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Unlocking the potential of jellyfish for regenerative medicine
How a Heriot-Watt University alum has created a new class of collagen.
Dr Andrew Mearns Spragg ??????
Marine biotechnology entrepreneur, Dr Andrew Mearns Spragg, is the Founder of Jellagen Ltd, a company spearheading collagen chemistry from jellyfish that has multiple possibilities for revolutionising regenerative medicine worldwide.
“The idea of using jellyfish as a source of new natural products was something that I had in the back of my mind for a number of years,” Andrew explains, his interest having been sparked while surfing off the East coast of Scotland and finding himself surrounded by an abundance of the creatures.
“My academic background is in the field of marine biotechnology, and my career has been focused on applying this to harness the chemical diversity of marine micro-organisms as a source of novel life-enhancing compounds and materials,” he comments.
Andrew’s current work has seen him explore collagen – one of our bodies fundamental building blocks. “Every mammal is made up of collagen, a fibrous protein that forms a scaffold providing strength and structural support within the body. It’s an essential component of connective tissue and plays a crucial role in helping tissues repair and renew,” Andrew explains. He began to wonder if jellyfish, one of the Earth’s oldest species, might be a source of collagen that would be fundamentally different to that from mammals, which are currently the medical industry standards but possess inherent clinical shortcomings, including cell mismatching, potential inflammatory triggers, and the risk of zoonotic disease transmission.
My career has been focused on harnessing the chemical diversity of marine micro-organisms as a source of novel life-enhancing compounds and materials.”
Dr Andrew Mearns Spragg
Discovering that primitive life offered revolutionary regenerative properties
“Jellyfish first evolved on Earth some 600 million years ago, and so their collagen is an evolutionary ancient chemical template, which all collagens up the tree of life have been derived from,” Andrew explains. Undertaking to test out its potential, he discovered that it displayed the essential properties of mammalian collagens, but as an evolutionary primitive form, had unique behaviours too.
“We’ve termed jellyfish collagen as ‘Type 0’ because it predates the specialised collagen types found in mammals (referred to as Type I or Type II) and represents a new novel class of collagen. Its biocompatibility makes it an ideal candidate for supporting human cells without causing adverse reactions, so it has the potential to revolutionise various medical fields, including wound healing, tissue regeneration, and implantable devices,” he explains.
A sustainable biomaterial in an era of climate change
The collagen in Jellagen’s products is extracted from Rhizostoma spp., commonly known as the Barrel Jellyfish, which is an ancient species of large jellyfish common to the seas around the UK. They are thriving in our era of new environmental conditions of warming oceans, decreasing marine biodiversity, and species translocation via shipping all of which support the spread of new blooms globally. “Jellyfish collagen is considered a highly sustainable alternative to traditional mammalian sources by combining lower carbon footprints and circular economy integration,” comments Andrew.
We’ve termed jellyfish collagen ‘Type 0’ because it represents a new class of collagen–with the potential to revolutionise wound healing, tissue regeneration and implantable devices.”
Dr Andrew Mearns Spragg
Andrew presenting at the international Symposium on Advanced Wound Care (SAWC).
A spheroid 3D formation of jellyfish collagen.
Pioneering marine biotechnology solutions for improved health
The applications appear endless in the way we can transform tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.”
Dr Andrew Mearns Spragg
Andrew studied a BSc degree in Microbiology and a PhD in Marine Biotechnology at Heriot-Watt. He founded Aquapharm in 2000, a marine biotechnology company that stemmed from his PhD work supervised by Professors David Adams and Grant Burgess. The company sought to harness the chemical diversity of marine micro-organisms as a source of life-enhancing pharmaceuticals and functional products for the food and cosmetics industry, leading to the discovery and development of new antibiotics that are effective against multi-drug-resistant bacterial pathogens such as MRSA.
Recognised many times for his commercial exploitation of marine biotechnologies, Andrew has successfully secured multi-million-pound investment from private investment sources, as well as securing significant funding from competitive grants from the EU and UK. In 2007, he received the Gannochy Award and Medal from the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland’s highest award for innovation, and his entrepreneurial achievements were recognised with the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in Health Care for Scotland in 2008.
Having built the world’s first ISO-certified medical device manufacturing plant for jellyfish collagen from scratch, he is currently Jellagen’s Chief Scientific Officer, overseeing the development of Type 0 collagen to become one of the world’s highest-performing collagens. “Having founded Jellagen, I decided to step down from the CEO role to focus my time, knowledge and energy on the scientific potential of the company,” Andrew explains. “It’s an exciting time for us. We recently announced a new strategic partnership with US company Royal Biologics, a leader in advanced wound care, orthobiologics and regenerative medicine, which will help to bring Collagen Type 0 to the US regenerative medicine market.”
The first application of Jellagen’s collagen type 0 innovation is currently in development for advanced wound management, such as the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers. “But the applications appear endless in the way we can transform tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, in everything from soft tissue repair and bone repair to implantable devices and cell culture,” Andrew adds.
Driving real-world impact
Andrew remains engaged with the University and committed to supporting enterprise and entrepreneurialism. “I am grateful to Heriot-Watt for giving me the opportunity to research my lifetime passion for marine science. As a PhD student in the late 1990s/2000, thinking about enterprise and innovation as a path forward to commercially develop new ideas was not as clear as it is today with many excellent initiatives now available. In my case, a chance meeting with a biotechnology entrepreneur and company founder, who was excited by my research to find new antibiotics, changed my thinking and gave me new confidence that ‘kick-started’ my entrepreneurial career winning the Royal Society of Edinburgh Enterprise Fellowship,” Andrew explains.
As a Founder with more than 26 years’ experience, Andrew’s expertise can provide a strong bridge between academia, industry and policy. “It would be a privilege to give back to Heriot-Watt,” he enthuses. “By leveraging my strategic leadership experience to mentor students, strengthen industry partnerships, support innovation and entrepreneurship, and contribute to institutional strategy, I believe I could help to create lasting value for students, faculty, and the wider Heriot-Watt community.”
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