Scientists from National Institute of Oceanography(NIO), Goa have found a way to extract collagen from locally found sea creatures such as jellyfish, crabs, prawns and the mackerel fish. India is largely dependent on China for collagen.
“Jellyfish may be a nuisance to fishermen who often toss them back in the sea when they get entangled in their nets, however we can extract value-added products from them which can be useful for their anti-ageing properties and can be used as a nutraceuticals,” said Shambhavi Naik, Project Associate, NIO, who is one of the researchers working on the project.
Currently her team is working on calculating the SPF 30 to 50 values of the collagen. The scientific invention is displayed to public at the institute’s One Week One Lab Campaign so that industry people get to see the latest innovations done by them as part of the CSIR event where institutes from various verticals in medical field will be displaying their latest inventions and innovations to the public of India.
“A lot of the research by CSIR is not reaching entrepreneurs and industries due to which they are not being converted into products. Through this event, we are making various industry people aware of the various technologies that the NIO has in biotechnology as well as marine instrumentation,” said NIO Director, Sunil Kumar Singh.
Source: Times of India