Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Olive-Net (Bioactive compounds from Olea europaea: investigation and application in food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry)

Teaser

The olive tree is a critical agricultural element for the EU, especially for the countries of the Mediterranean region. Olive oil and fruit contain hydrophilic (phenolic acids and alcohols, flavonoids and secoiridoids) and lipophilic phenolic compounds that are known to...

Summary

The olive tree is a critical agricultural element for the EU, especially for the countries of the Mediterranean region. Olive oil and fruit contain hydrophilic (phenolic acids and alcohols, flavonoids and secoiridoids) and lipophilic phenolic compounds that are known to possess multiple biological activities. The main biophenols found in the products of olive tree are hydroxytyrosol, tyrosol in free and bound forms, oleuropein, oleacein, oleocanthal, ligstoside aglycons and verbascoside. Furthermore, the olive processing industry is responsible for the production of a huge bulk of by-products. These materials, olive leaves and olive mill side products can also be proven as innovative and efficient sources of the aforementioned olive bioactives.
Olive-Net is an ambitious project based on state-of-the-art natural product chemistry and biology, in order to exploit diverse raw materials coming from the olive tree for the development of novel active ingredients that could be used in the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and cosmetic industry.
This will be achieved through an extended and well-balanced scheme of researcher’s secondments between universities and enterprises from EU & Associated countries as well as universities from Third countries. The objectives will be:
• Exploitation of diverse raw materials coming from the olive tree
• Generation of new extraction, enrichment and isolation protocols based on emerging novel technologies dedicated to olive bioactives
• Provide solutions on the disposal of by-products of the olive oil industry
• Analyze the chemical content of the extracts/enriched fractions
• Identification and characterization of bioactive small molecules
• Highlight emerging chemical entities from the Mediterranean olive products/by-products and broadening our knowledge on their beneficial health effects
• Investigation of the chemical transformation of olive bioactive compounds (such as oleocanthal and oleaceain) in order to improve their stability and pharmacological properties
• Investigation of the pharmacological properties of olive bioactives in relation to inflammation and ageing
• Perform PK/PD studies of pure compounds
• Development of new formulations of bioactive compounds and/or extracts for incorporation into pharmaceutical/nutraceutical/cosmeceutical products
• Scale up the best extraction process
• Address the demand of the consumers on natural solutions by formulating and testing new products based on plant chemical diversity.

Work performed

The partners have acquired all relevant authorizations, approvals and certificates related to ethics requirement. The project started with the selection and collection of various samples of olive oil, fruits, leaves, pomace and olive mill waste waters (OMWW)The collected samples were extracted with various techniques, such as liquid-liquid extraction, ultrasound extraction, maceration and accelerated solvent extraction. Furthermore, olive oil was extracted with centrifugal partition extraction to obtain high amounts of its phenolic content. Resins technology was used as an enrichment methodology. Fractionation of the samples was accomplished employing centrifugal partition chromatography.
All the extracts were analyzed with TLC, HPLC-DAD and HPLC-MS analysis and were found to be rich sources of phenolic compounds, like hydroxytyrosol. The total phenolic content of the produced extracts and fractions was determined with Folin-Ciocalteu analysis while extracts, fractions and pure compounds were evaluated for their radical scavenging activity with DPPH assays.
Dissemination activities implemented involved the transfer of knowledge to all scientists working in the field of natural products and other stakeholders. Specifically, it involved the project website, the publication of articles in scientific journals and the participation in scientific conferences.
Management activities involved all the activities and procedures required for the administration of the project, the communication between partners, the organization of meetings and the preparation and signature of the grant and partnership agreements. The management of the project was mainly a responsibility of the Coordination team. However, major role played the members of the Steering committee. The kick off meeting was organized on 17/03/2017 and the mid-term meeting was held on the 30/11/18, in Athens with the presence of the project officer and an external expert.
The organization of the secondments was very important during the first year. Several difficulties have been encountered regarding administrative issues related to the secondments of the researchers. Mostly issues related to health insurance, visa, contracts etc have been shown to be really time-consuming and laborious. The administrative authorities of some of the participating members were not familiar with the guidelines and rules of RISE projects, they could not understand the meaning of the financial support provided to fellows and the situation of secondments. The Coordinating team at all times tried to explain the procedures that should be followed. A letter of the EU Commission explaining further the concept of the secondments and the allowance could be useful. Overall, the basic goals such as the interaction between partners, the communication with the EC, the preparation and submission of the reports, the organization of meetings, were achieved.

Final results

Progress beyond the state of the art
• Integration of advanced extraction techniques and enrichment technologies into the production of final products thus creating a new pipeline for the production of pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals and cosmeceuticals
• Integration of sophisticated methodologies and state-of-the-art instrumentation in analysis of complicated mixtures and structure elucidation of natural compounds
• Launch of a holistic approach for objectively assessing the efficacy of natural extracts, proving the scientific basis of their mode of action

Results
Olive-Net project will generate new knowledge in the field of Natural Products Chemistry, Analytical chemistry, Computational Chemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology, Lead Discovery, Product Development, Nutraceutics/Dietary Supplements and Cosmetics.
Applied research: Promising entities will be integrated into novel cosmeceutical/nutraceutical/pharmaceutical products with well established properties

Impact
• Stimulate development of technologically innovative solutions, based on environmentally friendly technologies for exploiting olive-based material and olive polyphenols
• Contribute to the efficiency of the innovation system in Europe, by developing, among researchers and engineers, a culture encouraging the use of knowledge and the sharing of research results, intellectual property rights, patents and licenses
• Improve the career prospects of researchers at all stages of their career by adding entrepreneurial skills to scientific expertise
• Increase researchers\' interaction with industry
• Boost collaborative networks within EU in an acute recession environment with the objective of exporting high added value products to third countries as well
• Increase awareness of the importance and benefit of new research approaches among policymakers and the general public in order to impact the decision making related to the support for innovative natural products development

Website & more info

More info: http://olive-net.eu/.