Fermentek Ltd. is a biotechnological company in the Atarot industrial zone of

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. It specializes in the research, development and manufacture of biologically active, natural products isolated from microorganisms as well as from other natural sources such as plants and algae. The main microorganisms used are nonpathogenic

actinomycetes The Actinomycetales is an order of Actinomycetota. A member of the order is often called an actinomycete. Actinomycetales are generally gram-positive and anaerobic and have mycelia in a filamentous and branching growth pattern. Some actinomycete ...

, Nocardia and Streptomycetes. The

fungi A fungus (plural, : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of Eukaryote, eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and Mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified ...

used are: Penicillium, Aspergillus, Fusarium and the like. None of these is a human

pathogen In biology, a pathogen ( el, πάθος, "suffering", "passion" and , "producer of") in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism or agent that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a ger ...

. Fermentek does not sell to individuals. Most of its products are marketed through major international distributors specializing in chemicals, under their own brand names. Nevertheless, Fermentek has specific impact on the biochemical market, especially in the field of mycotoxins. Mycotoxins are toxic compounds produced by molds in human food and farm animal feeds, thus being economically important factors. Fermentek manufactures an extensive line of pure mycotoxins used as standards in food analysis. In some cases, such as Aflatoxin M2, Fermentek supplies the entire world's requirements.Mycotoxin Fact-sheet, by European commission Institute for reference materials and standards 4th edition
/ref> In 2009, Fermentek announced a product family of highly standardized calibrant solutions of main mycotoxins. These are marketed under the brand name FermaSol. In 2010, it obtained ISO 13485 accreditation in connection with the production of starting materials for experimental drug production, and with manufacturing of reference standards of food contaminants. None of Fermentek's products have been invented by it. Fermentek's aim is to make known compounds affordable to the scientific community. Fermentek was founded by Dr. Yosef Behrend in 1994. It moved in 2004 to its new building, quadrupling its working space and greatly enlarging its manufacturing capacities.

Technology

Fermentek operates fermentors ranging in size from 10 to 15,000 liters, with filter presses and centrifuges of matching capacity. According to the company policy as declared at its official website, Fermentek uses only the "Classical" biotechnology approach. This means that only genetically unmodified natural microbial strains are employed, and no attempt is made to achieve mutants, neither random nor targeted.

Main products

*Mycotoxins:

Aflatoxin Aflatoxins are various poisonous carcinogens and mutagens that are produced by certain molds, particularly '' Aspergillus'' species. The fungi grow in soil, decaying vegetation and various staple foodstuffs and commodities such as hay, sweet ...

, Cytochalasin, Fumonisins, Gliotoxin, Patulin, Penicillic acid, Zearalenone, Tentoxin, Deoxynivalenol, Citrinin, T2 toxin, HT2 toxin, Tentoxin, Moniliformin, Deacetoxyscirpenol, Neosolaniol,

Citreoviridin Citreoviridin is a mycotoxin which is produced by ''Penicillium'' and ''Aspergillus'' species. If rice, corn, cereals or meat products are contaminated with ''Penicillin citreoviridin'', citreoviridin can be produced if the food is stored in a dam ...

, Beauvericin,

Nivalenol Nivalenol (NIV) is a mycotoxin of the trichothecene group. In nature it is mainly found in fungi of the ''Fusarium'' species. The ''Fusarium'' species belongs to the most prevalent mycotoxin producing fungi in the temperate regions of the norther ...

, Tenuazonic acid,

Alternariol Alternariol is a toxic metabolite of '' Alternaria'' fungi. It is an important contaminant in cereals and fruits. Alternariol exhibits fungicide, antifungal and phytotoxic activity. It is reported to inhibit cholinesterase enzymes.

, Alternariol methyl ether *Immunomodulators: Tacrolimus, Sirolimus, Ascomycin,

Myriocin Myriocin, also known as antibiotic ISP-1 and thermozymocidin, is a non-proteinogenic amino acid derived from certain thermophilic fungi. Myriocin is a very potent inhibitor of serine palmitoyltransferase, the first step in sphingosine biosynthe ...

