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