Press releases
11 February 2015, Zwingenberg

Successful Research in NatLifE 2020

Alliance partners share a positive outlook following the annual meeting

The aim of NatLifE 2020, with the help of biotechnology and an understanding of biological systems, is to develop a new generation of natural, biologically active components for use in the enhancement of recipes in the food and cosmetics industries, which will in turn make a significant contribution to the improvement of human nutrition, health and well-being.

The first phase of the strategic alliance, which is due to last until 31.01.2016, is naturally at the beginning of the value chain. The focus is on research and basic experiments in order to expand the technology base of the partners and begin the search for biologically active substances. These are then investigated further along the value chain in the development and pilot phases, which are the next two sections of NatLifE 2020 research.

Following the completion of the 2nd year of joint research, work has been divided into 4 sub-programmes whose work is largely on schedule, meaning that some milestones may even be achieved ahead of time. BRAIN, the coordinator of NatLifE 2020, is particularly pleased with the scientific papers about the alliance which have already been published (7), the numerous conference papers (15) and the first patent applications (3), which prove the quality of achievements both on a scientific and economic level. The first positive tests of bioactive substances in human tasting and application experiments complement the successful work of the alliance partners.

“The results from the first two years have exceeded even our expectations. It is sensational that the first substances from joint research have achieved encouraging results in human application testing after such a short time,’ says Dr. Michael Krohn, Unit Head BioActives & Performance Proteins at BRAIN AG. “There is an open exchange of information within the alliance, precompetitive development has already revealed several synergies, and the research activities of the partners accelerate each oth-er. We look forward to more years of joint research with the industry partners, including Merck, AB Enzymes, AnalytiCon Discovery und BRAIN, who will continue to benefit from each other within this alliance.”

“The majority of the research, conducted by, among others, the Academic Groups of the Universities of Münster, Greifswald, Göttingen, Halle, Potsdam, Hamburg, LMU München, Fulda, Würzburg, DTU and INRA, will be successfully completed in most cases after the first 3 years. For the pending second phase of NatLifE 2020, we will have to align ourselves more with the members of the alliance, since the focus of the work is moving towards substance and process development,” adds Dr. Martin Langer, Unit Head Corporate Development at BRAIN AG. “We are already in conversation with companies from the food and cosmetics industries regarding the next development phase, and we are hoping to include more partners in the alliance to further develop the very promising bioactive molecules produced in the research phase of the value chain.”


Gruppenbild der Teilnehmer des 3. Annual Meeting der strategischen Allianz NatLifE 2020 bei der BRAIN AG in Zwingenberg.
© Luise Böttcher, Archiv BRAIN AG

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Gruppenbild der Teilnehmer des 3. Annual Meeting der strategischen Allianz NatLifE 2020 bei der BRAIN AG in Zwingenberg.

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