“Ireland
is being recognized on the world stage for its research and ability to transform marine resources into new
food related products by maximizing the creative potential of Ireland’s
research community in working with industry.
President Higgens said, “I would like to congratulate the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the Marine Institute for their leadership in developing this collaboration: this strong multidisciplinary research team, of 30 researchers from seven research institutions, is working together for the benefit of the research community, the marine and food industry and of course for the consumer. The programme is indicative of what can happen when two historically separate research groups – one in marine and one in food – work together towards a common goal."
President Higgens said, “I would like to congratulate the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the Marine Institute for their leadership in developing this collaboration: this strong multidisciplinary research team, of 30 researchers from seven research institutions, is working together for the benefit of the research community, the marine and food industry and of course for the consumer. The programme is indicative of what can happen when two historically separate research groups – one in marine and one in food – work together towards a common goal."
The
theme of research enabling innovation as introduced by the President
was a core theme throughout the NutraMara Conference. The Conference
attracted speakers and participants from as far away as Canada and
Australia; all of whom were eager to contribute to the debate on the
sustainable exploitation of marine living resources as functional food
ingredients.
Speakers
from the NutraMara consortium highlighted the need to develop a deeper
understanding of Ireland's marine resource, particularly the extent of
Ireland's seaweed stock; the potential of aquaculture as opposed to
harvesting wild resources and the need to develop precise profiles of bio active materials found in marine organisms. International
contributions supported the recent focus of NutraMara on marine
micro-algae and the potential of these micro-organisms as sources of
high value food ingredients.
“New
exciting results were presented in the development of bio active
functional food ingredients from marine plants and fish by-products,
including blood pressure lowering agents, anticancer materials and
anti-inflammatory agents with a variety of potential therapeutic and
health promoting properties, ” according to Professor Colin Barrow, a
leading marine natural products chemist from Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia.
“It
is clear Ireland has created a large research and commercialization
network in the marine functional food area that aims to harness this
potential," added Professor Barrow.
The
Conference provided an excellent platform on which to build further
national and international collaboration and opened up the potential to
broaden the impact of NutraMara across Ireland’s life sciences sector.
2 comments:
Cool, I eat kelp all the time. Its good for you and tastes good.
Pretty cool.
Post a Comment