Why don't you team up with NAGASE and change the world with biotechnology?
With our core technologies, including microbial, enzyme, and fermentation technologies, the NAGASE Group (NAGASE) goes beyond trading firms and provides benefits that other companies could not offer.
NAGASE collaborates with you to design microorganisms and develop, manufacture, and distribute materials, thereby contributing to the creation of “sustainable businesses.”
Are you facing any trouble in any of the following activities?
- Starting a new line of business/developing a new material.
- Planning to enter a different field.
- Wanting to use a promising material that cannot be currently used due to concerns such as supply instability, high cost, and safety.
- Wanting to utilize an untapped natural resource.
NAGASE’s range of biotechnology is here to support your company’s development program.
Please feel free to contact us.
Case 1 Fermentation technology
Manufacturing through fermentation
―From microorganism design to efficient production of substances―
The key to improving the production efficiency in fermentation-based manufacturing is the ability of microorganisms (strains) to produce substances.
Ergothioneine is an example of a fermentation-produced substance. Ergothioneine is a rare, natural amino acid that can be found in mushrooms and other organisms in trace amounts. Ergothioneine was traditionally manufactured mainly through extraction from natural sources and chemical synthesis. However, the widespread use of ergothioneine has been hampered by the lack of a low-cost, environmentally friendly ergothioneine-manufacturing method. Ergothioneine manufacturing costs continue to be high because of the limitations of conventional manufacturing methods, such as low yields using the extraction method owing to the extremely low abundance of ergothioneine in natural sources as well as large environmental burdens of the chemical synthesis method. Therefore, NAGASE improved strains using gene modifying technology and created a strain that can produce ergothioneine ~1,000 times more efficiently compared to the original. The fermentation method used with this strain has dramatically increased the capacity for ergothioneine production.
Using the developed strain, we intend to commercialize ergothioneine products in life science fields, such as health food, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals.
Case 2 Enzyme utilization
Manufacturing using enzymes
―The use of enzymes to produce unique materials and improve product properties―
NAGASE has a technology that produces original materials using enzymes. Trehalose (Treha™) and isomaltodextrin (Fibryxa™) are typical examples.
We are working not only on enzyme development and production but also on enzyme applications. By improving the physical properties of foods, we provide additional benefits, such as reduced food waste as a result of maximizing shelf life, improved bread texture and taste, and increased emulsifying capacity. Furthermore, for daily necessities and industrial products, NAGASE adds value to the products used by customers by improving product properties and cleaning power, reducing environmental load, and contributing to customers’ enriched ways of living.
Case 3 Regulatory compliance
Commercialization of materials
―Compliance with global regulations―
Corporate activities to manufacture and distribute enzymes must follow local regulations.
NAGASE manufactures and sells various enzymes for food and industrial applications and has consistently carried out everything from product development to release, not only through efficient production using multiple technologies, such as genetic recombination technology but also by complying with the different regulations required in each country.
Examples of efforts to comply with regulations:
- Registration application of INCI (International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients)
- Adjustments to religious requirements (Kosher/Halal)
- Highly purified products
- Verification of conformity of manufacturing standards for foods and food additives using recombinant DNA technology-applied enzymes.
Adherence to various regulations is also required when raw materials are imported from overseas or products manufactured in Japan are sold to entities in overseas countries. NAGASE applies import/export know-how acquired over the company’s ~200-year history to successfully expand domestic and international markets for developed products.
NAGASE's
Biotechnology Business
TOPICS
