Food tech and the search for disease cures

NCDs are defined as chronic illnesses caused by genetic, physiological, environmental and behaviours factors, such as  diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular diseases. NCDs kill 40 million people globally each year and in Ireland alone, they account for 90 per cent of all national yearly deaths. But medical solutions are thriving in an area rapidly emerging as the next generation of scientific research; it is part of a wave of innovative new startups by young entrepreneurs who want to use the power of new technologies to transform the world.

That area is food tech.

Dublin-based enterprise Nuritas is making big advances in the field of genomics (the study of DNA) by uncovering masses of hidden food molecules that improve disease-fighting capabilities, called bioactive peptides.

Bioactive peptides are small proteins found in living organisms – from plants to humans – that provide a virtual barrier to harmful cells. In mammals they are generated in parts of the body most likely to be exposed to harsh conditions: the eyes, lungs and skin.

One of the many marvels of peptides is they can protect against a range of cardiovascular and other types of diseases.

Certain types, namely cationic and hydrophobic peptides, inhibit the virus from entering the organism by interacting with host cells. One particular example is mucroporin-M1, a cationic peptide found in scorpion venom, which has shown to defend against measles.

But as peptide research demands a delicate extraction of key components, it has proven to be a lengthy and painstaking procedure up to now. Nuritas plans to solve that with their new AI-powered platform.

Their method consists of outlining a list of desired health effects and running their query through a database of recorded everyday foods using a digital algorithm, which identifies the appropriate peptides for the requested function. After that they can extract the peptides at a more efficient and quicker rate.

In fact, the company claim they can identify bioactive peptides ten times faster and 500 times more accurately than traditional methods.

“A lot of it used to be done through what was called random screening,” says CEO Emmet Browne. “Effectively if you want to imagine it, it was like looking at a door. People knew they wanted to treat an illness but they were shown only glints of molecules that exist within a door without anybody opening it.”

“Through random screening you’re just sorting key after key after key, hoping that they’re the right shape to enter the lock and open it. Occasionally – very, very, very occasionally – you had a 0.1 percent chance of actually finding a key that went into a door and opened it,” he says.

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