",\"href\":\"\",\"file\":{\"version\":2,\"uuid\":\"4958f5a5-1a80-46bc-aa09-97264030a6dd\",\"filename\":\"Joleen.jpg\",\"mime_type\":\"image/jpeg\",\"size\":10096,\"original_width\":300,\"original_height\":300,\"effects\":[]},\"layout\":\"contained\",\"align\":\"center\",\"new_tab\":true,\"width\":\"36.18%\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Joleen Masschelein\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Masschelein and Vervoort have teamed up to develop more efficient biotransformation approaches that could give the Belgian pharmaceutical industry a competitive edge.\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"While developing and integrating biocatalytic processes in commercial manufacturing will be vital for a knowledge-based bioeconomy like Flanders, Vervoort stresses that cost-effectiveness is only part of the story. “First and foremost, we need to find more \"},{\"text\":\"sustainable\",\"italic\":true},{\"text\":\" synthetic approaches.”\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Conventional chemical processes rely on metal catalysts and strong acids, and they use energy-intensive processes that require high temperatures and pressures.\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Biocatalysis is based on renewable resources, like sugars, and employs biodegradable enzymes produced through sustainable fermentation. These enzymes catalyze reactions under mild conditions—ambient temperature, neutral pH, and aqueous solvents—minimizing energy and hazardous reagent use. Their high selectivity reduces side reactions and purification steps, making biocatalysis a greener, more efficient alternative for peptide synthesis.\"}]},{\"type\":\"heading-two\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"A joint project with complementary expertise\",\"bold\":true}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"To make their ambitious plans a reality, Vervoort and Masschelein have applied for funding through the VLAIO program of the Flemish government, designed to expand or enhance the R\u0026D capacity of companies in Flanders through an academic collaboration [decision pending at the time of writing]. In a typical VLAIO mandate, both partners contribute something—knowledge, prior expertise, funding—and the government provides additional funding. The academic partner brings knowledge and resources, and the output is shared so that all parties benefit, allowing the results to be applied to other fields.\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Masschelein has extensive knowledge of bacterial metabolic pathways and enzymes, as well as methods to find them in the genome, and characterize and engineer them. Vervoort and the team at J\u0026J bring deep expertise in applying these enzymes in a productional setting and moving them forward into industrial processes.\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"“VLAIO makes it more feasible for us to invest in high-risk research and to establish connections with academic partners,” says Vervoort. Apart from the opportunity to connect with academic research, such collaborations also serve as a way to engage in talent development. “In projects like these, we can share our challenges with the academic world, and they can help us to address them. Ideally, we don’t just work with people or teams for two years, but hope to retain partnerships in some shape or form in the long term.”\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Masschelein stresses the importance of funding channels such as VLAIO to get collaborations like this one off the ground. “I am very glad that programs like the Baekeland mandate for PhDs and VLAIO for postdocs exist to enable industrial collaborations. Without VLAIO, the collaboration with J\u0026J in its current form would not have been possible.\\\"\"}]},{\"type\":\"heading-two\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"On successful matchmaking\",\"bold\":true}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"The initial contact that led to the collaboration was sparked via a shared connection in the VIB Innovation and Business team and evolved pretty organically from there, recalls Masschelein. \"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"“The team at J\u0026J was interested in our capabilities and immediately came up with several projects and questions. It made me realize that as academics, we sometimes don’t even realize the possible application routes for our work and the variety of problems we could assist with.\\\" Masschelein is grateful for the help she got from VIB Innovation \u0026 Business. “Especially for a relatively new lab like ours, still building a name for itself, their involvement has made a real difference.\\\"\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Vervoort: “The advantage of working with VIB and KU Leuven is, of course, their close geographic proximity, which allows for more frequent interactions through VLAIO and similar initiatives. Conferences like those organized by VIB can also be helpful for getting in touch with research we might otherwise not come across. In the end, a strong personal network remains very beneficial,” he says.\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Masschelein concurs. “Sometimes people ask me directly, ‘Do you know anyone at that company I could talk to?’ I advise anyone seeking to set up industrial research collaboration to just ask around in their network.”\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"In the absence of direct connections, she recommends getting in touch with institutional valorization officers like the Business Development team at VIB or the Leuven Research \u0026 Development Office. “They have the network. Make sure you highlight the unique aspects of your lab and where you think you can add value. It's important to present yourself well—industrial partners value efficiency and solution-oriented approaches; they want things to be practical and applied.”