MORF-Bio wins Innovate UK grant to build microbial digital twin
What's the deal? MORF-BioDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has secured an Innovate UK Business ConnectDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → Investor Partnerships Award, unlocking a new investment round led by Deeptech Seed FundDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and matched by Helix Research and Enterprise.
What's the endgame? MORF-Bio builds browser-based bioinformatics tools that let researchers explore microbial genomes, visualise multi-omics datasets and run metabolic modelling online. The new funding will connect these into one platform, linking genomes to predictive metabolic models and multi-omics data.
Why it matters: The digital twin aims to let researchers test "what-if" scenarios before returning to the laboratory — such as how a strain might respond to a genetic change or a shift in growth conditions. The goal is less manual data processing and more time interpreting results.
Where it applies: The platform targets industrial biotechnology, engineering biology, antimicrobial resistance, sustainable biomanufacturing and microbial research. "This funding will integrate MORF's diverse capabilities to build a microbial digital twin, ultimately transforming industrial biotechnology and accelerating drug discovery," said chief executive officer Joyce Bennett.
The signal: The award reflects growing appetite for tools that make complex biological data usable, positioning MORF-Bio in a market where researchers still juggle multiple specialist software packages to answer straightforward questions.
Read more: BioIndustry Association
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
