Project description
Finding alternative fish feed sources
Fish is a high-protein, low-fat food that provides a range of health benefits. However, aquaculture’s sustainability is an issue of concern because farmed fish are fed with fishmeal and fish oil, produced largely from the processing of small oily species that are caught for non-food purposes. In this context, the EU-funded Fish-AI project will develop a 3D in vitro platform that will enable the fish feed industry to predict the nutritional and health value of alternative feed sources accurately and efficiently. The project will combine knowledge on fish nutrition, state-of-the-art bioengineering and biomaterial science with the latest concepts in intestinal stem-cell biology.
Objective
A healthy, balanced diet has a fundamental role in preventing a large range of chronic diseases and contributes to prolong life quality with obvious benefits for the individual as well as for the society. Aquaculture production plays a substantial role in this perspective because fish is an important source of well-balanced proteins and important nutrients such as marine-derived omega-3 fatty acids. However, its sustainability generates concerns as farmed fish diet is largely based on fishmeal and fish oil. Consumer and environmental groups demand a continued move towards alternative feeds. Objective of this project is to develop a next generation 3D culture platform that accurately mimics the complex functions of the intestinal mucosa. Its purpose is to make available a technology for predicting the health and nutritional value of innovative components of aquafeeds. Current methods are lengthy, expensive and requires the use of large number of animals. Furthermore, they do not provide the knowledge of the cellular and molecular mechanisms determining the final effect of each meal on the fish. This lack of mechanistic knowledge severely limits our capacity to understand and predict the biological value of the single raw material and of their different combinations. We propose to develop new ad hoc biomaterials to create a 3D scaffold where to grow and differentiate a complete population of intestinal epithelial cells. Combining state of the art notions on fish nutrition will lead to a fully functional prototype of artificial intestine (Fish-AI) that will enable the feed industry to predict accurately and efficiently the health and nutritional value of alternative feed sources substantially improving European aquaculture sustainability and competitiveness. The project fosters cross-fertilisation and synergy among nutrition physiology, bioengineering, cell and stem cell biology to develop innovative technologies for a sustainable livestock production.
Fields of science
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesfisheries
- natural sciencesbiological sciencescell biology
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculeslipids
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencesnutrition
- agricultural sciencesanimal and dairy sciencedomestic animalsanimal husbandry
Keywords
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinator
20122 Milano
Italy