An early-stage business idea to commercialise a patented process of producing Hydroxytyrosol, an effective antioxidant, for use in the food and cosmetics industries, has been named winner of the 2015 UCD Life Science Innovation Sprint Programme.
The process can produce this antioxidant more efficiently and more economically than the current process and in a form purer than occurs naturally.
The UCD Life Science Innovation Sprint Programme is a one-day initiative designed and delivered by UCD’s technology transfer and enterprise development teams at NovaUCD in collaboration with the UCD Earth Institute. It aims to encourage the development of commercial outputs arising from UCD Life Science research by engaging with UCD researchers at an earlier stage in the commercialisation process.
Antioxidants are molecules that block the activity of other chemicals known as ‘free radicals’ which are highly reactive and have the potential to cause damage to human cells leading to many types of cancer, brain and heart diseases. Some antioxidants are made naturally by the body but others, made synthetically or in nature, can be obtained from external sources, such as in diet and dietary supplements.
Given the increased awareness of the potential health benefits of dietary and antioxidant supplements in disease prevention there has been a significant growth in the last decade in the market for antioxidants used in nutraceuticals, functional foods, food preservatives and cosmetics.
Hydroxytyrosol is an effective antioxidant with significant commercial potential in the food and cosmetic industries. However the natural extract is not pure and the synthetic version, while pure, is highly priced. High purity is required in industry to allow control of product formulations. Until now there has been no efficient and economical process to manufacture Hydroxytyrosol with high purity.
Big idea
The winning business idea is based on commercialising a process of synthesising Hydroxytyrosol significantly cheaper than the currently available method and significantly purer than the natural extract.
The promoter of this early-stage business idea is Dr Reeta Davis, a post-doctoral scientist working under the supervision of Prof Kevin O’Connor in the UCD School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science and UCD Earth Institute.
During the UCD Life Science Innovation Sprint Programme a number of internal and external technology and business professionals collaborated with the UCD researchers to explore the commercial potential of transforming their research ideas into early-stage life science business ideas.
At the end of the programme Dr Davis was presented with an award and a €1,000 prize fund to assist her to further develop the business idea, as it was judged to have the most commercial potential.
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