Search and optimize the necessary enzymes from open data.
First of all, please tell us about your business.
Mr. digzyme ：Our business is "enzyme." Specifically, we provide a service to decipher the vast amount of life science research data that sleeps in the world, and to efficiently and quickly design the industrial enzymes needed by customers. The company name is a combination of English "dig" and "-zyme" (suffix indicating enzymes). Currently, we are taking on the challenge of finding promising enzyme candidates from open data, using AI to improve functions, redesigning them to match the purpose of use, then actually synthesizing them to verify activity, productivity and stability, and establishing a path to mass production. In addition, we also support enzyme development consulting services.
digzyme Izumi-sama ：However, there are no plans to own actual production plants in-house. Our business style is fabless (a business model that does not have production facilities and outsources manufacturing to subcontractors). Therefore, our role is to build a system for mass production of excellent enzymes.
Please tell us about the uniqueness of your business.
Mr. digzyme ：Our uniqueness lies in the fact that we use open data to efficiently design the necessary enzymes in silico. Various research data on life sciences are collected and stored around the world every day. Is there any way to make effective use of the large amount of data that is accumulated every day from my experience of uploading a large amount of genetic data in my research on koji mold during my PhD? I've always thought about it. In particular, enzymes are used in various industries and have the opportunity to conduct joint research with companies, so I felt that "the distance to social implementation is short."
digzyme Izumi-sama ：In recent years, the role of enzymes has begun to attract attention even in industries that have not used enzymes until now. For example, there is a growing trend in the chemical industry for enzymes that break down petroleum-derived products such as plastics. We will take a proactive approach to these trends. On the other hand, even in industries that have been using enzymes for a long time, such as food and detergents, we believe there is enough room for us to create new value with our technology. Therefore, we intend to pursue a wide range of possibilities of enzymes without defining specific industrial areas yet.
Do you have any difficulties in your current business development?
digzyme: In the first place, they seem to know what "enzyme" is, and they are not surprisingly known. In a nutshell, enzymes are "proteins that function as catalysts", but they actually have a variety of catalytic functions that have never been known before. Even if we look at the original data, we found "enzymes that decompose resins" did not write such functions anywhere, but we succeeded when we tried it. There are a lot of such cases. The key is to know more about the potential of enzymes.
digzyme Izumi: When you actually talk about it, there are many customers who say, "I don't know what enzymes can do." In particular, industries that have previously been unrelated to enzymes tend to do so. On the other hand, global demand for industrial enzymes is extremely large, and the enzyme industry is overwhelmingly the seller market. One of the world's largest producers of enzymes in Japan is that they can't be matched by adding all the sales of Japanese enzyme-related companies. In the future, we want to be a representative of Japan.
Mitsui Link Lab Kasai is a facility for labs.
How did you move into Mitsui Link Lab Kasai?
digzyme: At first, I learned through investors. When I first started my business, I was conducting research in the open-use room of Tokyo Institute of Technology, but as research progressed, it became necessary to have my own laboratory, so while looking for a lab or office, I arrived at Mitsui Link Lab Kasai. The decisive factor in moving in was rent and area. The communication environment in the laboratory is well maintained, and the structure of the building is solid. I have the impression that it is completely different from ordinary office buildings.
Please let me know if there are any advantages of the lab that you actually felt when you moved in.
digzyme: At first, I learned through investors. When I first started my business, I was conducting research in the open-use room of Tokyo Institute of Technology, but as research progressed, it became necessary to have my own laboratory, so while looking for a lab or office, I arrived at Mitsui Link Lab Kasai. The decisive factor in moving in was rent and area. The communication environment in the laboratory is well maintained, and the structure of the building is solid. I have the impression that it is completely different from ordinary office buildings.
digzyme: There are many requests to "actually see things", and I will guide you to Mitsui Link Lab Kasai, but everyone will be surprised that it is a very good facility. Due to the characteristics of the bioinformatics business, the main work is done with supercomputers, but even if you look at the screen of the computer, it is difficult for outsiders to understand. Therefore, it is also important to invite them to the lab to observe the actual culture process. I would like to actively invite visitors in the future.
In the future, Kasai Lab will also consider production.
What are your goals and prospects for the future?
digzyme: In the development of enzymes, it is important that the enzyme itself not only has excellent functions, but also that it can be produced efficiently and at low cost, and that mass production can ensure the same quality and stability as laboratory prototypes. In order to confirm this, it is necessary to actually repeat the prototype many times. In the future, by introducing tens of tens of liter size medium-scale production facilities in Kasai Lab, we plan to establish a system that enables integrated verification of stability at our own lab until mass production is verified.
Ultimately, I would like to achieve the first example of "creating effective enzymes from open data and launching them as products." We believe that our technology is also useful for precision fermentation. In fact, from a global perspective, there are few companies that have succeeded in precision fermentation (a technology that uses the fermentation of microorganisms with specific genes to create the target substance). We will continue to develop technologies and contribute to the commercialization of precision fermentation. By holding leadership, I would like to become a company that is said to be "digzyme" in the future.
digzyme Izumi: As for the activities at Mitsui Link Lab, I would like to expand horizontal cooperation in the future. Until now, we couldn't make much horizontal connections, but we would like to continue to provide opportunities for the outside to know about our business, such as this interview, and in the future, we would like to connect with people in healthcare, chemical, environmental, and bio-manufacturing.
