Descrizione del progetto
Trovare fonti alternative di mangimi per pesci
Il pesce è un alimento contenente molte proteine e pochi grassi che fornisce una serie di benefici per la salute. Tuttavia, la sostenibilità dell’acquacoltura è fonte di preoccupazione, poiché i pesci allevati sono nutriti con farina di pesce e olio di pesce, prodotti in gran parte attraverso la trasformazione di piccole specie grasse catturate per fini non alimentari. In tale contesto, il progetto Fish-AI, finanziato dall’UE, svilupperà una piattaforma tridimensionale in vitro che consentirà all’industria dei mangimi per pesci di prevedere, in modo accurato ed efficiente, il valore nutrizionale e di salute di fonti di mangimi alternative. Il progetto coniugherà conoscenze relative alla nutrizione ittica, alla bioingegneria di avanguardia e alla scienza dei biomateriali con gli ultimi concetti nella biologia delle cellule staminali intestinali.
Obiettivo
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.
Campo scientifico
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesfisheries
- natural sciencesbiological sciencescell biology
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculeslipids
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencesnutrition
- agricultural sciencesanimal and dairy sciencedomestic animalsanimal husbandry
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
Invito a presentare proposte
Vedi altri progetti per questo bandoBando secondario
H2020-FETOPEN-2018-2019-2020-01
Meccanismo di finanziamento
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinatore
20122 Milano
Italia