\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"J\u0026J also creates space for its different teams to explore new academic partnerships, through the organization of its annual R\u0026D Symposium, for example, or at knowledge-exchange and match-making events at the different Flemish universities. If there is a good scientific match, academic researchers are usually open to collaboration, says Vervoort: “Academic partners recognize the scientific challenge in the problems we present them. If there is a good match in expertise, that usually gets the ball rolling.” \"}]},{\"type\":\"heading-two\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Tapping into cutting-edge expertise\",\"bold\":true}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Vervoort: “For a company like ours, having a strong connection within the local academic network is crucial. At our site in Beerse, there are around 5,000 employees, many of whom have PhD degrees. We’re constantly on the lookout for people with the right expertise, from data scientists to people with expert knowledge on complex modalities such as cell and gene therapy.” \"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Knowledge evolves rapidly, and that also counts for developments in the biocatalysis space, he adds: “We have many chemists and engineers in our process development and supply teams. In the past, there wasn’t much demand for molecular biologists or enzymologists, but with biocatalysis becoming increasingly important, we need to recruit the relevant profiles. Naturally, it is much easier to recruit good talent in Flanders than internationally.”\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"It also means there is more and more overlap in scientific interest between the activities of J\u0026J and VIB, says Vervoort: “While historically, there has been a lot of focus on small molecules and antibodies, we’re now seeing that modalities are becoming much more complex—oligo’s combined with peptides, antibodies with peptides—we’re increasingly moving towards life sciences.”\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"For Masschelein, industrial collaborations make for a rewarding addition to the research performed in her lab. “I find it fascinating to hear industry perspectives on developments in our field. 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We have all heard of the obesity wonder drugs Ozempic and Wegowy, originally developed to help diabetes patients; but other peptide-based drugs like Copaxone (to treat relapsing MS) or Lupron (for endometriosis) have also reached ‘blockbuster’ status, generating more than a billion euro in annual revenue.\"]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"4\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"p\",null,{\"className\":\"styles_paragraph__GiKq6\",\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"From cancer to heart disease, metabolic disorders, or immune disease, drug developers are increasingly looking at peptides as the go-to therapeutic modality. Successful peptide drugs typically act as agonists, replacing naturally missing or low-abundant hormones or other regulators. They combine the advantages of small molecules—high specificity, efficacy, and safety—with those of biologics—low immunogenicity and membrane permeability. \"]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"5\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"h3\",null,{\"className\":\"styles_headingTwo__ZQS6u\",\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"strong\",null,{\"children\":[\"Finetuning therapeutic peptides with non-natural amino acids\"]}]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"6\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"p\",null,{\"className\":\"styles_paragraph__GiKq6\",\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"Therapeutic peptides often incorporate non-natural amino acid building blocks to further expand the possibilities offered by combining the twenty naturally occurring amino acids. These modified amino acids can be used to introduce new chemical functionalities that improve the peptide’s stability or efficacy, or its resistance to enzymatic degradation. \"]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"7\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"p\",null,{\"className\":\"styles_paragraph__GiKq6\",\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"Non-natural amino acids allow, for example, to create peptides that remain active in the bloodstream for longer, or that bind with more specificity to their targets. New computational approaches greatly facilitate the search for increasingly stable peptide designs, however \"]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"1\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"em\",null,{\"children\":[\"creating\"]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"2\",{\"children\":[\" them quickly becomes tricky.\"]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"8\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"p\",null,{\"className\":\"styles_paragraph__GiKq6\",\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"Contrary to peptide drugs like insulin or Semaglutide (the active compound of Ozempic and Wegowy), which consist entirely of natural amino acids and can be produced through recombinant biotechnology, therapeutic peptides that contain a mix of natural and non-natural amino acids require synthetic approaches, such as solid or liquid-phase peptide synthesis. It’s already clear that neither of these approaches will be able to cover the huge projected rise in demand.\"]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"9\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"h3\",null,{\"className\":\"styles_headingTwo__ZQS6u\",\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"strong\",null,{\"children\":[\"Mass manufacturing synthetic peptides\"]}]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"10\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"p\",null,{\"className\":\"styles_paragraph__GiKq6\",\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"Nico Vervoort is Director of High Throughput Experimentation at J\u0026J Innovative Medicine. He knows like no other that bringing a new drug to market involves much more than just finding the right molecule. “We need to figure out how to synthesize new drug candidates in a scalable, sustainable, and cost-effective way. We need to ensure the process can be transferred across production plants and so on.”