Contact
Ólafur H. Friðjónsson
Research Group Leader
olafur@matis.is
Marine invertebrates produce many valuable medicinal substances. The sea cucumber Cucumaria frondosa produces, for example, frondoside A, which has many functions, against cancer and neurodegenerative diseases.
The aim is to develop invertebrate cell lines for the production of bioactive substances. Matís will work with Cucumaria frondosa for that purpose. Production in cell cultures is supposed to replace fishing and processing of the organisms in question, which in many cases have been overexploited and cannot withstand heavy fishing load.