Jul
16 2010

Jellyfish protein boosts cognitive function and wins patent protection

The jellyfish protein apoaequorin improves cognitive function in people with memory problems, according to interim data from a randomized controlled trial commissioned by Quincy BioScience which recently announced a successful application for patent protection. Derived from a jellyfish called Aequorea Victoria, aequorin is a calcium-binding protein.

The protein improved cognitive testing scores by 14 per cent in 60 days compared with the placebo in the randomized controlled Madison Memory Study. The trial focused on 35 adults who had a memory concern and an average age of 61.

The company also recently received a US patent covering the use of aequorin-containing compounds for the purpose of preventing and alleviating symptoms and disorders related to calcium imbalance. It first applied for the patent in 2005.

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From Issue 11 • Categories: Tags: Aquapreneur, jellyfish, marine biotechnology, marine ingredients, marine natural product, nutraceutical • No Comments

Jun
01 2009

Scientists Add Jellyfish Gene to Monkeys

In a controversial achievement, Japanese scientists announced they had created the world’s first transgenic primates, breeding monkeys with a jellyfish gene that made the animals’ skin glow a fluorescent green.

The exploit opens up exciting prospects for medical researchers, they said, which could eventually lead to lab monkeys that replicate some of humanity’s most devastating diseases, providing a new model for exploring how these disorders are caused and how they may be cured.

“Great advances in pre-clinical research can be expected using these models,” the team said. But others warned of a potential ethics storm, brewed by fears that technology used on our closest animal relatives could be turned to create genetically-engineered humans.

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From Issue 5 • Categories: Tags: jellyfish, marine biotechnology, marine extract, marine ingredient, marine natural product • No Comments

Jun
01 2009

Large Family of Green Fluorescent Proteins Discovered in Marine Creature with antioxidant potential

Researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have discovered a family of green fluorescent proteins (GFPs) in a primitive sea animal, along with new clues about the role of the proteins that has nothing to do with their famous glow.

GFPs recently gained international attention with the awarding of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, shared by UC San Diego’s Roger Tsien, as word spread of their extensive presence in nature as well as benefit to researchers. GFPs, originally isolated from a luminous jellyfish, have gained scientific ubiquity in uses ranging from biomedical tracers to probes for testing environmental quality. But while the value of GFPs in biomedicine and bioengineering has become evident, their diversity across the tree of life and their role in nature haven’t been as easily deciphered.

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From Issue 5 • Categories: Tags: jellyfish, marine bioprospecting, marine biotechnology, marine ingredients, marine organism • No Comments

Jan
11 2008

Energy Drinks Containing Jellyfish-based Bioluminescence Ingredients That Glow in the Dark, or Poison from the Puffer Fish?

In Japan, energy drink makers are working on a stinging jellyfish-based (Aequorea victoria) bioluminescence beverage that glows in the dark from which the luminescent protein aequorin and the fluorescent molecule GFP (green fluorescent protein) have been extracted, purified, and cloned. The Sea of Japan is awash in these alien-looking, creatures, a team of researchers led by biochemist Kiminori Ushida from Riken (the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research) in Saitama and Shimva Chemical Industries in Kyoto, are working on a way to commercially extract the Glycoproteins (Qniumucin) from the giant Nomura’s jellyfish which can get up to 6-foot-long, the monsters weigh in at more than 200 kilograms. This new source of ocean proteins may be reminiscent of the 1973 movie “Soylent Green”, but with the exploding jellyfish populations around the world oceans, the food and beverage industry may soon have some interesting new additives, suggests the research

Also in Japan, beverage companies are working on a safe fugu (puffer fish) extract to be used in Japanese energy drinks, the fish is highly toxic, but despite this or perhaps because of this deadly side effect, it is considered a delicacy among the Japanese. Puffer fish (Sphoeroides testudineus) poisoning results from the ingestion of fish containing the deadly nerve toxin called tetrodotoxin and it is the most common and lethal form of marine poisoning in Japan. Neurological effects vary depending on the severity of poisoning but can include numbness, slurred speech, incoordination, and paralysis. The puffer’s highly toxic liver poison is 1,200 times deadlier than cyanide. A lethal dose could fit on a pinhead. Over 10,000 tons of these so-called blowfish or puffer fish are consumed in Japan each year, in fact, it is considered an anti-karoshi modality and a highly effective aphrodisiac.

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From Issue 1 • Categories: Tags: bioluminescence, jellyfish, marine ingredients, marine natural product, puffer fish • No Comments