Constantly at the Leading Edge of Research
Knight Scientific Limited was set up to research and then exploit commercially the properties of Pholasin®, the photoprotein of the Common Piddock, Pholas dactylus. One of the important properties of Pholasin® is its ability to monitor the biochemical status of white blood cells (WBCs), by their effect on the emission of light by Pholasin®. This Analysis By Emitted Light, KSL’s ABEL® technology, is a rapidly growing area of biotechnology. Some of this research, undertaken by the company, was shown in the BBC QED programme Knights of the Shining Piddock.
KSL has constantly been at the leading edge of research. In recognition of this it has five times won the UK’s Department of Trade and Industry SMART (Small Firms Award for Research and Technology) competition. KSL also lead a consortium of companies in a four year research project, Cultivation of bioluminescent organisms in a land-based system under the DTI’s Wealth from the Oceans Programme. And currently KSL is lead of a collaborative research project in the Health Technology Devices programme, sponsored by the Dept of Health.
For many years KSL has collaborated with research scientists in universities, medical schools and hospitals in the UK and abroad. Please go to our downloads section for a list of Pholasin® references
Research of KSL in its own specialist laboratories has led to the development of many products: all are unique, contain Pholasin® and involve Analysis By Emitted Light, ABEL®, the registered trade mark of the company. The company is the only manufacturer in the world of commercial quantities of the light-emitting protein which goes under the trade name of Pholasin®.
Pholasin® is an ultra sensitive detector of free radicals and other reactive oxygen-containing species. It is the most sensitive detector of superoxide at physiological pH: measuring easily fmol concentrations. Pholasin® can also quantify superoxide dismutase (SOD) to less than 0.1m Unit. And other reactions of Pholasin® with peroxidase enzymes have been utilised in a wide range of research projects, usually involving inflammatory diseases and oxidative stress.
