Applications of heavy vitamin B12 in nutrition and medicine

Impact summary

Research led by Dr Peter Anderson developed the method to synthesise carbon-13 enriched vitamin B12, having a mass of +7 over natural vitamin B12. The extra mass makes possible extremely precise and accurate measurements of the natural vitamin, when it is in complex biological matrices, such as in blood, food or vitamin supplements. In the first impact in 2016, commercial quantities (30 mg) of the vitamin were synthesised and shipped to industry partner, Isosciences LLC (USA) (now Entegris LLC) who retail the vitamin for US$2.2 million dollars per milligram. CSU receives a trailing commission from sales of the heavy vitamin.

A second impact of this research is human health, in an applied clinical test for human vitamin B12 absorption. Humans have a complex pathway for vitamin B12 absorption, which, for many reasons can become non-functional, leading to pernicious anaemia. There is no current clinical test for vitamin B12 absorption, as the radioactive Schilling test is no longer used. In December 2017, funding was sought and received from the discovery translation fund to complete proof-of-concept human trials for vitamin B12 absorption. Proof-of-concept in human was completed in 2023.

Researcher involvement

100%

Beneficiaries of the impact

Charles Sturt University

Details of the impact achieved

2014-ongoing

Impact date	2014
Category of impact	Economic Impact, Quality of life Impact
Impact level	Benefit