Archive for April, 2011

Algal flour promises exciting future for delicious, low-fat food

Posted On: April 27, 2011

Algal flour may provide a one-step solution to the challenges of fat-reduction in foods, with low-fat cookies, crackers, and salad dressings possible new arrivals on supermarket shelves, according to Solazyme-Roquette Nutritionals.

Consumer demand for healthy products is growing, but fat reduction in foods is complicated as fats play many roles in food, including adding texture, structure and flavor.

The imminent arrival on the market of Solazyme-Roquette Nutritionals’ high-lipid algal flour may solve many of these problems, however:“If you’d have told me we can make low-fat foods that taste like this, I would have said no way,” Leslie Norris, food applications development for Solazyme, told FoodNavigator-USA.com during a recent visit to the company’s HQ in South San Francisco.

During the visit, the correspondent sampled a range of algal flour products, including chocolate milk and honey mustard dressing, with a taste and mouth-feel as good, if not better, than their full-fat versions, but boasting reductions in fat by as much as 70 percent.

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Seaweed fiber and weight loss

Posted On: April 27, 2011

A study conducted by researchers at the University Research & Development in Vlaardingen, Netherlands, has revealed that seaweed reduces the appetite and makes one slim. According to the study, adding seaweed extract alginate to a chocolate milkshake reduces hunger among people by nearly 30 per cent. The details of the study have been published in the journal Obesity.

The researchers, for the study recruited a group of 23 healthy volunteers. These volunteers consumed drink containing various levels of alginate in place of a meal. They reported that their levels of hunger reduced and over the next five hours they felt fullness. Moreover, the alginate didn’t alter the flavor of the shake. The participants said that it was just as pleasant as the real thing.

According to the researchers, alginate turns into a gel in the acidic environment of the stomach, and the calcium adds to the gel’s thickness which creates a feeling of fullness, as well as holds food in the stomach for longer.

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Bayer Healthcare’s Arctic Wonder market test succeeds with Neptune Krill Oil, leading to launch

Posted On: April 15, 2011

Neptune Technologies & Bioressources Inc.  announced recently that Bayer Healthcare, LLC Consumer Care Division has formally launched its Arctic Wonder proprietary Neptune Krill Oil (“NKO”) in the United States in March 2011 after a succesful market test.

Bayer’s market test conducted over the last year with NKO® under its Arctic Wonder brand was performed in the US internet direct response e-commerce channel of trade.

“Acasti management team, is delighted by the relationship Neptune has developed with Bayer. This is yet another significant milestone for Neptune’s strategic planning which will help NKO® achieve extensive consumer awareness and appreciation. We are looking forward to a successful long-term collaboration with Bayer”, stated Dr. Tina Sampalis, President of Acasti Pharma.

“The agreement with Bayer, the market test results and the marketing approach for Arctic Wonder NKO® not only create broad consumer awareness, confidence and appreciation but also distinguish NKO® as the superior and prime choice amongst competitor krill oil products”, said Mr. Henri Harland, President and CEO of Neptune.“Arctic Wonder is entering the rapidly growing omega-3 market which has shown a sustained annual growth of 12% according to the Frost and Sullivan Report 2010. The omega-3 category is valued at $1.7 billion and expected to reach $3.5 billion in 2015. We believe the full launch by Bayer of Arctic Wonder will achieve immediate success which will in turn positively influence our growth and increase Neptune’s krill oil market share, reinforcing Neptune’s position as the industry leader and Neptune Krill Oil as the gold standard of quality and efficacy for krill oil products in the market.” he added.

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Aurora Algae has announced the launch of new A2 product portfolio, including omega-3 products

Posted On: April 15, 2011

Aurora Algae recently introduced the A2 product portfolio, a series of natural products derived from its proprietary algae platform. The A2 product portfolio is uniquely sustainable, scalable, and flexible to address growing demand in the explosive nutrition, aquaculture, pharmaceutical, and energy markets

 

A2 Omega-3™ is a family of Omega-3 oils aimed at the nutraceutical and pharmaceutical markets with the goal of providing a natural, sustainable and cost-effective alternative to fish oil and fermented products. The first offering in this family, A2 EPA Pure™ will make the benefits of EPA available to a broader market since it is derived from an allergen-free, vegetarian source.

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New algae-derived EPA to target pharma omega-3 market

Posted On: April 15, 2011

New Zealand-based Photonz Corporation has signed an agreement with Separex to develop a pharma-grade EPA omega-3 manufacturing process from fermented microalgal biomass.

Under the agreement, Separex, under a license of Stanipharm, will develop a manufacturing process, scalable to industrial volumes, to concentrate the Omega-3 fatty acid, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), which Photonz extracts from fermented microalgal biomass.

Photonz’s proprietary processes produce the EPA by fermenting a marine microalgal clone (improved by strain selection not genetic engineering) to produce a biomass rich in lipids from which it extracts the Omega-3.

The agreement follows two other significant achievements, announced last year, in which Photonz proved the feasibility of its continuous fermentation system and then harvested the first batch of algal biomass from its prototype industrial plant. The plant is now producing on a small industrial scale and has the potential to produce tonnes of algal material per year. The lipids it produces will be used by Separex to produce concentrated EPA. Photonz is, in parallel, targetting the development of downstream purification processes to produce high purity EPA, suitable for pharmaceutical applications, including novel therapeutics.