\"]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"11\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"$L4e\",null,{\"node\":{\"type\":\"image-block\",\"href\":\"\",\"file\":{\"version\":2,\"uuid\":\"fb7df655-ac74-4ebf-b927-4b34ed30fa14\",\"filename\":\"Nico Vervoort.jpg\",\"mime_type\":\"image/jpeg\",\"size\":849482,\"original_width\":1920,\"original_height\":2560,\"effects\":[\"/crop/1920x1951/0,609/\",\"/preview/\"]},\"layout\":\"contained\",\"align\":\"center\",\"new_tab\":true,\"width\":\"44.12%\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Nico Vervoort\"}]},\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"Nico Vervoort\"]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"12\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"p\",null,{\"className\":\"styles_paragraph__GiKq6\",\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"This part of drug development typically takes pharma players years to complete. Major regulatory challenges need to be met in the process, and the competition is fierce. \"]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"13\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"p\",null,{\"className\":\"styles_paragraph__GiKq6\",\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"For peptides specifically, more efficient production routes will be needed to make these drugs affordable at scale. \"]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"14\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"p\",null,{\"className\":\"styles_paragraph__GiKq6\",\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"“Current methods have limitations in terms of cost and sustainability. They are very resource-intensive, generate a lot of waste, and have a high process mass intensity. The latter is a measure of all materials used within a pharmaceutical process, including reactants, reagents, solvents (used in the reaction and purification), and catalysts. The many cycles of protection and deprotection steps, along with chromatographic purification steps, make it all very expensive.”\"]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"15\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"p\",null,{\"className\":\"styles_paragraph__GiKq6\",\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"That is why, as Scientific Director of High-Throughput Experimentation, Vervoort and his team are looking into biocatalysis as a way to leverage the high specificity of enzymes to create a diverse spectrum of peptides and proteins.\"]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"1\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"strong\",null,{\"children\":[\" \"]}]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"16\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"p\",null,{\"className\":\"styles_paragraph__GiKq6\",\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"“The biocatalysis group at J\u0026J explores how to make different peptides enzymatically. It's a very complex problem, and we turned to experts at VIB to help us discover new, alternative enzymes that could enable us to synthesize specific types of peptides.”\"]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"17\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"p\",null,{\"className\":\"styles_paragraph__GiKq6\",\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"More specifically, the company reached out to Joleen Masschelein, group leader at the VIB-KU Leuven Center for Microbiology.\"]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"18\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"h3\",null,{\"className\":\"styles_headingTwo__ZQS6u\",\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"strong\",null,{\"children\":[\"Biocatalysis: more cost-effective and sustainable\"]}]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"19\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"p\",null,{\"className\":\"styles_paragraph__GiKq6\",\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"“Bacteria are brilliant chemists,” says Masschelein, whose team is focused on the many potentially useful biocatalytic processes that have yet to be discovered in different bacterial species. \"]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"20\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"p\",null,{\"className\":\"styles_paragraph__GiKq6\",\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"“Bacteria can make the most impressive, complex compounds with remarkable ease. We study how they create secondary metabolites and characterize the enzymes they employ. Often, these enzymes are relatively promiscuous and can couple even unnatural substrate analogs.”\"]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"21\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"$L4e\",null,{\"node\":{\"type\":\"image-block\",\"href\":\"\",\"file\":{\"version\":2,\"uuid\":\"4958f5a5-1a80-46bc-aa09-97264030a6dd\",\"filename\":\"Joleen.jpg\",\"mime_type\":\"image/jpeg\",\"size\":10096,\"original_width\":300,\"original_height\":300,\"effects\":[]},\"layout\":\"contained\",\"align\":\"center\",\"new_tab\":true,\"width\":\"36.18%\",\"children\":[{\"text\":\"Joleen Masschelein\"}]},\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"Joleen Masschelein\"]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"22\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"p\",null,{\"className\":\"styles_paragraph__GiKq6\",\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"Masschelein and Vervoort have teamed up to develop more efficient biotransformation approaches that could give the Belgian pharmaceutical industry a competitive edge.\"]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"23\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"p\",null,{\"className\":\"styles_paragraph__GiKq6\",\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"While developing and integrating biocatalytic processes in commercial manufacturing will be vital for a knowledge-based bioeconomy like Flanders, Vervoort stresses that cost-effectiveness is only part of the story. “First and foremost, we need to find more \"]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"1\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"em\",null,{\"children\":[\"sustainable\"]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"2\",{\"children\":[\" synthetic approaches.”\"]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"24\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"p\",null,{\"className\":\"styles_paragraph__GiKq6\",\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"Conventional chemical processes rely on metal catalysts and strong acids, and they use energy-intensive processes that require high temperatures and pressures.