Sustainability Award, 3rd place

TransMIT, a German technology transfer company that mentored me in the Go-Bio initial competition, awarded a sustainability prize for “sustainable (medical) products”.
My submitted project idea “Curdlan from fermentative production using agricultural residues as fermentation nutrients for use in food production and/or pharmaceuticals.” won third place. Usually curdlan is produced by feeding expensive sugars to the bacteria. Through genetic modification, the bacterium can be ‘fixed’ to produce more curdlan, and that from a potentially cheaper source — crude plant extracts. This finding has excellent commercial potential.

To date, in Germany, curdlan costs 64800 € per kilogram (as of 09.10.2022):

https://www.sigmaaldrich.com/DE/de/product/sigma/c7821

With my strain development, curdlan can be produced in a significantly cheaper, more sustainable way, without competing with humans for food. The producing bacteria can be fed waste products and have a much higher yield in a shorter time frame.

Curdlan is a bacterially produced polymer of glucose that can be used for a wide variety of end products.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pharmaceutical industry (examples):

– Breast cancer therapy (bolus – 3D printing):
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0168063

 

– Multiple sclerosis (with a drug already approved for cancer that contains Curdlan:
https://news.ki.se/repurposing-cancer-drug-to-treat-neuroinflammation

 

– Wound healing (e.g. burns & for diabetes):
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6017669/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0144861722003721

 

– Leishmaniasis, cancer, bacterial and viral infections:
https://academic.oup.com/jid/article/207/6/1016/897625

 

In addition, curdlan is also very promising in the treatment of other diseases. However, further clinical studies need to be conducted for this purpose.

 

 

Bioplastics industry:
Curdlan is highly interesting as a food packaging material. For example, meat and fresh vegetable products have a much longer shelf-life when packaged in curdlan, thus reducing wastage. The unique thermal properties of curdlan are used in the production of biofilms to improve the water barrier capacity and thermal stability of single and multilayer food packaging.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnut.2021.646988/full

 

 

 

 

Food Industry:
On Oct. 4, 2022, EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) scheduled a Risk Assessment Deadline on whether curdlan will be approved as a food additive in Europe. No decision has been published yet (as of 09.10.2022):

https://open.efsa.europa.eu/questions/EFSA-Q-2017-00024

 

In Asia and America, curdlan has been approved for food use for many years. Only a small amount of curdlan is needed as an additive, e.g., 2 g per 1 kg of yogurt.

Curdlan gel is a colorless, odorless and non-toxic substance that can bind water. All these versatile properties have led to its use as a food additive in the dairy industry. Since curdlan is not easily hydrolyzed by digestive enzymes, it can be added to prebiotics to reduce calories and promote a healthy gut microbiota to prevent obesity. It is also used as an additive in the preparation of frozen foods, pasta and canned meats.

 

Benefits:
Pasta and noodles:
1. altered texture
2. improved firmness
3. improved shaping properties

 

Meat and meat products:
1. heat and freeze-thaw stability
2. maximized moisture retention at processing temperature
3. improved functional properties of low-fat sausage models
4. preservation of chilled meat (curdlan film)

 

Coating system and batter:
1. heat and freeze-thaw stability
2. improved dough absorption and reduced cooking loss

 

Milk and dairy products:
1. increased viscosity of skim milk
2. improved quality of milk
3. retention of the shape of ice cream
4. development of low-fat whipped cream

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8273257/

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matthew.mcintosh@mikro.bio.uni-giessen.de

Tel.: +49 (0)641 99-35557

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Are you interested in helping to solve a major problem of the world?
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I welcome your ideas or questions.

 

 matthew.mcintosh@mikro.bio.uni-giessen.de

 

Tel.: +49 (0)641 99-35557