Good news of companies
➤➤➤ Recently, PAML, an enterprise settled in the Innovation Center, announced the completion of the pre-A round of financing to raise a fund of more than 100 million yuan. The investment was led by Yunqi Capital, Voyong Fund and GRC Capital. PAML is committed to the research and development and application of innovative biomaterials. The fund raised in this round of financing will be used to strengthen the R & D platform upgrade and the expansion of production capacity.
About PAML
Founded in March 2021, PAML was jointly founded by Dr. Zhong Chao from SIAT and Cui Junfeng, a university classmate of Zhong. The company uses the dual technologies of synthetic biology and machine learning (BT-IT) to drive the development of bio-based materials and products. The core team has several doctors with the world’s top academic achievements and experienced senior experts in the field of process engineering. It mainly deploys in the development pipelines for raw materials of protein and polysaccharide. Its related raw materials and products are widely used in such fields as medicine, cosmetic medicine, makeups and food.
Office area
01 Build an innovative R&D platform based on synthetic biology research of materials
As a cutting-edge technology of modern biology, synthetic biology has become a technical highland which all countries are scrambling for. In September 2022, the US government officially announced the “National Biotechnology and Bio-manufacturing Plan” to ensure the country’s leading position in the field of biotechnology. In May 2022, the National Development and Reform Commission of China released the 14th Five-Year Plan for Bio-economy Development, which explicitly stated to focus on expanding and strengthening the biological economy, and stressed the need to accelerate the development of original and leading technological innovations, and promote their application in different fields in an orderly manner. In June of the same year, Shenzhen issued the Opinions on Developing and Expanding Strategic Emerging Industrial Clusters and Cultivating and Developing Future Industries, focusing on the development of 20 strategic emerging industries and 8 futuristic industries, and synthetic biology ranked top among the industries of the future.
The Boston Consulting Group predicts that by the end of the 21st century, synthetic biology tools will be widely used in manufacturing, which will account for more than a third of global output, creating $30 trillion in value. McKinsey believes that in principle, 60% of the world’s products can be produced with a biological method. By 2030-2040, synthetic biology can generate a direct economic impact of about $2-4 trillion per year. In the next 10 years, at least 20% of the world’s petrochemical products may be replaced by bio-based products.
Driven by bio-economy-related policies and low-carbon economic development, the synthetic biology industry has ushered in a historic development opportunity. Complying with the tide of development, Dr. Zhong graduated from the MIT (MIT) and returned to China in 2014; in 2020, he joined the Synthetic Biology Institute of SIAT (hereinafter referred to as the Institute), set up a synthetic biology research center of materials. Having been devoted to scientific research for more than 10 years, Dr. Zhong has won 10 patents at home and abroad, and has ever been honored as Chief Scientist of Synthetic Biology in the Major Development Plan of the Ministry of Science and Technology, and been sponsored by the National Outstanding Youth Fund. In order to speed up the transformation of technological achievements, Zhong Chao founded PAML in 2021, focusing on promoting the research, development and commercialization of core product pipelines such as adhesive proteins, bacterial cellulose and mucopolysaccharides.
At present, the core members of the company are from the doctoral teams of top research institutions and the industrialization and commercialization teams of renowned enterprises at home and abroad, ensuring an organic combination of the scientific capacity in synthetic biotechnology and the manufacturing capacity of commercialization. The consulting team includes some renowned scientists from universities such as MIT, UCSB and Cornell University, as well as clinical experts from Ruijin Hospital, Changzheng Hospital, Shanghai Sixth People’s Hospital and Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital.
Relying on interdisciplinary in-depth research and long-term accumulation, PAML has established an efficient BT-IT dual-core driven innovation and R&D platform, combining academic research with synthetic biotechnology, AI methodology and optimized path design to gradually establish the capabilities in the industry-leading systematic development of new molecules, new materials and bio-active materials, and greatly enhance the research and development efficiency of synthetic biological innovative materials such as biomedical materials, raw materials of cosmetics and functional materials. Focusing on high-value-added and high-growth markets, it has deployed core pipelines around such areas as proteins and polysaccharides and achieved innovative applications and alternatives for various scenarios to provide customers with green and efficient solutions.
Experimental area
Thus far since its establishment, PAML has developed rapidly and been recognized by different parties depending on its strong scientific research capacity. In December 2021, it co-established the “Transformation Center for Industrial Achievements of Synthetic Biology of Materials” with the SIAT. In March 2022, it passed the certification of a “Synthetic Biology Enterprise” conducted by Guangming District. In July 2022, it was listed among the “Top 50 Growth Enterprises in the Greater Bay Area” released by the Shenzhen Venture Capital Association. In August 2022, it settled in Heng Tai Yue Building and launched the construction of a pilot test workshop. In November 2022, it participated in the “Shenzhen Venture Capital Day” and was invited as a major project to the signing ceremony.
02 Accelerate the transformation of scientific and technological achievements with the upstairs and downstairs innovation model
The Institute and the People’s Government of Guangming District co-built the “Shenzhen Industrial Innovation Center for Engineering Biology”. PAML incubated with the model of “upstairs and downstairs innovation and entrepreneurship complex” achieved a close distance between office and the Institute. The company’s researchers and the coworkers of the Research Center can communicate in the same building to achieve a close link between original innovation “from 0 to 1” and engineering technology development and transformation “from 1 to 10 and then to 100”, thereby finishing the efficient transformation of research achievements in the industry.
A live scene of the Innovation Center
In space, the incubation mode with an organic integration between basic research and industrialization application can break the time barrier for industrial incubation “from 0 to 1 and then to 10” effectively solve the bottleneck of start-ups in the lack of facilities and technology platforms, thus shortening the period for the industrial transformation of original innovations and establishing a whole-chain enterprise cultivation mode of “research, transformation and industry”.
With the support of “upstairs and downstairs” mode, the achievement transformation of adhesive protein pipeline of PAML is progressing rapidly. Related products have been verified in terms of wound closure and care, with bonding and hemostatic functions, and will achieve functional and domestic replacement of existing products.
With the vision of becoming the world’s leading biomaterials manufacturer and application expert, the future of PAML is more than that. Under the background that the “Dual Carbon” goal has become a global consensus, synthetic biology is not only an important force for the development of China’s bio-economy, but also an important underlying support for the realization of the “Dual Carbon” goal. Next, the company will rely on its platform’s research and development advantages and industrialization capacity, and continue to expand business boundaries and applications in different fields, and lead the development of the industry.
Dr. Zhong, founder of PAML, said, “Our founding team are very grateful for the recognition and support of new and old shareholders. We will continue to be oriented around market demands, insist on making a strategic deployment in three dimensions, namely the BT-IT technology driven innovation of raw materials, innovative products and efficient R&D platforms, work hard to expand the application of innovative raw materials in different fields, focus on medical product solutions with a unique clinical value, stick to the product platform development and commercialization, and become one of the world’s leading enterprises of innovative biological materials.”