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Compounds that plants use as a shield against fungi, bacteria and other pathogens are travelling the path to the commercial marketplace, thanks to the efforts of researchers and technology transfer experts in the Advanced Foods and Materials Network (AFMNet). Nature's wisdom about protecting organisms from harm holds promise for a host of agricultural and medical applications, including the development of antimicrobials to protect human health.

This "discovery to start-up" journey began in 1999, with research at the University of Victoria into defensive compounds produced by Douglas fir trees. In February 2006, a milestone was reached with the creation of a new commercial venture, FloraPure BioSciences Inc.

"This is a tale of how some basic research into plant reproductive tissues led to the formation of a company – a transition that would not have been possible without the help and guidance of AFMNet," says Dr. Brett Poulis.

Dr. Poulis embarked on research for his doctoral dissertation seven years ago, in collaboration with Dr. Patrick von Aderkas, a professor at the university and an expert in botany. Dr. Poulis had just completed an undergraduate double-major degree in chemistry and biochemistry.

Their research goal was to unravel one of nature's mysteries. How did conifers – in this case, Douglas firs – protect themselves from bacteria, fungi and viruses during pollination? When windblown pollen arrives at the female cones of the trees, it also brings along a number of pathogens. Yet, the trees were effectively erecting a barrier to these outside invaders. "Our assumption was that a particular secretion that is produced during these reproductive events was providing an effective defensive barrier against these potentially devastating pathogens because the cones didn't seem to have a big problem with infection," says Dr. Poulis. "But no one had ever definitively shown there was antimicrobial material within this liquid."

Even in the early days, Dr. Poulis says he had a sense that commercial applications might well emerge. "These trees are ancient, and they have a defensive system that has worked for them for hundreds of millions of years. I believed there definitely could be something in there that would not only help defend plants and crops, but human health as well."

So the researchers began their quest to profile the defensive compounds contained in the secretions. This kind of investigation had not been possible previously because the liquid droplets were so minute – in the realm of 100 nanolitres – that their components could not be analyzed. By 1999, however, advances in proteomic technologies allowed the research to proceed. State-of-the-art equipment was supplied by the UVic-Genome BC Proteomics Centre, a world-class protein research facility.

AFMNet funding supported the research as it progressed. There were a number of collaborators including renowned protein chemist Dr. Bob Olafson, also from the University of Victoria, and floral nectar expert Dr. Robert Thornburg from Iowa State University, who has been researching defence compounds in flowering plants. More recently, interdisciplinary collaborations have been formed with AFMNet researchers throughout Canada, including those at Dalhousie University, the University of Guelph, St. Francis Xavier University, and the Université de Montréal.

Drs. Poulis and von Aderkas have discovered that plants use an array of defensive compounds with antibacterial and antifungal properties. As they worked to purify, identify and characterize the various proteinaceous and low-weight molecular compounds, the commercial potential became increasingly clear.

With two scientists at the helm and neither of them knowing how to proceed into the unfamiliar territory of commercialization, they reached out to AFMNet which put them in contact with AFMNet Board members Drs. Jeff Turner and Murray McLaughlin, founders of the Research to Business (R2B) Program, the business development and commercialization arm of AFMNet. For the first year, Drs. Turner and McLaughlin served in a mentorship capacity for the program.

"The R2B program was instrumental, because the people in it had a wealth of experience and they encouraged us at precisely the right moments," says Dr. von Aderkas. "The next stage is to build substantial investor support." With the support of the program, the researchers developed a start-up strategy and are currently transferring the technologies developed and characterized in the lab into their company.

FloraPure BioSciences Inc. plans to use a unique plant protein expression system to produce and purify the relevant compounds on a large commercially useful scale. There are a number of potential applications in the agricultural and forestry industries, such as encapsulations to protect the seeds of trees or crops against fungal contamination. In medicine, applications include new topical antibacterial and antifungal creams, and unique and cost-effective antibiotics.

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