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Translating human biomedical technology for fish health and nutrition Marie-Christine Imbert and Timothy A. Bouley, BioFeyn
Better feed for better fish BioFeyn is a new company applying technology developed for human biomedicine to improve fish health and nutrition. Using specialized methods for protecting marine ingredients, this technology amplifies their effect. A system of biocompatible and biodegradable encapsulations is at the core of this science and requires only trace amounts of marine ingredients to be effective. The new method enhances digestion, absorption, bioavailability and delivery to target tissues helping fish grow and remain healthy. This method also has scope to minimize environmental pressures, both in terms of sourcing important ingredients, while reducing pollution associated with nutrient leakage from animal feed and animal mortality-related waste. It is our ultimate intention that this system enables more and healthier fish for farmers, more demand for sustainable ingredients, and more nutrition for a growing fish-consuming population. The encapsulation concept Encapsulation has had a long history in human health and medicine and has been extensively deployed as tool to protect and enable bioactive compounds. Using this technique, nutrients, enzymes, antioxidants, medicines, vaccines and others can be both protected against physical, chemical, and biological stresses and optimized for uptake in the gut and target tissues. The basic premise of protecting and boosting the properties of a “payload” by covering it in another substance works across scale, ranging from nanometers to micrometers and in some instances even at the macroscopic scale.
Figure 1. Negatively charged synthetic polymer shell capsules loaded with curcumin. Table 1. Capsule statistics (from three production batches).
Payload Curcumin
Size (nm) 196.6 ± 6.14
Pdl 0.08 ± 0.04
SEM image.
One recent, prominent example of an encapsulation application at the nanoscale is the COVID-19 vaccine. Both the Pfizer and Moderna formulations each contain mRNA encapsulated in a lipid nanoparticle. These landmark vaccines place a spotlight on this critical area of development for future technologies.
BioFeyn products, insights, and challenges There are many applications of encapsulation technology that can improve aquaculture. BioFeyn solutions, however, focus on protecting the most fragile and limited ingredients. Initially, we have been doing so using nano-scale protections, creating submicron shells and matrices loaded with a compound.
Aquafeed: Advances in Processing & Formulation Vol 13 Issue 1 2021
