Verkefnið, sem snýst um framleiðslu lífvirkra efna úr rauðþörungum (sjá mynd 1) er undir stjórn Dr. Bettínu Scholz og unnið í samstarfi milli BioPol, Tækniseturs, GlycoMar og Háskólans í Rostock. Þessi lífvirku efni má t.d. nýta í krem og húðvörur sem Bettína hefur verið að þróa undanfarin misseri (sjá mynd 2).
Mynd 1. Þörungarækt Bettínu á rannsóknastofu BioPol.
Mynd 2. Húðvörur með lífvirkum efnum úr rauðþörungum. Framleitt af Bettínu á rannsóknastofu BioPol.
Hér má sjá nánari tæknilega lýsingu á verkefninu:
New seaweed project at BioPol funded by SSNV
Red seaweed (Rhodophyte) compounds such as phenolic compounds, polysaccharides, pigments, PUFA, sterols, proteins, peptides, and mycosporine-like amino acid (MAAs), exhibit a wide range of bioactivity that can be used as active ingredients in cosmetic products. In this context sulfated polysaccharides (sPS) and their lower molecular weight oligo-saccharide derivatives from marine red algae have been shown to possess a variety of biological activities including anticoagulant, antioxidant, antiviral, and immuno-inflammatory activities that might find relevance in cosmetic/cosmeceutical applications. In the former SSNV project (“Red algae as ingredients in solid skin care products”), the accumulation of sPS was successfully induced by the exposure of the long-term cultivated species to stress parameters.
Utilizing the northern Icelandic red seaweed species Porphyra umbilicalis and Corallina officinalis from our indoor culture collection, different extraction approaches will be applied to gain simultaneous several high-value compounds from the biomasses for either further integration into our solid skin care product series or marketing as by-products.
The project is funded by SSNV under the title: “Biorefinery of red algae for multiple high-value products”. The consortium comprising BioPol ehf (Dr. Bettina Scholz, project manager and principal investigator), Taeknisetur ICETEK, GlycoMar ltd. UK and the University of Rostock, Germany will collaborate to realize the sustainable biorefinery concept.
