In April 2024, the enzyme product was granted two invention patents for the enzymatic synthesis of carnosine, marking another major breakthrough for the company’s green carnosine preparation process!
Green carnosine enzyme product invention patent certificate
The addition of two new national invention patent certificates signifies that the company’s technological innovation capabilities have once again received authoritative national recognition. Green carnosine has become another flagship product for the company, following S -Bosoxine, developed using enzymatic methods and achieving large-scale mass production!
1. Representative bioactive peptide – Carnosine
Those familiar with peptides will certainly be familiar with carnosine (L-Carnosine), which is composed of β-alanine and L-histidine.The natural dipeptide it is composed of was first isolated from beef extract by Russian scientist Gulewitsch in 1900, and is the first representative bioactive peptide isolated from natural raw materials.
For over a century since Gulewitsch first isolated carnosine, scientists and scholars from various countries have conducted comprehensive and systematic research on it. They have not only discovered that carnosine is widely present in the brain and skeletal muscle tissue of vertebrates, but have also isolated a series of carnosine derivatives, each with its own unique characteristics and advantages, such as goose carnosine.Whale carnosine, decarboxylated carnosine, acetyl carnosine, etc.
Carnosine and its derivatives
As is well known, oxidative stressGlycation and photoaging are the three major culprits that accelerate skin aging. Oxidative stress caused by external stimuli such as ultraviolet light and cellular aging can lead to problems such as DNA damage, melanin production, collagen degradation, and inflammation; while glycation reactions generate a series of advanced glycation end products ( AGEs).AGEs (Advanced Glycation End Products) lead to dull skin tone, damaged skin barrier, and damaged collagen cross-linking, causing the skin to gradually lose elasticity and become stiff.
AGEs cause abnormal cross-linking of skin collagen fibers.
Numerous studies have demonstrated that carnosine possesses excellent antioxidant and anti-glycation effects. It effectively scavenge various reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as hydroxyl radicals and superoxide anion radicals, and can chelate divalent metal ions such as iron and copper, protecting skin cells from oxidative damage. Simultaneously, it competitively inhibits the cross-linking reaction between proteins and reducing sugars, suppressing the formation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs). Through its dual antioxidant and anti-glycation properties, carnosine effectively delays and improves signs of skin aging, resulting in brighter and more rejuvenated skin.
Mechanism of action of carnosine “dual resistance”
2. The inseparable relationship between enzyme products and carnosine
The connection between enzyme products and carnosine dates back twenty years…
At that time, Liu Jiangang, co-founder and CEO of Enzyme Products, graduated from the Department of Chemistry at Lanzhou University and worked as a research assistant at a pharmaceutical company. Carnosine was the first research project he participated in.
Liu Jian and Carnosine
“When I first started working, I took on my first peptide research and development project. At that time, we only had chemical synthesis technology to choose from. The best chemical process inevitably required the use of hydrazine hydrate, and the residue of hydrazine hydrate greatly limited the application scenarios of carnosine. This was my biggest regret at the time…” Liu Jian believes that the value of carnosine has not been fully realized.
Until the establishment of the enzyme product in 2017, the company relied on the entrepreneurial team’s more than 20 years of scientific research accumulation and industrial experience to successfully build a “green bio-intelligent manufacturing platform” with synthetic biology technology as the core, integrating R&D and industrialization. Liu Jian led the team to devote themselves to the green transformation project of carnosine without hesitation.
3. Artificial intelligence empowers efficient enzyme screening and modification
In the early stages of the project, the enzyme product team chose to start with the natural carnosine synthase. “The human body naturally has a series of enzymes that synthesize carnosine, but naturally derived enzymes often have problems such as low activity and unsuitability for industrial production. Therefore, we carried out a series of modifications to the enzyme, but the initial modifications were not smooth,” the head of carnosine R&D recalled.
Enzyme Product R&D Center
In 2021, the enzyme product development team, struggling to find a breakthrough, decided to introduce AI-assisted design and high-throughput screening technologies, collaborating with Professor Jian Liu, who was then teaching at the University of Leeds in the UK. Professor Liu was a member of the European Brain-Inspired Initiative and a Newton Senior Fellow, possessing expertise in cutting-edge AI technologies globally. From then on, the UK-based AI R&D team and the company’s established biocomputing center pooled their resources to provide high-quality solutions for the company’s enzyme screening and modification platform.
