Evidence first
We say what has been shown, how, and where the limits are. Potential uses are labelled as potential.
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About IMBT
A small, founder-led company with a long-running question.
Immune Macro-Biotic Technology UK Ltd was founded in 1999 in Torquay, Devon. For more than twenty-five years it has researched how insects defend themselves and how that defence can be put to practical use.
What we do
Researching innate immunity, and making it usable.
IMBT researches antimicrobial peptides, the fast first-line defences that insects produce when they meet bacteria. The company has developed and patented a method of triggering and shaping that response in fly larvae, and has studied what happens when the resulting material is fed to another animal.
Our aim is simple: to establish, carefully and with evidence, where this approach is useful, and to find partners who can help develop it.
What it is all about. Engaging with nature's evolved defences, putting real value into the food we eat, and a deeper appreciation of the beauty of the natural world.
- Company
- Immune Macro-Biotic Technology UK Ltd
- Founded
- 1999
- Based in
- Torquay, Devon, UK
- Focus
- Insect innate immunity and antimicrobial peptides
- Founder
- Christopher Jeremy Leonard
The founder
Chris Leonard.
Chris Leonard founded IMBT in 1999 and is the named inventor on its patent family. He graduated with a joint honours BSc in Chemistry and Biochemistry from the University of Nottingham in 1973 and an MSc in marine biology from the University of North Wales in 1974.
In his final year at Nottingham he heard a lecture by Sir Peter Mitchell, who had become an independent scientist at the Glynn Research Institute in Cornwall and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1978. It decided him on becoming an independent scientist himself. Even earlier, he had wanted to discover better treatments for the animals that vets care for. He has run his own marine business for more than fifty years.
He leads IMBT's research and works directly with partners on the science.
Where the idea came from
Looking at nature from a different angle.
In 1998 Chris visited a maggot farm, where fly larvae are grown for anglers. He noticed that the larvae were being raised on salmonella-infected chicken, yet when they were fed to fish the fish stayed healthy. He pictured molecules made by the larvae attacking the bacterial membrane and killing it, and thought it might be an ideal way to make a vaccine.
That observation led to the UK patent Immunity Generation. It described the induced production of antimicrobial peptides, and their transfer to another organism, normally through eating. The idea grew into what IMBT calls the One Health Concept: that plants, insects, animals and people share an ancient innate immune defence, parts of which can pass between organisms through food.
Chris set the idea out in a one-page paper for a 2004 conference on organic farming in Germany. In 2006 he presented a review of how antimicrobial peptides might be applied in medicine, called Strategies, to Nobel laureate Professor Rolf Zinkernagel at a molecular medicine conference at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden.
The last twenty years have gone into establishing the technology commercially, funding more research, filing patents internationally and attending conferences around the world.
Our history
Twenty-five years, step by step.
- 1998
The spark
A visit to a maggot farm suggests that fly larvae make something that protects against bacteria.
- 1999 – 2000
IMBT founded; first UK patent filed
Chris Leonard establishes the company and files the UK patent Immunity Generation, covering the induced production of antimicrobial peptides in insects.
- 2004
The One Health Concept
The idea is set out in a one-page paper for a European conference on organic farming.
- 2005
First US application published
The method is published in a US patent application.
- 2006
IMBT's immune science discussion
Chris meets Nobel Prize winner in Medicine Professor Rolf Zinkernagel at the Karolinska Institute, Sweden, and discusses insect antimicrobial peptides and immune science.
- 2014 – 2015
Improvements filed
New UK applications and an international (PCT) application cover improvements: controlling the peptide profile through bacterial dose, and the preferred larva and bacterium.
- 2019
US patent granted
A US patent is granted on the improved method, and a continuation is filed.
- 2020 – 2021
Immune regulation filed
A new family of applications is filed on controlling a pathogen's resistance to immune surveillance through the cytokine IL-10.
- 2023
Second US patent granted
The continuation is granted, including claims on using the material in feeding to a recipient animal.
- 2025
Immune-regulation patent granted
A US patent is granted on the IL-10 invention. IMBT also reports grants in Vietnam, Australia and China.
- Today
Seeking partners
IMBT is looking for research, development and licensing partners to build the evidence base and develop applications.
Track record
Twenty years of conferences, networks and research.
A selection of the research, policy and industry forums IMBT has taken part in, as recorded in Chris's CV.
- 2001Offered funding towards patent costs by NESTA, the UK's lottery-funded innovation body.
- 2002Commissioned initial research with ADAS, the UK agricultural consultancy.
- 2004Contributed the One Health Concept paper to the SAFO conference on animal health and food safety in organic farming, University of Kassel (Witzenhausen), Germany. The conference was an EU-funded concerted action.
- 2006Days of Molecular Medicine conference, Focus on Autoimmune Diseases, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm. Following a meeting with Nobel laureate Professor Rolf Zinkernagel, produced the review Strategies for him.
- 2012Symposium on Alternatives to Antibiotics, Paris. Accepted as a supporter of the One Health Initiative. Commissioned proof-of-technology research in a Campylobacter/chick model with Dr Tristan Cogan, University of Bristol Veterinary School.
- 2014Insects to Feed the World, Wageningen, Netherlands. Proof of concept of the technology established at the University of Bristol under Dr Cogan's supervision.
- 2017Accepted as a member of the International Platform of Insects for Food and Feed (IPIFF) and co-sponsored its first international conference, Brussels. Met animal-health companies at the Animal Health Investment Forum Europe.
- 2019Presented with Dr Cogan to the Royal Entomological Society, The application of insect-derived AMPs for Immunity Generation. Shortlisted to present at the Agri-T Jam, World Agri-Tech Summit, London.
- 2022Animal Health, Nutrition and Technology Innovation Europe conference, London: meetings with leading animal-health and nutrition companies.
How we work
Principles we hold ourselves to.
Natural mechanisms, carefully studied
Our work builds on defences that evolved over hundreds of millions of years, and we try to understand them rather than simply apply them.
Partnership by design
We are small by choice, and we know the next stage of this work depends on collaborators with complementary skills.
Team
A small team, by design.
Christopher J. Leonard
Founder and CEO
Biochemist and independent scientist; inventor on IMBT's patents. Leads the research and works directly with partners.
View LinkedIn profileAssociate Professor Tristan Cogan
Chief Scientific Officer
Supervised IMBT's Campylobacter/chick proof-of-technology research at the University of Bristol Veterinary School.
View LinkedIn profileIMBT also works with scientific, technical and commercial collaborators as each project requires.
Company details
Find us.
Immune Macro-Biotic Technology UK Ltd
Torquay, Devon, United Kingdom