Allewaert, C.

Verween, A.

Vyverman, W.

Open Marine Archive

EU FP7 BAMMBO: sustainable production of Biologically Active 
Molecules of Marine Based Origin  
Allewaert Céline, Annick Verween and Wim Vyverman 
Protistology and Aquatic Ecology, Ghent University, Sterre Complex, S8, Krijgslaan 281, 
B-9000 Ghent, Belgium 
E-mail: celine.allewaert@ugent.be  
The current growing demand for marine resources, in particular High Value Added molecules 
(HVAB’s) could pose a serious threat to marine ecosystems and marine biodiversity. Instead of 
exploiting the natural marine resources, environmental friendly and economically sustainable ways 
for culturing organisms with economically interesting composition should be developed. The FP7 
project BAMMBO addresses all key issues associated with the culture of marine organisms and will 
overcome these bottlenecks by designing economically sustainable and scalable culturing 
methodologies for industrial scale production of high added values compounds. For this purpose, 
the BAMMBO consortium has identified three microalgal species: Phaeodactylum tricornutum, 
Cylindrotheca closterium and Haematococcus pluvialis as model species. All three are producers of 
bioactive molecules: EPA, fucoxanthin and astaxanthin, respectively. The production of HVAB’s is 
often elicited by the alteration of environmental and nutrimental parameters, so called abiotic 
stressors. This study within the project focuses on the optimization of growth, harvest and 
screening of P. tricornutum, C. closterium and H. pluvialis. The elicitation of secondary metabolites 
is investigated in vitro at the flask scale by measuring metabolite production in response to various 
stresses. 
 
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EU FP7 BAMMBO: sustainable production of Biologically Active Molecules of Marine Based Origin

   BAMMBO objectives 
Provide innovative solutions to overcome existing bottlenecks associated with culturing marine 
organisms (algae, sponges, bacteria and fungi)  
 
For sustainable production of high yields of value-added products for pharmaceutical, cosmetic and 
industrial sectors. 
Sustainable production of Biologically Active 
Molecules of Marine Based Origin 
Allewaert, C., Verween, A., and Vyverman, W.* 
• Protistology and Aquatic Ecology, Ghent University, Belgium 
• celine.allewaert@ugent.be 
www.bammbo.eu 
 
Ghent University objectives: MICROALGAE 
 
Optimalisation of :  
 
     
    How?  
 
 
Case studies: 
 1. Phaeodactylum tricornutum 
 Effect of nitrate and phosphate       Growth:              EPA production:  
 
 
 
                               ω3 FA, health 
 
 
 
2. Haematococcus pluvialis   
 Effect of salinity                                  Growth:                         Astaxanthin production:  
 
 
 
 
                              
                             
 
                            Antioxidant 
                              Natural pigment 
 
 
3. Cylindrotheca closterium                       
 Effect of nitrate and phosphate      Growth:         Fucoxanthin production: 
 
 
 
 
 
                            Anti-obesity 
                            Anti-diabetic 
                            Natural pigment 
    
 
 
 
 
 
 
Cultivation Harvest Screening 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Highest productivity 
of high value-added 
products of interest  
Abiotic stressors 
- Environmental 
- Nutrients   
- Timing  
- Methods 
Methods for 
extracting highest 
yields 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 - 39 -  
EU FP7 BAMMBO: SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION OF BIOLOGICALLY 
ACTIVE MOLECULES OF MARINE BASED ORIGIN 
Céline Allewaert, Annick Verween and Wim Vyverman 
Protistology and Aquatic Ecology , Sterre Complex, S8, Krijgslaan 281, 9000 Ghent, Belgium 
E-mail: celine.allewaert@ugent.be  
The current growing demand for marine resources, in particular High Value Added molecules 
(HVAB’s) could pose a serious threat to marine ecosystems and marine biodiversity. Instead of 
exploiting the natural marine resources, environmental friendly and economically sustainable ways 
for culturing organisms with economically interesting composition should be developed.  
 
BAMMBO addresses all key issues associated with the culture of marine organisms and will 
overcome these bottlenecks by designing economically sustainable and scalable culturing 
methodologies for industrial scale production of HVAB’s. BAMMBO will screen and identify a broad 
range of marine organisms (e.g. bacteria, fungi, sponges, microalgae, macroalgae and yeasts) from 
diverse global locations for potential as sustainable producers of HVAB’s. BAMMBO will apply 
various analytical methods for the extraction, purification and enrichment of targeted bioactive 
compounds. Moreover, a detailed life cycle analysis of the production pathways developed in the 
project will be undertaken to fully evaluate the sustainability of production of biologically active 
products from marine organisms. 
 
The EU funded FP7 project BAMMBO started in 2011. BAMMBO has brought together a 
multidisciplinary consortium of specialist research and SME partners. The knowledge and 
technologies developed during the project is transferred to relevant stakeholders in industry and 
the research community, as well as to policy-makers. Innovative technologies developed in the 
project will be demonstrated with the involvement of industry partners, and the results will be of 
interest not only to companies directly involved in the marine sector, but to other large scale 
industry players such as pharmaceutical companies with interest in added-value bioactive 
compounds. 
 
The laboratory of Protistology and Aquatic Ecology (PAE), Ghent University has focused on HAVB’s 
derived from microalgae. Three microalgal species: Phaeodactylum tricornutum, Cylindrotheca 
closterium and Haematococcus pluvialis were selected by the consortium as model species. All three 
are producers of bioactive molecules: EPA, fucoxanthin and astaxanthin, respectively. The 
production of HVAB’s is often elicited by the alteration of environmental and nutrimental 
parameters, so called abiotic stressors. PAE has focused on the optimization of growth, harvest and 
screening of P. tricornutum, C. closterium and H. pluvialis. The elicitation of secondary metabolites 
was investigated in vitro at the flask scale by measuring metabolite production in response to 
various stresses. 


EU FP7 BAMMBO: sustainable production of Biologically Active Molecules of Marine Based Origin

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