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News 2024
AquaUP project will revolutionise aquaculture with seaweed-based feeds
University College Cork (UCC) will partner in a new project “AquaUP: Aquafeed Upgraded - Enhancing Immune Function with Seaweed-modified Functional Compounds” which has received €1,325,159 in funding.
The aim of AquaUP is to tackle the challenges in the aquaculture industry, such as disease spread and the use of antibiotics, by developing alternative aquatic feeds with immune-stimulating functional ingredients derived from seaweed.
The Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research is leading the project, with UCC set to receive €288,167 as a partner. Other collaborators include Maynooth University, Wageningen University (Netherlands), Alma Mater Studiorum Università Di Bologna (Italy), NORCE Norwegian Research Centre (Norway), and Arctic Seaweed (Norway). The project will run from 2024 to 2027.
UCC Lead Dr Gaurav Rajauria, School of Microbiology, and School of Food and Nutritional Sciences explained:
“Our objective is to investigate seaweed-modified functional compounds in aquatic feed to improve growth, immune response, and disease resistance.
The project will focus on creating sustainable pre-treatment technologies to unlock seaweed bioactive compounds, extracting and purifying these nutritional components without harmful chemicals, and screening and identifying seaweed-derived functional compounds for their immunomodulatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant, and prebiotic effects.
Both in-vitro and in-vivo studies will be conducted to validate the functionality of these compounds. Additionally, the project will assess the environmental and economic impacts of seaweed-based functional ingredients compared to conventional ones”.
The project is carried out with the support of the Marine Institute and funded by the Government of Ireland under the Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership co-funded by the European Union.