Teo Garcia Millan, co-founder of CDotBio, studied his PhD in the School of Chemistry at the University of Bristol. Here he focused on synthesizing and manufacturing Carbon Dots for a variety of applications. After finishing his studies Teo collaborated with the School of Life Sciences on a project to transform plants.
Historically carbon dots (carbon-based nanoparticles that are ultra small, nontoxic, eco-friendly alternative to other non-organic materials, such as quantum dots) have been mostly used to deliver and protect molecules in health tech and biotech applications.
By taking the knowledge from healthtech and transferring it to plant sciences, the team at University of Bristol found that you can do the same to plant sciences. The process worked and the University patented the technology, and invited Teo to lead a project to see how it could be used.
Initial investment
An initial grant of £300,000 allowed Teo to hire two full-time scientists, and they joined EIT Food’s Seedbed Incubator and partnered with Octopus Ventures on their Springboard programme.
This discovery phase allowed them to focus on market discovery. Through this process Teo and his team found that the most urgent use for their technology was to replace the use of pesticides in crop farming.
Teo explains: “80% of food production comes from plant products, but we’re losing 40% of crop yields due to pests and disease. Agriculture production depends on using a high volume of pesticides to maintain crop yields. These chemicals are heavily regulated, and many have been banned from use, so the industry is looking for new solutions.
“The industry as a whole is moving from AgChem to AgBio. These bioactives, such as RNA, can be tailored to specific targets and applications – so you have the whole control over a genome of a plant or insect. You can control a pest, or the growth of the plant by controlling these molecules.”
RNA technology is not new – the industry already had a surge in interest in its abilities to transform plant sciences, however issues such as limited delivery to plant tissue and inefficient cellular uptake stopped the exploiting this technology.
The unique selling point
Teo continues “RNA technology can be a gamechanger in the industry, but it needs to be enabled. That’s what we are working to achieve through carbon dot carriers. We have competitors, but we have had results that no one else has achieved – demonstrating that our technology actual enables the potential of RNA technology.”
Now at pre-seed stage, the team are testing their technology and looking at ways to commercialise the business. Teo is passionate about using his skills to undo some of the harm crop pesticides have done to the planet, as it also keen to work with farmers to provide them with the tools they need to protect crops.
Since joining Future Space they have applied for the R&D Pathway Project with the School of Engineering at UWE Bristol to tap into the research power and knowledge of the students.
“We chose Future Space as our home because there is a great community and a lot of other businesses working in Biotech and Agritech that we can work with, learn from, and share knowledge and equipment. Everyone wants to help each other, and the facilities are exactly what we needed – we have both an office and a lab space.
“The management team have been absolutely brilliant, they’ve gone above and beyond to help us succeed and that’s the kind of space we want to work in.”
