A new company has been launched in Wales to exploit plants as a potential source of new pharmaceutical, agrochemical and cosmetic products.
Molecularnature Ltd, which operates from the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research at Plas Gogerddan, near Aberystwyth, says that its systematic approach provides a high quality collection of novel and rare compounds and partially purified extracts suitable for further high throughput screening for activity.
The company is already undertaking collaborative research with a Dutch Unilever subsidiary (Loders Croklaan) to identify nutritional plant lipids for use in supplements and functional foods.
Molecularnature is to extract and identify the lipids, which Unilever scientists will screen for cardiovascular and immunological activity.
The company currently employs 15 scientists and has plans to expand its workforce in the near future.