On June 15, 2006, Prof. René Wijffels accepted his appointment as Professor of Bio-Process Engineering at Wageningen University with his inaugural address. In his speech, Wijffels explained that the possibilities of getting bio-active products from sea organisms are spectacular; especially natural sea sponges are a ‘gold mine’. These invertebrate animals offer possibilities to develop medication to fight some of the most important diseases in the world. Right now, three quarters of all patented bio-active material for cancer medication comes from sponges.
Prof. Wijffels works together with a number of institutes from, among others, the United States, Spain, and Germany in the field of Sea Bio-Technology. As a result of Wijffels work on ways to gather sea organisms on a large scale and collecting the bio-active products from these organisms, Wageningen University now occupies a unique position in this field of research, especially in developing the technology in this field. In his inaugural speech, “Treasures from the Sea”, he explained his group’s goal: To build a bridge between discovery of new links and the development of applications via bio-process technology. Wijffels is an advocate for intensive cooperation between industry and spin offs from the University in order to make sure that society profits from scientific research.
Medication from Sponges
Thirty percent of all potential new natural medicine has been isolated in sponges. About 75% of the recently registered and patented material to fight cancer comes from sponges. Furthermore, it appears that medicine from sponges helps, for example, asthma and psoriasis; therefore it offers enormous possibilities for research.
Wijffels doesn’t consider synthetic production, cultivation, or natural harvesting of these bio-active materials as options. According to Wijffels, isolating sponge cells and growing them in a bio-reactor under optimal conditions has the best chance of being successful. It is in this area that he and his group are conducting research.
Differentiated or specialized cells grow slowly; however, there are two ways to increase cell growth. First, the cells could be made “immortal” using chemicals as if they were turned into cancer cells that multiply infinitely. The second possibility is to work with very young, not yet defined cells from sponge embryo’s or larvae.
There is still a long way to go in research and development before this work can be applied to new medications, according to Wijffels. He estimates that we need another 20 years. He also estimates that there is still five years of fundamental scientific research needed. At the moment, his group is researching how sponges feed and grow in the Eastern Scheldt (Netherlands) in the and in the Mediterranean. After further industrial development, it will be another 10 years for registration and permits. Wijffels doesn’t let this stop him. As he stated, it is definitely worth investing in this technology because, with 15,000 known types of sponges, the possibilities are enormous.
Photosynthetic Factories
In addition to sponge research, Rene Wijffels also researches the applicability of micro-algae in the market, such as biomass and specific nutritional supplements (for example carotenoides and omega-3 fats). Since the production costs are still relatively high at the moment, technology develop can be useful, explained Wijffels. He believes it is important to develop compact, but effective photo reactors which will produce a lot of biomass which is also contains high concentrations of the desired materials. Together with his Phd students, Wijffels has developed a method to “milk” micro-algae. Also, he and his group have developed an efficient photo bioreactor – “green sun collector”, in which micro-algae circulate among plates on which Fresnel-lens have been placed, which distribute the light in the reactor. In this way, the reactors act as small micro algae factories.
Rene Wijffels (IJzendijke, 1960) is Professor of Bioprocess Engineering in the Process Sciences Department at Wageningen University. In the department he leads the marine biotechnology group. Wijffels’ group started working in this new research field in 1997. Wijffels studied Environmental Hygiene in Wageningen and got his PhD there in 1994. He is a member, often chairman, of diverse national and international groups. In 2000 he won the Millennium Prize from two Dutch Ministries for Environmental Science: bio processes and bio products. In December 2004, NWO (the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research) awarded him a substantial “Vici” grant, in particular for his work in the area of micro-algae.