Abstract:

A consortium of five scientific, one governmental, and three commercial partners has convened to develop and exploit the economic and ecological potential of the abundant biological raw material chitin isolated from waste shrimp shells that will be up-graded into chemically and biologically well defined chitosans. These biocompatible, biodegradable, non-allergenic, non-toxic chitosans will be tested for their ability to protect economically important crop plants from disease. The up-grading of bulk chitosan into pure, high added value speciality chitosans for consumer-safe, environment-friendly, cost-effective plant protection will add value and improve whole crop utilisation for the shrimp fisheries, improve sustainability in agriculture, and improve the quality of life by supplying healthier food to EU citizens. The creation of new working relationships between fisheries and agro-industries will lead to new knowledge-based companies, increasing employment opportunities in the EU by opening the agro-industry and, forseeably, the medical market for high quality chitosans, so that the EU may become world leader in this growing biotechnology market.

Contacts

Coordinator

• Bruno MOERSCHBACHER / University of Muenster Department of Plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology / GERMANY

EC Scientific Officer

• Ciarán MANGAN / European Commission - DG Research Quality of Life Programme - Unit B1.2 / BELGIUM

Participant

• Vassilis BOURIOTIS / Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas GREECE
• Yves CONTANDRIOPOULOS / France Chitine FRANCE
• Landwirtschaftskammer Westfalen-Lippe GERMANY
• Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) NORWAY
• Vidar THORSEN / Primex Ingredients ASA NORWAY
• Rainer FISCHER / RWTH Aachen Molecular Biotechnology / GERMANY
• Hartmut PLOSS / Spiess-Urania Chemicals GmbH GERMANY
• Alain DOMARD / Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 FRANCE