Kostas Stamatopoulos
INAB | CERTH
Innovation in the Greek Agri-Food Sector INAB | CERTH
CERTH Center for Research and Technology Hellas
• The flagship research center in Northern Greece, one of the largest in the country - founded in 2000, supervised by the GSRT.
• Scientific and technological domains – Energy | Environment | Industry | Information & Communication |
Mechatronics | Transportation & Sustainable Mobility | Health | Agri-biotechnology | Smart farming | Safety & Security
– several cross-disciplinary scientific areas
CERTH Center for Research and Technology Hellas
• More than 600 people work at CERTH with the majority being scientists.
• Listed among the Top-20 of the EU’s Research Centres with the highest participation in FP7 competitive research grants.
• Successful participation in more than 1.000 competitive research projects
total budget exceeding 423 M€
involving more than 1.100 international partner organizations
2000 - INA Institute of Agrobiotechnology
2006 - IBBR Institute of Biomedical & Biomolecular Research
2012 - INAB Institute of
Applied Biosciences
INAB – Institute of Applied Biosciences a timeline
INAB - 2014
innovative translational & applications research
mandate
address the gap between research excellence and applications
for meeting end-user demands through close ties to interested stakeholders
SMEs, health sector, productive sector, social groups etc
stimulate and support entrepreneurship
revolving around activities related to food industry, biotechnology diagnostics, pharmacological research and applications
defense and adaptation in the agri-bio + food domain
research theme
catalysts
information sciences big data
core facilities tissue banks
technology transfer & incubator workshops & training
agri-bio/food health
promote collaboration at national and international level community/ industry/ academia
cross-talk with community and productive sector public events – regional authorities, industry, academia
thematic meetings regular brainstorming events
strategy
Bio-analysis infrastructure
[Genomic/Cellular/Metabolomic analysis]
BIG Data Analysis [Tools & Workflows, In-silico modeling]
Enabling Facilities [Biobanks]
Complementarities with other CERTH
institutions
INAB - Academia Reinventing a relationship
Productive sector SMEs
stakeholders public authorities
innovate in biosciences and applications
Build on knowledge and intelligence
Agri-biotechnology
Support the “Greek Brand Name” in Agriculture Assist Greek companies, co-operatives, farmers in monitoring quality attributes in the production and processing of agricultural products Utilize the rich indigenous biodiversity to support sustainable utilization of valuable resources
Agri-biotechnology
Support the “Greek Brand Name” in Agriculture Incorporate technologies (i.e. marker assisted-breeding) to develop elite plant genotype varieties Develop novel sustainable production technologies (i.e. microbial cell factories) which are environmentally friendly and can support local industry needs
Impact on society and contribution to economic growth
Indicative activities
• Genetic identification of local varieties and authentication of their products
• Contractual diagnostic testing for GMO and meat adulterations from other sources
• Production of new products, finding applications in the industry • Production of customized food products tailored for groups with
special needs
Genomic technologies for the study of biodiversity and food traceability
A. Argyriou | P. Madesis
Biodiversity in Greece
• 6300 plant taxa (species and subspecies)
• ~ 1000 endemic taxa
Identification and authentication of Greek biodiversity: a major objective!
Plant genetic resources and landraces
• Important for local society: adapted to the local conditions, important nutritional and economical value
• Important for breeding : source of invaluable genes for the development of new varieties
• Genetic erosion: more than 90% of wheat and vegetable varieties have been lost in the last 50 years
Charting the Greek biodiversity
Implications for species identification, food authentication and adulteration traceability
Distinction bestowed by the President of the Hellenic Republic, 2013
EU categories of quality agricultural products and foodstuffs
• Protected Designation of Origin (PDO)
• Protected Geographical Indication (PGI)
• Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG)
• Mountain products | Island products
Olive varieties and olive oil
Fava Santorinis
Prespes beans
Genotyping and Phenotyping of Vitis vinifera
• 450 samples, ~300 varieties
• SSR analysis, RNA-Sequencing of elite cultivars
• Partner of the EU Vitis Database
Aidani Agiorgitiko Vidiano Vertzami
GrapeNet (COST action FA1003)
Traceability of food products- a summary
Certifying products using DNA-based techniques – Unique signature to be used in the entire production chain –
traceability
– Protect consumers from fraudulent products
– Maintain the added value of traditional products
– Protect investments for the development of new food products
Obtained Results – Feta cheese
– Jamon from Greek black pig
Biotechnological innovation
A. Makris | A. Argyriou | T. Farmaki
P. Madesis | Z. Hilioti
Production of high value compounds from marine organisms
An integrated effort for the efficient production and further exploitation of the potent natural anti-inflammatory compound neorogioltriol and its congeners
NRG
Promotion of a new cultivation for biofuel production in Greece
Tailoring plants for biofuel production
Castor bean (Ricinus communis)
Actions: molecular biology- based evaluation and breeding, application of ZFN technology
Collaboration with
INAB-CERTH, CPERI-CERTH, Motor-Oil, AK Quality seeds (Israel), YPSILON
Genomic technologies to improve plant and animal qualitative traits and nutritional characteristics
NUTRITOM - Genomics-driven improvement of quality and health value of Greek tomato cultivars
– Full transcriptome sequencing of tomato elite cultivars and transgenic lines
– Expression profiles of targeted genes contributing to the nutrition quality of tomato fruit
– Development of functional molecular markers for quality traits of Greek tomato varieties
Microbial Cell Factories for the production of terpenoids
Microbial Cell Factories for the production of terpenoids
• Improve the yeast platform for optimal terpene production
• Gene mining-New genes from aromatic & medicinal plants, marine organisms
• Rational and global approaches to develop and optimize new terpene producing enzymes
Customized Nutrition
General Population
Now
Nephropathy
Diabetes
IBD
Children
Specialized Nutrition Specific Foods
General Nutrition Generic Foods
Future
Grouped Population Individualized
Personalized Nutrition Customized Foods
x mean
Gluten free products for celiacs
Contribution to culture
• From 2013, collaborations with prominent academic institutions pursuing archaeological research
– Ephorate of Vergina and Pella (Royal Macedonian Tombs)
– Neolithic Collection of Volos Museum
– Santorini Akrotiri Excavation
– Schools of Archaeology of Thessaloniki, Oxford and Uppsala U
• Aim: to characterize the indigenous ancient species of plants
and animals and compare them to their modern counterparts
Networking and Collaborations
Acknowledgments
FUNDING
AGRIGENOTRANS (2011-2013) INTERREG IIIA GREECE BULGARIA
QUBIC (2009-2011) MED Programme
SysTerp (2010-2014) GSRT-ESPA-COOPERATION-2009
ΑΜΥLΟ (2011-2014) GSRT-ESPA-COOPERATION-2009
Inno-Food: (2011-2014) South East Europe
NUTRITOM (2013-2015) GSRT-ESPA-COOPERATION-2011
NRG (2013-2015) GSRT-ESPA-COOPERATION-2011
THALIS (2013-2015)
Acknowledgments Antonios Makris Anagnostis Argyriou Theodora Farmaki Panagiotis Madesis Zoi Hilioti Kostas Pasentsis Fotini Kopani Athanasios Tsaftaris