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Biotec Pharmacon subsidiary ArcticZymes receives Norwegian grant to develop new marine enzymes for research and diagnostics

Posted On: April 15, 2011

Biotec Pharmacon subsidiary, ArcticZymes AS, has received a grant of MNOK 7.2 from the Research Council of Norway for a project with the title “Development of new marine enzymes for research and diagnostics”. The total project budget is 14.4 MNOK over 3 years.

The project is a user-driven innovation project in the FUGE-program aiming to establish a stronger product development platform for the development of new enzymes for use in molecular biology applications.

ArcticZymes develops, produces and sells enzymes used in molecular DNA technologies and diagnostics. The market is highly expansive, and the rapid and diversifying technological development creates a strong market demand for new and improved enzymes. ArcticZymes is involved as commercial partner in several marine bioprospecting activities that form a large source and pipeline for new commercial enzymes from the Arctic marine environment, including being a commercial partner of the Sfi MabCent consortium and the MARZymes projects at the University of Tromsø.

The strengthened pipeline of product candidates through strategic partnerships with MabCent, MARZymes and others makes it necessary to increase product development speed and capacity. The partnership with The University of Tromsø in this project will strengthen the entire product development chain and increase capacity from early stage to final product.

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Norway makes another solid investment in marine biotechnology

Posted On: April 15, 2011

Nofima’s bioprocessing pilot plant in Tromsø will be co-located with the new biotechnology facility being built in Kaldfjord near Tromsø and expanded from 150 m² to around 1000 m².

This expansion will enable companies to take what they do in the laboratories a step further than what is possible at Nofima’s current bioprocessing pilot plant, from production on a pilot scale to a larger scope of product and process development on both a pilot and industrial scale.

“Marine bioprospecting deals with mapping the active substances found in marine species. Marine bioprocessing involves taking a step further so that the research results in new products. The new plant will be able to assist the companies with this. This bioprocessing pilot plant will be marketed to industrial players not only nationally, but also internationally,” says project manager Even Stenberg at Nofima.

RDA Troms has allocated NOK 22 million towards the expansion. RDA is business-oriented funding scheme that was introduced when the scheme for differentiated employers’ social security contributions were phased out.

The total budget is NOK 26 million.

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GlycoMar signs nutritional technology licensing and collaboration agreement with Scanbio

Posted On: April 7, 2011

Scanbio, a Norwegian fish by-products group and GlycoMar, a Scottish marine biotechnology company, are pleased to announce the signing of a collaboration and licence agreement to commercialise a nutritional supplement product worth up to £4m a year in gross sales . Scanbio Scotland, based in Corpach, Fort William have led the negotiation of the deal with Oban based bio-research specialists GlycoMar. The deal follows four years of research at GlycoMar’s labs and small-scale trials at Scanbio’s factories in Norway to produce an anti-inflammatory joint therapy product.

GlycoMar Limited, based at the European Centre for Marine Biotechnology, is a specialist biotechnology company developing anti-inflammatory products with applications in nutrition, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. GlycoMar’s founder, Dr Charlie Bavington, said “we are very excited about this agreement, which is our first out-licensing deal in the nutritional sector. This is the outcome of several years research in utilisation of fisheries by-products. We are particularly delighted to be collaborating with Scanbio, who we believe are the best partner to commercialise this technology.”

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Chitosan being tested to improve healing for oral mucositis

Posted On: April 6, 2011

Using a substance found in the shells of shrimp and crabs, former military physician William Wiesmann developed a bandage that stopped soldiers from bleeding to death on the battlefield.

Now the CEO of Claremont- based biotechnology company Synedgen, Wiesmann hopes to take the blood-clotting and bacteria-killing properties of the substance to treat the painful mouth sores that plague many cancer patients.

Synedgen received last month a $2 million award from the National Institutes of Health to produce a treatment that prevents infection and improves healing for oral mucositis, a common debilitating side effect from chemotherapy.

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New Marine Drugs Issue Available

Posted On: April 6, 2011

New publication from www.mdpi.com.

Marine Drugs

First Evidence of Palytoxin and 42-Hydroxy-palytoxin in the Marine Cyanobacterium Trichodesmium
Mar. Drugs 2011, 9(4), 543-560; doi:10.3390/md9040543
http://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/9/4/543/
Published online: 31 March 2011

Effects of High Salt Stress on Secondary Metabolite Production in the Marine-Derived Fungus Spicaria elegans
Mar. Drugs 2011, 9(4), 535-542; doi:10.3390/md9040535
http://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/9/4/535/
Published online: 31 March 2011

The Acute Toxicity and Hematological Characterization of the Effects of Tentacle-Only Extract from the Jellyfish Cyanea capillata
Mar. Drugs 2011, 9(4), 526-534; doi:10.3390/md9040526
http://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/9/4/526/
Published online: 29 March 2011

Statistical Research on Marine Natural Products Based on Data Obtained between 1985 and 2008
Mar. Drugs 2011, 9(4), 514-525; doi:10.3390/md9040514
http://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/9/4/514/
Published online: 29 March 2011

Quantification of Dissolved and Particulate Polyunsaturated Aldehydes in the Adriatic Sea
Mar. Drugs 2011, 9(4), 500-513; doi:10.3390/md9040500
http://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/9/4/500/
Published online: 29 March 2011

 
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