{"id":"https://openalex.org/G974088198","display_name":"Commercial exploitation of marine collagen and chitin from marine sources (BlueCC)","description":"Up to 138 million tons\u00a0of living organisms, so called biomass,\u00a0is wasted\u00a0every\u00a0year in the EU, of which up to 40% goes to landfill. This includes large amounts of by-catches from the fisheries, which indeed could be used in better ways. Other sources of poorly utilized marine biomass are the so called \"cleaner fish\" used in aquaculture e.g. to keep salmon free of parasites such as salmon louse.\u00a0Additional sources\u00a0are\u00a0the many\u00a0invasive marine species which are currently causing devastation to local ecosystems, including different kinds of crabs and jelly fish.\u00a0These poorly used\u00a0biomasses\u00a0represent not only problems, but also opportunities for innovative actions in the EU to better develop targeted uses of what is currently wasted or disturbing our ecosystems. The BlueCC project aims to investigate\u00a0two\u00a0such opportunities, and those are\u00a0to sustainably exploit two large molecules (so called polymers) i.e. chitin and collagen,\u00a0from\u00a0invasive crabs\u00a0as well as\u00a0from\u00a0jellyfish, starfish and cleaner fish, respectively.\u00a0Model\u00a0products containing these polymers and/or smaller fragments of them are then to be developed.\u00a0Chitin is an insoluble polymer found e.g. in crustacean shells, which together with its water-soluble form chitosan have multiple applications\u00a0for example in\u00a0the biomedical,\u00a0food and agricultural\u00a0industries. In the former, chitin/chitosan is used e.g. in tissue engineering as a scaffold for growing tissue,\u00a0in wound healing\u00a0and\u00a0in anti-aging products. In the food area, it can help to mix water and oil (so called\u00a0\"emulsifying\" properties), and it can also provide thickening, antimicrobial\u00a0and\u00a0antioxidative properties. It can also\u00a0be used in\u00a0and low calory\u00a0food as it can aid fat excretion.\u00a0Within agriculture,\u00a0it\u00a0can provide e.g.\u00a0plant defense and yield increase.\u00a0Collagen, which is a major structural component in human skin, bone and cartilage, is like chitin/chitosan of great interest as a scaffold in tissue engineering. However, it has also gained significant interest in the health and beauty segment since supplementing collagen can revitalize skin and joints, and it may also\u00a0improve glucose metabolism, the latter being important in diabetes. The\u00a0anti-inflammatory properties of collagen may play a role\u00a0in many of\u00a0the mentioned\u00a0properties. Collagen from marine sources\u00a0can be a\u00a0healthy, environmentally sound alternative to collagen from bovine and pork sources as some concerns have been raised around the risk of disease transmission from ruminant-derived collagen. In addition, some consumers prefer marine over meat derived products. Thus, altogether, Chitin/chitosan and collagen have numerous interesting uses, and can therefore be applied in many areas.In order to succeed with this ambition, the BlueCC project\u00a0will put\u00a0strong emphasis on understanding what the market needs\u00a0and wants, and also it is driven\u00a0by a team\u00a0with\u00a0many different competences. To make sure all aspects are properly covered, the project is\u00a0divided into four main\u00a0parts,\u00a0addressing: (i) market driven development of collagen/chitin product concepts, (ii)\u00a0isolation\u00a0of\u00a0collagen/collagen peptides and chitin/chitosan,\u00a0using \"green methods\", thus, for instance without organic solvents, (iii) characterization of the novel marine ingredients,\u00a0for example analyzing their purity and testing if they have\u00a0anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial effects using biological models (iv) commercialization\u00a0potential of new products with these polymers, while all the time keeping sustainability and ethical aspects in mind.\u00a0It is also important to stress that in order to allow for holistic use of the targeted marine raw materials, the team will explore\u00a0possible health-promoting effects also\u00a0of\u00a0by-products emerging in the isolations\u00a0of\u00a0chitin/chitosan and collagen.\u00a0This could allow for completely new marine molecules\u00a0to be\u00a0discovered, with interesting uses e.g. for human health. Altogether, the BlueCC project will\u00a0thus\u00a0in a sustainable and efficient manner examine if underutilized marine ","funder_award_id":"2019-02362","funder":{"id":"https://openalex.org/F4320321033","display_name":"Svenska Forskningsr\u00e5det Formas","doi":"10.13039/501100001862"},"funded_outputs":["https://openalex.org/W4324338764","https://openalex.org/W7140122120"],"funded_outputs_count":2,"parent_awards":[],"sub_awards":[],"sub_awards_count":0,"amount":3224097.0,"currency":"SEK","amount_usd":346704.31,"amount_usd_basis":"daily_rate","recipients":[],"recipient_countries":[],"recipient_regions":[],"research_scope":{"is_research":true,"basis":"funder_default","tier":1},"funding_type":"research","funder_scheme":"Project grant","start_date":"2020-01-01","end_date":"2022-12-31","start_year":2020,"end_year":2022,"landing_page_url":"https://www.vr.se/swecris#/project/2019-02362_Formas","doi":null,"provenance":"formas","lead_investigator":{"given_name":"Ingrid","family_name":"Undeland","orcid":"0000-0002-9732-3644","role_start":null,"affiliation":{"name":"Chalmers University of Technology","country":"Sweden","ids":null}},"co_lead_investigator":null,"investigators":null,"works_api_url":"https://api.openalex.org/works?filter=awards.id:G974088198","primary_topic":null,"topics":null,"institution_awarded":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I66862912","display_name":"Chalmers University of Technology","ror":"https://ror.org/040wg7k59","country_code":"SE","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I66862912"]}],"updated_date":"2026-10-16T03:01:01.000Z","created_date":"2026-07-31T15:57:45.000Z"}