“I am fascinated by the enormous diversity of bioactive molecules that plants produce,” according to Dr. Dirk Bosch, a scientist with ca 30 years of research experience. His primary research activities have been centered on unraveling biosynthetic pathways in plants that lead to the immense biodiversity of molecules found in plants. He applies this knowledge […]
For Senior Scientist and Project manager at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Suvi Häkkinen believes that NPBTs (new plant breeding techniques) will definitely be used in the future as their power has already been proven in many applications. She thinks and hopes that “Europe will eventually get on board with countries which allow the […]
n general terms, New Plant-Breeding Techniques (NPBTs) (or gene editing) are methods that allow scientists to develop new plant varieties with desired traits, by modifying the seeds and plant cells’ DNA. As the process has only been developed in the last decade, the technique is still quite new and it has been continually evolving in […]
he CHIC project aims to develop the technology behind its research for business purposes. As part of the project’s work, researchers are developing an exploitation strategy that’s built on two strong business cases for NPBT chicory-based dietary fibre and bioactive terpenes. Improved inulin and terpene fractions are subjected to in vitro bioactivity studies. Safety evaluation and […]
Inulin is a dietary fiber with health-promoting characteristics mainly targeted at gut health. But what is gut health? “Gut health” describes the function and balance in the human’s gastrointestinal tract, ideally consisting of organs such as the esophagus, stomach, and intestines, in combination with the intestinal microbiota, that work together for digesting food. Inulin is […]
In the past, it was not easy to extract inulin from root chicory. The latex of chicory contains large amounts of sesquiterpene lactones, which interfere with the extraction of inulin. For the other part of this project, CHIC’s objective is to identify biological activities of interest for these sesquiterpene lactones and to hopefully increase their […]
With any project of this nature and size, researchers also evaluate the socio-economic and environmental impacts. Therefore, a socio-economic impact assessment and an environmental assessment of molecular breeding technologies and the whole value chain are continually being performed. In addition to these quantitative assessments, qualitative research on societal issues hindering or facilitating chicory innovation will […]
The engagement of stakeholders is an important part of this project to facilitate a responsible innovative process. The CHIC project researcher continue their fruitful exchange with the CHIC Stakeholder Advisory Group (SAG), with SAG members participating in project meetings and conference calls. There have been two large activities during this reporting period: the first of […]
he CHIC project continues to provide updates and organize fun activities for everyone. It is a way to share with you what is happening at the project. We continue to share with you updates through our social media postings and published news articles. During the last 11 months, we are glad to share with you […]
n 18 March 2022, the school Virgen de Europa with a capacity of more than 1500 students located in Boadilla del Monte, 25 km west of Madrid, Spain, hosted a special CHIC augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) demonstration. During the CHIC Days event, around 40 students in total, aged 16-18, from the Bachelor […]
This project has received funding from the EU Horizon 2020 research & innovation programme under grant agreement N. 760891.