Description of the Project

The main goal of the MediHealth project is to introduce a novel approach for the discovery of active agents of food plants from the Mediterranean diet and other global sources to promote healthy ageing.

The project is based on a well-balanced exchange of researchers between 5 universities and 4 companies from European countries as well as 4 universities from non-European countries.

It is developed on the needs and interests of both sectors exploiting the existing complementary expertise. Selected plants from the Mediterranean diet and food plants from Africa, Asia, and South America are subjected to in silico, in vitro (advanced cell-based assays), in vivo (flies and mice models), & metabolism analysis.

Advanced analytical techniques complement the pharmacological evaluation process for the efficient isolation and identification of bioactive plant constituents. Furthermore, pharmacological profiling of bioactive natural products as well as identification and synthesis of their metabolites are carried out. Finally, to carry innovative products in the area of nutraceuticals/dietary supplements to the stage of development, process-optimization studies are performed. 

Within this project, core scientific multidisciplinary knowledge from different research areas is integrated creating valuable synergies. Moreover, expertise is transferred by training of seconded researchers in environments with different research orientation where complimentary skills are required. 

MediHealth aspires to comprise a successful model promoting researchers’ competences and long-lasting collaborations between Industry and Academia generating innovation potential at international levels.