\"]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"25\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"p\",null,{\"className\":\"styles_paragraph__GiKq6\",\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"Biocatalysis is based on renewable resources, like sugars, and employs biodegradable enzymes produced through sustainable fermentation. These enzymes catalyze reactions under mild conditions—ambient temperature, neutral pH, and aqueous solvents—minimizing energy and hazardous reagent use. Their high selectivity reduces side reactions and purification steps, making biocatalysis a greener, more efficient alternative for peptide synthesis.\"]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"26\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"h3\",null,{\"className\":\"styles_headingTwo__ZQS6u\",\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"strong\",null,{\"children\":[\"A joint project with complementary expertise\"]}]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"27\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"p\",null,{\"className\":\"styles_paragraph__GiKq6\",\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"To make their ambitious plans a reality, Vervoort and Masschelein have applied for funding through the VLAIO program of the Flemish government, designed to expand or enhance the R\u0026D capacity of companies in Flanders through an academic collaboration [decision pending at the time of writing]. In a typical VLAIO mandate, both partners contribute something—knowledge, prior expertise, funding—and the government provides additional funding. The academic partner brings knowledge and resources, and the output is shared so that all parties benefit, allowing the results to be applied to other fields.\"]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"28\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"p\",null,{\"className\":\"styles_paragraph__GiKq6\",\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"Masschelein has extensive knowledge of bacterial metabolic pathways and enzymes, as well as methods to find them in the genome, and characterize and engineer them. Vervoort and the team at J\u0026J bring deep expertise in applying these enzymes in a productional setting and moving them forward into industrial processes.\"]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"29\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"p\",null,{\"className\":\"styles_paragraph__GiKq6\",\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"“VLAIO makes it more feasible for us to invest in high-risk research and to establish connections with academic partners,” says Vervoort. Apart from the opportunity to connect with academic research, such collaborations also serve as a way to engage in talent development. “In projects like these, we can share our challenges with the academic world, and they can help us to address them. Ideally, we don’t just work with people or teams for two years, but hope to retain partnerships in some shape or form in the long term.”\"]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"30\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"p\",null,{\"className\":\"styles_paragraph__GiKq6\",\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"Masschelein stresses the importance of funding channels such as VLAIO to get collaborations like this one off the ground. “I am very glad that programs like the Baekeland mandate for PhDs and VLAIO for postdocs exist to enable industrial collaborations. Without VLAIO, the collaboration with J\u0026J in its current form would not have been possible.\\\"\"]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"31\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"h3\",null,{\"className\":\"styles_headingTwo__ZQS6u\",\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"strong\",null,{\"children\":[\"On successful matchmaking\"]}]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"32\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"p\",null,{\"className\":\"styles_paragraph__GiKq6\",\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"The initial contact that led to the collaboration was sparked via a shared connection in the VIB Innovation and Business team and evolved pretty organically from there, recalls Masschelein. \"]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"33\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"p\",null,{\"className\":\"styles_paragraph__GiKq6\",\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"“The team at J\u0026J was interested in our capabilities and immediately came up with several projects and questions. It made me realize that as academics, we sometimes don’t even realize the possible application routes for our work and the variety of problems we could assist with.\\\" Masschelein is grateful for the help she got from VIB Innovation \u0026 Business. “Especially for a relatively new lab like ours, still building a name for itself, their involvement has made a real difference.\\\"\"]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"34\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"p\",null,{\"className\":\"styles_paragraph__GiKq6\",\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"Vervoort: “The advantage of working with VIB and KU Leuven is, of course, their close geographic proximity, which allows for more frequent interactions through VLAIO and similar initiatives. Conferences like those organized by VIB can also be helpful for getting in touch with research we might otherwise not come across. In the end, a strong personal network remains very beneficial,” he says.\"]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"35\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"p\",null,{\"className\":\"styles_paragraph__GiKq6\",\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"Masschelein concurs. “Sometimes people ask me directly, ‘Do you know anyone at that company I could talk to?’ I advise anyone seeking to set up industrial research collaboration to just ask around in their network.”\"]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"36\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"p\",null,{\"className\":\"styles_paragraph__GiKq6\",\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"In the absence of direct connections, she recommends getting in touch with institutional valorization officers like the Business Development team at VIB or the Leuven Research \u0026 Development Office. “They have the network. Make sure you highlight the unique aspects of your lab and where you think you can add value. It's important to present yourself well—industrial partners value efficiency and solution-oriented approaches; they want things to be practical and applied.”