*Ionophores: Valinomycin,

Nonactin Nonactin is a member of a family of naturally occurring cyclic ionophores known as the macrotetrolide antibiotics. The other members of this homologous family are monactin, dinactin, trinactin and tetranactin which are all neutral ionophoric sub ...

, Ionomycin *Special antibiotics and molecular biology reagents.

Anisomycin Anisomycin, also known as flagecidin, is an antibiotic produced by ''Streptomyces griseolus'' which inhibits eukaryotic protein synthesis. Partial inhibition of DNA synthesis occurs at anisomycin concentrations that effect 95% inhibition of pro ...

, Thiolutin,

Wortmannin Wortmannin, a steroid metabolite of the fungi '' Penicillium funiculosum'', ''Talaromyces wortmannii'', is a non-specific, covalent inhibitor of phosphoinositide 3-kinases (PI3Ks). It has an ''in vitro'' inhibitory concentration (''IC''50) of a ...

, K252a, Staurosporine, K252C,

Bafilomycin The bafilomycins are a family of macrolide antibiotics produced from a variety of ''Streptomycetes''. Their chemical structure is defined by a 16-membered lactone ring scaffold. Bafilomycins exhibit a wide range of biological activity, including a ...

, Alamethicin, Leptomycin, A23187,

Chelerythrine Chelerythrine is a benzophenanthridine alkaloid present in the plant '' Chelidonium majus'' (greater celandine). It is a potent, selective, and cell-permeable protein kinase C inhibitor ''in vitro''. And an efficacious antagonist of G-protein-c ...

Oligomycin Oligomycins are macrolides created by '' Streptomyces'' that can be poisonous to other organisms. Function They have use as antibiotics. Oligomycin A is an inhibitor of ATP synthase. In oxidative phosphorylation research, it is used to prev ...

Trichostatin A Trichostatin A (TSA) is an organic compound that serves as an antifungal antibiotic and selectively inhibits the class I and II mammalian histone deacetylase (HDAC) families of enzymes, but not class III HDACs (i.e., sirtuins). However, there ar ...

Cerulenin Cerulenin is an antifungal antibiotic that inhibits fatty acid and steroid biosynthesis. It was the first natural product antibiotic known to inhibit lipid synthesis. In fatty acid synthesis, it has been reported to bind in equimolar ratio to b-ke ...

Aphidicolin Aphidicolin is a tetracyclic diterpene antibiotic isolated from the fungus '' Cephalosporum aphidicola'' with antiviral and antimitotic properties. Aphidicolin is a reversible inhibitor of eukaryotic nuclear DNA replication. It blocks the cell ...

*Experimental drugs and drug precursors: Parthenolide, Puromycin, Rapamycin,

, Thapsigargin, cyclopamine, Thiostrepton, Staurosporine, Mithramycin, Midostaurin,

, K252a, Geldanamycin and its derivates:

17-DMAG 17-Dimethylaminoethylamino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin (17-DMAG) is a chemical compound which is a semi-synthetic derivative of the antibiotic geldanamycin. It is being studied for the possibility of treating cancer. References Antibiotics M ...

17-AAG Tanespimycin (17-''N''-allylamino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin, 17-AAG) is a derivative of the antibiotic geldanamycin that is being studied in the treatment of cancer, specifically in younger patients with certain types of leukemia or solid tumors, e ...

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website

BIOJERUSALEM
an initiative of the Jerusalem Development Authority
MatiMOP
MATIMOP - the Israeli Industry Center for R&D
Israeli Ministry of Industry
Chemical Authority
Bio-Israel about Fermentek
(BioIsrael, the hubsite of Israel`s life sciences community and a leading source of news and information) Biotechnology companies of Israel Biotechnology Research support companies Biotechnology companies established in 1995

Technology

Main products

See also

References

External links