SCIENTISTS at the University of York have secured £3 million to create a "bug factory" to produce cleaner greener chemicals.

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has dedicated the money towards a £6.5 million project to set up a national biotechnology facility - with much of the research being carried out by York students.

The science students will be working alongside technologists from the Tees Valley-based Centre For Process Innovation which will manage the facility on Teeside, and students from Manchester University.

At York, the project has been spearheaded by the biology department's Professor Neil Bruce. He said the project would involve bacteria and fungi which were nature's chemical makers.

Prof Bruce said: "Biotechnology is vital to the future of chemistry - providing a cleaner, greener more natural way of producing chemicals.

"It is great news for York University that it has been chosen to take part in this ground-breaking research.

"This partnership will create a facility unique and without parallel in Europe."

Central to the facility is a scale-up and demonstration plant which enables new developments in industrial biotechnology to be trialled and proven.

Recent developments in genetics, molecular biology and associated disciplines have led to new and improved biocatalysis using enzymes, which may be applied to the production of chemicals and pharmaceuticals.

The centre will provide the means for making drugs which cannot easily be achieved using current technologies. It is forecast that in the next ten years new industrial biotechnology processes will be developed and applied for the production of 20 per cent of chemicals and pharmaceuticals using enzymes - nature's catalysts.

Dr Chris Dowle, director of advanced processing at the Centre For Process Innovation, said: "I welcome this top-level acknowledgement of the work we are doing at the Centre For Process Innovation in establishing the National Industrial Biotechnology Facility, and of course the additional resource to help us fulfill our aims.

"We fully expect that within ten years about 20 per cent of all chemicals will be produced by biological means through the controlled use of 'bugs' and enzymes."

Prof Bruce appeared in the Evening Press in May after setting up a bioscience company, Bioniqs Ltd, aimed at finding a cure to the problem of solvent-abuse.

Bioniqs Ltd is based at the University of York's £22 million biocentre on the Science Park in Heslington, and has already created a new generation of 200 solvents which are non-toxic, non-flammable and biodegradable. Their applications could be worth billions of pounds.

Updated: 11:02 Tuesday, June 28, 2005