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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
Coastal countries have traditionally relied on the existing marine resources (e.g., fishing,
food, transport, recreation, and tourism) as well as tried to support new economic
endeavors (ocean energy, desalination for water supply, and seabed mining). Modern
societies and lifestyle resulted in an increased demand for dietary diversity, better health
and well-being, new biomedicines, natural cosmeceuticals, environmental conservation,
and sustainable energy sources. These societal needs stimulated the interest of
researchers on the diverse and underexplored marine environments as promising and
sustainable sources of biomolecules and biomass, and they are addressed by the
emerging field of marine (blue) biotechnology. Blue biotechnology provides opportunities
for a wide range of initiatives of commercial interest for the pharmaceutical, biomedical,
cosmetic, nutraceutical, food, feed, agricultural, and related industries. This article
synthesizes the essence, opportunities, responsibilities, and challenges encountered in
marine biotechnology and outlines the attainment and valorization of directly derived
or bio-inspired products from marine organisms. First, the concept of bioeconomy is
introduced. Then, the diversity of marine bioresources including an overview of the most
prominent marine organisms and their potential for biotechnological uses are described.
This is followed by introducing methodologies for exploration of these resources and
the main use case scenarios in energy, food and feed, agronomy, bioremediation
and climate change, cosmeceuticals, bio-inspired materials, healthcare, and well-being
sectors. The key aspects in the fields of legislation and funding are provided, with the
emphasis on the importance of communication and stakeholder engagement at all
levels of biotechnology development. Finally, vital overarching concepts, such as the
quadruple helix and Responsible Research and Innovation principle are highlighted as
important to follow within the marine biotechnology field. The authors of this review
are collaborating under the European Commission-funded Cooperation in Science and
Technology (COST) Action Ocean4Biotech – European transdisciplinary networking
platform for marine biotechnology and focus the study on the European state of affairs.
Description
Keywords
Bioprospecting Blue growth Responsible research and innovation (RRI) Marine bioeconomy Marine biodiversity Marine natural products Sustainability Ethics
Citation
Publisher
Frontiers Media