LanthaGen Bio wins £100,000 Coller AI prize for metal-capturing biotech
What's the deal? LanthaGen BioDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a Manchester-based biotech startup, won the Coller AI Competition at the inaugural University of ManchesterDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → Innovation Festival, securing a £100,000 grant from the Jeremy Coller FoundationDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. The startup develops environmentally-conscious systems for capturing rare earth metals.
What's the endgame? LanthaGen Bio has built an AI platform that simulates how biomolecules bind metals, letting new metal-capturing proteins be designed on a computer rather than found by trial and error. The approach removes the energy, chemicals, plastic, and solvent waste that repeated screening consumes.
Why now? The win followed a pitch from chief technology officer and co-founder Dan Healy, the engineer behind the firm's Biomagnets. LanthaGen Bio beat four other finalists: Health Equity ChainDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, SporeSenseDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, SenseValeDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and Forkprint LtdDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →.
What's the context? The competition drew applicants from the university's students, staff, and alumni. It was designed to back founders building AI solutions that are both commercially promising and beneficial to society.
Professor Aline Miller, associate vice president for enterprise at the University of Manchester, praised all five teams. "Each time I see these competitions, the level of the pitches, the quality, the background research that the teams have done, and the ambition have gone up another level," she said.
The signal: The festival ran more than 25 events across the week at 17 venues, engaging 3,000 people — enough momentum to confirm a second edition from November 1 to 5, 2027. For LanthaGen Bio, the grant is early validation that AI-designed proteins could reshape how critical metals are recovered.
Read more: insidermedia.com
Image credit: James St. John
