Marine Biotechnology
The marine environment represents a highly diverse source of bioactive compounds including carbohydrates, peptides, proteins, lipids and antioxidants. These marine-derived functional ingredients have a range of applications in food & drink, feed, cosmetics, health and general life sciences. Marine biotechnology (‘blue biotechnology’) utilizes the marine biodiversity and offers novel marine-based compounds for industries.
Marine Biotechnology has been identified as an emerging area with high potential. European policy on the bioeconomy also identifies marine bioresources as a source of novel products and processes that can be unlocked by marine biotechnology. High value products from bioresources can often be a small volume of the original biomass. A biorefinery approach to marine biotechnology can be the most efficient in order to extract as much value as possible from the biomass. Examples of applications include:
- Food ingredients
- Techno-functional extracts
- Pharmaceuticals
- Cosmetics
- Industrial chemicals
- Horticulture
- Animal feed
The Centre for Applied Bioscience Research have delivered projects in the marine sector with industry partners as well as through national and EU funding. We have worked with a range of marine biomass including fish waste, oyster powder, seaweed and microalgae. Seaweed and microalgae are two area of particular expertise for the Centre for Applied Bioscience Research and we have worked with a wide range of Irish companies to support them in their research, development and innovation strategy. the Centre for Applied Bioscience Research facilities are well equipped to deliver these types of projects and include:
- Analytical instrumentation
- Extraction capabilities (including super critical fluid extraction)
- Cell culture facilities
- Microalgal food grade suite
- Pilot scale rotary evaporation
- Pilot scale fermentation suite
- Pilot scale centrifugation