\"]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"37\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"p\",null,{\"className\":\"styles_paragraph__GiKq6\",\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"J\u0026J also creates space for its different teams to explore new academic partnerships, through the organization of its annual R\u0026D Symposium, for example, or at knowledge-exchange and match-making events at the different Flemish universities. If there is a good scientific match, academic researchers are usually open to collaboration, says Vervoort: “Academic partners recognize the scientific challenge in the problems we present them. If there is a good match in expertise, that usually gets the ball rolling.” \"]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"38\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"h3\",null,{\"className\":\"styles_headingTwo__ZQS6u\",\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"strong\",null,{\"children\":[\"Tapping into cutting-edge expertise\"]}]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"39\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"p\",null,{\"className\":\"styles_paragraph__GiKq6\",\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"Vervoort: “For a company like ours, having a strong connection within the local academic network is crucial. At our site in Beerse, there are around 5,000 employees, many of whom have PhD degrees. We’re constantly on the lookout for people with the right expertise, from data scientists to people with expert knowledge on complex modalities such as cell and gene therapy.” \"]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"40\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"p\",null,{\"className\":\"styles_paragraph__GiKq6\",\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"Knowledge evolves rapidly, and that also counts for developments in the biocatalysis space, he adds: “We have many chemists and engineers in our process development and supply teams. In the past, there wasn’t much demand for molecular biologists or enzymologists, but with biocatalysis becoming increasingly important, we need to recruit the relevant profiles. Naturally, it is much easier to recruit good talent in Flanders than internationally.”\"]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"41\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"p\",null,{\"className\":\"styles_paragraph__GiKq6\",\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"It also means there is more and more overlap in scientific interest between the activities of J\u0026J and VIB, says Vervoort: “While historically, there has been a lot of focus on small molecules and antibodies, we’re now seeing that modalities are becoming much more complex—oligo’s combined with peptides, antibodies with peptides—we’re increasingly moving towards life sciences.”\"]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"42\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"p\",null,{\"className\":\"styles_paragraph__GiKq6\",\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"For Masschelein, industrial collaborations make for a rewarding addition to the research performed in her lab. “I find it fascinating to hear industry perspectives on developments in our field. Being able to work on projects that are much closer to clinical applications, like drug development, is a true enrichment to our work. It is great to see how our expertise can contribute directly to solving some of the practical challenges pharmaceutical developers face.”\"]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"43\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"div\",null,{\"className\":\"prezly-slate-callout prezly-slate-callout--align-inherit\",\"data-icon\":\"🧬\",\"children\":[\"$\",\"p\",null,{\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"Bacterial chemists are among the topics covered during our \"]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"1\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"a\",null,{\"className\":\"styles_link__gwrpq\",\"href\":\"https://www.vibconferences.be/events/next-generation-synthetic-biology-5th-edition\",\"rel\":\"noopener noreferrer\",\"target\":\"_blank\",\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"u\",null,{\"children\":[\"Next-Generation Synthetic Biology (5th edition)\"]}]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"2\",{\"children\":[\" conference in Ghent, from December 10 to 11. Experts from academia and industry will be there to talk about engineering living systems, from molecules to ecosystem\"]}]]}]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"44\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"hr\",null,{\"className\":\"prezly-slate-divider\"}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"45\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"p\",null,{\"className\":\"styles_paragraph__GiKq6\",\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"em\",null,{\"children\":[\"Want to be kept up-to-date on our biotechnological news and stories? Join our community and \"]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"1\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"a\",null,{\"className\":\"styles_link__gwrpq\",\"href\":\"https://vib.activehosted.com/f/6\",\"rel\":\"noopener noreferrer\",\"target\":\"_self\",\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"em\",null,{\"children\":[\"subscribe\"]}]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"2\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"em\",null,{\"children\":[\" to our bi-monthly newsletter.\"]}]}]]}]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"46\",{\"children\":[\"$\",\"p\",null,{\"className\":\"styles_paragraph__GiKq6\",\"children\":[[\"$\",\"$46\",\"0\",{\"children\":[\"\"]}],[\"$\",\"$46\",\"1\",{\"children\":[\" \"]}]]}]}]]}]}]]]}]}]}]]}],[\"$\",\"$L4f\",null,{\"actions\":{\"show_copy_content\":false,\"show_copy_url\":true,\"show_download_assets\":false,\"show_download_pdf\":false},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https://avatars-cdn.prezly.com/story/7088/707945/efaacd81054ebce881306efc01cd8c2cb0be41255ea66c194180d010096a8a7c?t=1733904420\u0026v=3\",\"socialNetworks\":\"$50\",\"summary\":\"Peptides make powerful drugs, but they are difficult to synthesize. 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