06.01.03
TNO, the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research, is a contract research organization performing research and consultancy for industries worldwide. In terms of its life sciences division, the company employs approximately 1200 people divided amongst two major institutes-TNO Nutrition & Food Research and TNO Prevention and Health. According to Mark Posno, director of business development at TNO's U.S. office based in Cambridge, MA, this combination gives the company opportunities in both the traditional food and nutrition sector as well as the pharmaceutical market.
Discussing TNO's most recent interests, Mr. Posno said, "The area of functional foods and nutraceuticals is a major growth area for the company. We have a long track record in working with international clients in examining ingredients and products with respect to safety and efficacy as well as regulatory and consumer issues."
Recently the company identified several areas, which it thinks will be important for contract research. These areas, said Mr. Posno, are referred to by TNO as breakthrough programs. "The purpose of the programs is to create a knowledgebase to be able to guarantee contract research in the future," he explained. "We have invested in areas we believe will be important such as obesity, satiety and gut health."
In terms of gut health specifically, TNO embarked on a three-year project called "Interaction between food components, intestinal micro biota and intestinal mucosa as a function of intestinal health" through which the company will establish in vitro biomarkers and in vitro bioassays for intestinal health that allow the possibility to quickly screen and develop new (functional) food components. At the moment there are no proper biomarkers available, according to the company. But, using the newly developed techniques and assays in combination with pattern-recognition, TNO's intestinal health project intends to deliver biomarkers for gastro-intestinal health, which can then be used in claim support. This will be accomplished through the use of TIM-2 (the company's in vitro model of the large intestine), in vivo studies, in vitro biological assays and pattern-recognition.
Explaining the complexity of the gut, Mr. Posno said, "It is literally a black box that when you put ingredients or microorganism in, no one really understands what is happening. The gut health program is really aimed at gaining more insight into microbial interaction and defining biomarkers for gut health." The intestine is a large organ and intestinal health can be defined in numerous different manners. However, within the framework of this project, the major thrust will be aimed toward the health of the large intestine, under influence of the processes that take place by the microbiota in the colon, such as the production of health-promoting and toxic metabolites and their interaction with the intestinal epithelium.
The experiments will start with the collection of data of experiments with components with known "health-promoting" effects. Reference substances to be used include fructo-oligosaccharides/inulin and resistant starch. Examples of components with a negative influence that will be used are antibiotics and an artificial Cl. difficile infection. Different types of microbiotas will be tested under different conditions and effects of samples from these experiments will be determined in a variety of bioassays such as barrier function, DNA damage, bacterial adhesion and immunomodulation in co-cultures of lymphocytes and epithelial cells. In addition to the evaluation of established functional markers, new markers for intestinal health will be developed by analysis of NMR spectra of exposed cultures by pattern recognition algorithms. Based on the outcome of the pattern-recognition, the second phase of the project experiments will be performed with food components from industrial partners for which the functionality is not yet known. Examples include, amongst others, isoflavonoids, glucosinolates, bioactive peptides, oligosaccharides, exo-polysaccharides (also in connection with bacterial adhesion studies) and plant extracts. In addition, this phase will be used to steer the metabolic activity of the microflora toward a health-promoting activity. -R.M.W.
Discussing TNO's most recent interests, Mr. Posno said, "The area of functional foods and nutraceuticals is a major growth area for the company. We have a long track record in working with international clients in examining ingredients and products with respect to safety and efficacy as well as regulatory and consumer issues."
Recently the company identified several areas, which it thinks will be important for contract research. These areas, said Mr. Posno, are referred to by TNO as breakthrough programs. "The purpose of the programs is to create a knowledgebase to be able to guarantee contract research in the future," he explained. "We have invested in areas we believe will be important such as obesity, satiety and gut health."
In terms of gut health specifically, TNO embarked on a three-year project called "Interaction between food components, intestinal micro biota and intestinal mucosa as a function of intestinal health" through which the company will establish in vitro biomarkers and in vitro bioassays for intestinal health that allow the possibility to quickly screen and develop new (functional) food components. At the moment there are no proper biomarkers available, according to the company. But, using the newly developed techniques and assays in combination with pattern-recognition, TNO's intestinal health project intends to deliver biomarkers for gastro-intestinal health, which can then be used in claim support. This will be accomplished through the use of TIM-2 (the company's in vitro model of the large intestine), in vivo studies, in vitro biological assays and pattern-recognition.
Explaining the complexity of the gut, Mr. Posno said, "It is literally a black box that when you put ingredients or microorganism in, no one really understands what is happening. The gut health program is really aimed at gaining more insight into microbial interaction and defining biomarkers for gut health." The intestine is a large organ and intestinal health can be defined in numerous different manners. However, within the framework of this project, the major thrust will be aimed toward the health of the large intestine, under influence of the processes that take place by the microbiota in the colon, such as the production of health-promoting and toxic metabolites and their interaction with the intestinal epithelium.
The experiments will start with the collection of data of experiments with components with known "health-promoting" effects. Reference substances to be used include fructo-oligosaccharides/inulin and resistant starch. Examples of components with a negative influence that will be used are antibiotics and an artificial Cl. difficile infection. Different types of microbiotas will be tested under different conditions and effects of samples from these experiments will be determined in a variety of bioassays such as barrier function, DNA damage, bacterial adhesion and immunomodulation in co-cultures of lymphocytes and epithelial cells. In addition to the evaluation of established functional markers, new markers for intestinal health will be developed by analysis of NMR spectra of exposed cultures by pattern recognition algorithms. Based on the outcome of the pattern-recognition, the second phase of the project experiments will be performed with food components from industrial partners for which the functionality is not yet known. Examples include, amongst others, isoflavonoids, glucosinolates, bioactive peptides, oligosaccharides, exo-polysaccharides (also in connection with bacterial adhesion studies) and plant extracts. In addition, this phase will be used to steer the metabolic activity of the microflora toward a health-promoting activity. -R.M.W.