“Our enzyme screening capacity has increased from twenty to over a thousand per year, achieving a crushing victory in R&D efficiency!” The head of carnosine R&D spoke with pride about the soaring efficiency. Quantitative changes led to qualitative changes; with the support of multiple technological buffs, the enzyme product was finally modified to produce a suitable enzyme, completing the process development for the enzymatic preparation of carnosine.
Enzyme Product R&D Center
The “gap” in technological innovation exists between the laboratory and the production line. If basic research is the breakthrough from 0 to 1, then industrialization is the leap from 1 to 10. In June 2023, the Zhuhai Enzyme Finished Product Hundred-Ton-Level Green Active Raw Material Intelligent Factory officially went into operation, with green carnosine becoming its first industrialization project.
Green carnosine production scenario for enzyme products
4. Enzyme-based green carnosine, a new generation of high-grade active raw material
As a pioneer in peptide biosynthesis, Enzyme Products is the first in the world to achieve the synthesis of high-purity carnosine using the all-enzymatic method. The reaction process is carried out in an aqueous environment without the use of organic solvents or dangerous reagents such as hydrazine hydrate, making it more suitable for fields such as functional skincare, nutrition and health, and biomedicine.
Carnosine Enzymatic Synthesis Method
The finished enzyme product, green carnosine, boasts a purity of up to 99.9%, with 66.7% being bio-based. It exhibits excellent safety, stability, and transdermal properties. The product has received COSMOS APPROVED certification and can provide multiple safety assessment reports.
Enzyme product Green Carnosine COSMOS Certificate
Our finished enzyme product, green carnosine, undergoes rigorous testing in a professional laboratory, ensuring reliable quality and stable production capacity. Efficacy test data shows that, compared to similar products, the finished enzyme product, green carnosine, possesses stronger anti-glycation and anti-inflammatory effects.
Experimental results of the anti-glycation efficacy of enzyme products
Experimental results of the anti-inflammatory efficacy of enzyme products
The successful green transformation of carnosine has not only strengthened the confidence of the enzyme product team but also brought new ideas for the green process development of other products in the company. Liu Jian said, “The large-scale green production of carnosine is not only a milestone event in the company’s technological innovation but also lays the foundation for the green transformation of other products. Currently, we have successfully developed green processes for dozens of peptides, and we hope that in the future, biosynthesis technology can cover more products and fields, allowing green technology to truly achieve a healthy life!”
5. Regarding finished enzyme products
Enzyme Products is committed to becoming a global leader in green active ingredients, employing next-generation synthetic biology technologies to focus on the green production of active ingredients such as peptides, proteins, sugars, and nucleic acids. Leveraging over 20 years of research and industry experience accumulated by its founding team, the company has established a leading multidisciplinary technology platform in China. It has now achieved mass production of dozens of green active ingredients, including Smegglutinin, Telborpeptide, S -Pros-Xylane, NAD+, Blue Copper Peptide, HMOs, and various peptides. It has cumulatively provided high-quality green active ingredients to over a thousand well-known companies in the fields of biopharmaceuticals , functional skincare, nutritional health, and pet and animal health .
After seven years of rapid development, the company has achieved a leading position among global companies of its kind in terms of R&D investment, scale, and output. It has applied for more than 100 invention patents and has received more than ten national and local titles, including National Specialized and Innovative Small Giant, National High-tech Enterprise, Shenzhen Specialized and Innovative Small and Medium Enterprise, Shenzhen Potential Unicorn Enterprise, Shenzhen Postdoctoral Innovation Practice Base, Shenzhen Top 30 Medical and Health Innovation Team, Zhuhai Innovation and Entrepreneurship Team, and Gansu Specialized and Innovative Small and Medium Enterprise. In 2022, it was selected as one of Shenzhen’s Top 100 High-Growth Enterprises (ranked first among unlisted biotech companies), and in 2023, it was selected as a Harvard Business Review High-Energy Innovation Team.