Project description
Industrial production of phytotoxins from microalgae culture
Dinoflagellates are microalgae that naturally produce a wide range of toxins. Only a small fraction of these toxins have been identified and proven to be efficient in different applications, including biopesticides, drug discovery, and food safety testing. The technology of microalgae culturing is poorly developed, resulting in a very high price of the products. French PLANKTOVIE developed a disruptive technology (soft mixer) that enables efficient dinoflagellate culture. The EU-funded Dinophyte project aims to demonstrate the industrial production capacity of dinoflagellate culture and obtain market analysis for the biopesticide, drug discovery, and food safety markets. The results of market and feasibility studies will be applied to build a comprehensive business plan.
Objective
Dinoflagellates are microalgae which produce a wide range of toxins. These toxins are mostly unknown (only 1% have been identified) but they have proven to be efficient in different market application: biopesticides, drug discovery and food safety testing. Biopesticides and drug discovery are seeking for new active compounds which may come from dinoflagellate toxins. Culture of dinoflagellates (and thus production of toxins) is not mastered by current technologies due to the extreme sensitivity to shearing forces of these algae. The current price of toxins isolated from dinoflagellates is very high (3 – 30 k€/ mg). Consequently, these toxins are poorly exploited as drug lead or biopesticides despite their renowned potential. PLANKTOVIE developed a disruptive patented technology (Soft mixer) which enable efficient dinoflagellate culture. A prototype has been developed and allows culture of dinoflagellate which are currently grown in static conditions due to their extreme shearing-forces sensitivity (and with very low production yield). This technology will be combined during the project with a carbonation membrane photobioreactor to increase the intake of CO2 in the culture. This should allow us to demonstrate the commercial production of 3 toxins isolated from dinoflagellates (production yields ranging from 3 to 24 g per year for a 200 L DINOPHYTE bioreactor).
Targeted markets are promising and in progress: Biopesticides : 3.5 bn€ ; food safety : 12 bn€ ; drug discovery :100 bn€ (worldwide by 2020). PLANKTOVIE received encouraging support from actors of these markets. The aim of the SME instrument phase 1 is to demonstrate the industrial production capacity of DINOPHYTE and to provide indepth knowledge of the markets. Market analysis will be performed for the biopesticide, drug discovery and food safety markets. The results of market study and feasibility study will be used to build a comprehensive market access strategy and business plan.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- medical and health sciences basic medicine pharmacology and pharmacy drug discovery
- engineering and technology environmental biotechnology bioremediation bioreactors
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology phycology
- medical and health sciences medical biotechnology cells technologies stem cells
- engineering and technology other engineering and technologies food technology food safety
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.2.3. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.3. - PRIORITY 'Societal challenges
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H2020-EU.2.1. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
13382 MARSEILLE
France
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.