Shared research facilities: 'Shared equipment, shared expertise'

When you make a pancake, you probably don’t immediately think about the ingredients that hold it together. At Revyve, they do. This young company on Wageningen Campus has developed a powdered ingredient based on yeast proteins that can replace eggs in baked goods, sauces, and meat substitutes. Foaming, binding, gelling: yeast turns out to be surprisingly capable of doing what chicken eggs have been doing for centuries, but without the associated carbon footprint, price fluctuations, and risks of egg (white) allergies.

Revyve was founded as FUMI Ingredients in 2019 as a spin-off from WUR and has a factory in Dinteloord that is running at full capacity, with an annual production volume of 550 tons.

Molecular biologist Wittmer has been working as a researcher at Revyve for a year. She completed her PhD at Wageningen University & Research and now examines the products developed by Revyve through a scientific lens. “We want to understand down to the finest detail exactly what the product matrix looks like. For example, how are proteins and lipids distributed throughout the product? And how are emulsions stabilized?” she explains.

To see such things, you need a confocal light microscope. Unlike a standard light microscope, it uses a focused laser that brings a specimen into sharp focus layer by layer. By combining these ‘optical slices’, you can create three-dimensional images of structures deeper within a specimen. Using fluorescent molecules, you can make specific proteins, lipids, or parts of cells visible that would otherwise remain invisible. Revyve does not own such a device, nor is that the intention. “For a startup like ours, it’s impossible to acquire all the equipment in-house. And for something you use only a handful of times a year, purchasing it doesn’t make sense either,” Wittmer explains.

Norbert de Ruijter manages WUR’s light microscopy facility in the Radix building, located on Wageningen Campus. Each year, he assists more than 125 researchers from over 35 departments and companies in conducting high-quality analyses. The confocal light microscope that Wittmer uses is among the latest generation. “The Rolls Royce of light microscopes,” says De Ruijter. The device is extremely flexible, versatile, and equipped with the most advanced optics and detection systems available. Price tag: around 350,000 euros. “You could buy a house for that,” he adds. “But if you can find enough users for it, the investment in such a device is more than worth it.”

That is precisely the idea behind Shared Research Facilities (SRF): purchasing expensive equipment, whether jointly or not, and making it widely available. SRF provides the infrastructure that makes this possible: from financing new equipment when there are enough users willing to commit in advance, to an online booking platform, user agreements covering matters such as Intellectual Property (IP), and the associated administrative tasks.

WUR is an affordable partner for startups like Revyve. According to Wittmer, this is no coincidence: “Because they have built such a large network and the utilization rate is high, they can charge a price that is realistic even for a startup like ours. This is in contrast to other universities, where renting equipment is often complicated or very expensive.” De Ruijter agrees: “WUR has traditionally had strong ties to the industry—with seed breeders, raw material suppliers, and food companies. External parties don’t feel like strangers to an expert affiliated with WUR. They’re simply colleagues.”

Wittmer and De Ruijter had known each other since her PhD days. “I already knew that Norbert enjoys helping microscopists, and now it was my turn,” says Wittmer.

After receiving training and guidance in setting up her first experiments with the confocal light microscope, she can now schedule sessions independently. “I just book the microscope whenever I need it.” Next to the light microscope is a workstation for data processing — bookable separately — where users can analyze and process images for publications or presentations. This ensures the confocal light microscope itself remains available as much as possible.

Despite the thorough preparations, Wittmer’s use of the light microscope didn’t go smoothly right away. “The dye didn’t work as intended at first, and we couldn’t get a clear image of the emulsions,” she explains. Emulsions are unstable, and the sampling process must not cause clumping. Wittmer and De Ruijter tested various staining protocols and experimented with slides and spacers around the specimen to preserve the emulsion matrix. Wittmer: “Norbert came up with several options I could try; possibilities you wouldn’t think of yourself when you’re just starting to work with such a device and challenging sample material.”

In his guidance, De Ruijter always emphasizes the importance of critical thinking. “People see what they want to see. With light microscopy, that’s a risk: you’re only looking at a small section of a sample, so you have to make a lot of assumptions. I teach users to actively question their data until they’ve verified it. That ultimately yields reliable results.”

The sessions provided Wittmer and her colleagues at Revyve with the insights they were seeking. “We now have a much better understanding of how our product is structured and how the molecules contribute to its functionality. This enables us to make targeted improvements to our product.”

A valuable outcome. But the added value of sharing equipment goes beyond insights gained through the light microscope alone, De Ruijter emphasizes. The use of equipment by different parties ensures higher utilization rates, keeping hourly rates relatively low and covering depreciation costs. This makes it possible to continue investing in the latest technology.
Wittmer hopes to make more frequent use of facilities at Wageningen Campus in the future, such as NMR spectroscopy and equipment for measuring droplet stability. “There are so many possibilities that it’s almost overwhelming. That’s why it is helpful to have experts who guide you toward what really makes sense in your specific situation,” says Wittmer. Her advice to other startups is clear: “Check with SRF about the possibilities. The expertise is there, the price is right, and you’re building on something that’s been in place for years.”

•    Shared Research Facilities
•    Wageningen Light Microscopy Centre | WUR
•    https://revyve.bio/