Description du projet
La croissance des sources microalgales de fucoxanthine
Certaines algues sont très bonnes pour la santé. La fucoxanthine, par exemple, est une substance naturelle provenant des algues brunes. Ce pigment caroténoïde brun doré peut décomposer la graisse blanche dans le corps, tuer les cellules cancéreuses et aider à combattre le diabète de type II. La récolte de fucoxanthine dans les algues brunes n’est pas durable, car le processus d’extraction de cette culture saisonnière est long et coûteux. Le projet AlgaHealth financé par l’UE a isolé, développé et cultivé de nouvelles souches de microalgues brevetées de l’espèce Isochrysis. De nouvelles manipulations agro-physiologiques ont aidé à les faire croître plus rapidement et à produire davantage de fucoxanthine. Avec sa méthode innovante pour cultiver des microalgues dans les terres et de nouvelles souches de microalgues, AlgaHealth produira de la fucoxanthine de qualité supérieure à un niveau commercial.
Objectif
Obesity, diabetes and other metabolic syndromes affect an increasing proportion of the population and pose significant economic burden to healthcare systems. To prevent and treat lifestyle-related diseases, it is not sufficient to use an exclusively pharmacological treatment. Nutrition also plays a critical role. Therefore, researchers began to find safe and effective functional ingredients in food to prevent and treat such diseases. One of these functional ingredients is fucoxanthin - a golden-brown carotenoid found in macro and microalgae.
The common method to harvest fucoxanthin is from macroalgae (brown seaweeds), but it is not an acceptable alternative because it is seasonal, not sustainable and allows to the extraction of very low quantities of fucoxanthin. The only alternative for a more efficient and sustainable production of fucoxanthin are microalgae. However, existing production techniques of microalgae require high investment and large energy input, preventing large scale and sustainable production.
At AlgaHealth we isolated, developed and cultivated new and proprietary microalgae strains of Isochrysis species and novel agro-physiological manipulations to make them grow faster and produce more fucoxanthin. These novel technologies constitute a proven and efficient platform for industrial scale production of high quality fucoxanthin-based oleoresin, at lower energy and environmental-friendly production costs.
AlgaHealth is an Israeli biotech company founded in 2017 and stemming from its co-founders’ 20-year experience in microalgae and carotenoids industries. The proposed work in Phase 1 of the SME instrument fits into our overall plan to reach the market by contributing the financial resources needed to plan a fast sound wider deployment of AlgaHealth products and their market uptake.
Champ scientifique
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringwaste managementwaste treatment processesrecycling
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesmicrobiologyphycology
- social scienceseconomics and businessbusiness and managementbusiness models
- natural scienceschemical sciencesorganic chemistryalcohols
- social scienceseconomics and businesseconomicssustainable economy
Programme(s)
Régime de financement
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1Coordinateur
Misgav
Israël
L’entreprise s’est définie comme une PME (petite et moyenne entreprise) au moment de la signature de la convention de subvention.