Institute of Applied Biosciences (INAB) - Centre for Research and Technology (CERTH)
Company Profile
The Institute of Applied Biosciences (INAB) was established in 2012 by legislature No. 4051 (Government Gazette Issue 40 Α΄/ 29.02.2012) from the merge of the former Institutes of Agrobiotechnology and Biomedical & Biomolecular Research.
The mandate of INAB is to address the gap between research excellence and applications that meet end-user demands through close ties to interested stakeholders (SMEs, health sector, productive sector, social groups etc). Realizing that change happens fast in the world of work, driven by innovation and by developments in technology and markets, INAB will actively try to meet the challenge of keeping up with this pace of change through concerted actions in well-defined areas with scientific and economic relevance.
Three main pillars of research activities are covered:
- Agri-biotechnology
- Health translational research
- Informatics for big biodata
INAB currently has 8 researchers conducting cross-sector research in all three aforementioned pillars. It has experience in managing European & National R&D projects and has participated in more than 35 R&D EU and GSRT projects. INAB has an extensive network of collaborations throughout Greece, neighboring countries, Europe and the rest of the world. There are joint activities with more than 30 academic and research institutions in Greece, public agencies and private companies in more than 80 research programs.
INAB has a leading position in the fields of biotechnology and agri-biotechnology in Greece emphasizing on genomics applications and molecular biotechnology for the production of food with improved quality, new elite plant varieties and animal breeds, industrially relevant materials, genetically certified plant materials and microbial production systems of high added value products of industrial and pharmaceutical interest. Overall, INAB aims to provide solutions in important issues of the Greek agri-food value chain.
INAB is also conducting multidisciplinary biomedical research in the fields of genomics, bioinformatics, epigenetics and the science of nutrition in medicine. It has coordinated large-scale biomedical projects entailing the collaboration of academic institutes from both Europe and the US and reporting on genomic and functional studies of various types of cancers with a main emphasis on hematologic malignancies, on the largest thus far analysed patient cohorts.
INAB is very active in the field of ICT for health and personalized health. Its competences start from big data management, analytics and interpretation with data stemming from biomolecular to streaming data, to telemonitoring, medication, and social media data. E-Health systems based on medical devices and ICT are built aiming in producing third generation telemonitoring systems enabling disease management of chronic patients, multi-morbid patients, as well as preventive monitoring of healthy individuals. Finally, in-silico modeling of the human organism beyond the cellular level in the cardiovascular system as well as in the mental/immuno systems is a major focus of INAB.
The Institute of Applied Biosciences, aims to bridge the gap between bioscientific research excellence and applications meeting the evolving needs of the end-user. INAB is involved in the development and use of biotechnological applications taking full advantage of the current advances in the field with emphasis on “omic” sciences and applications to Health, Nutrition and Agri-Food sectors. To this end INAB exploits progresses in molecular biology, genome sequencing and mapping, computational biology, protein engineering, protein localization and trafficking, molecular breeding, plant-variety and animal-race typing. Current and future R&D activities include:
For the Food and Pharma Biotechnology Sector:
- Metatranscriptomics of algae species for the isolation of genes involved in the biosynthesis of bioactive compounds for pharmaceutical uses
- Sequencing of the Haslea ostrearia genome in order to elucidate the biosynthesis of the compound marenine
- 16S high throughput amplicon sequencing and metagenomic approaches on food samples to profile the microbial population during conservation and spoilage in order to avoid food-borne pathogens
- Isolation of microbes with potential health benefits
- Genome sequencing of yeast strains of industrial interest
- Transcriptomics and metabolomics of aromatic and pharmaceutical plants
For the Health Sector:
- High-throughput profiling of human cancer, with major emphasis on lymphoid malignancies, aiming at identifying novel pathomechanisms of disease, novel predictive and prognostic biomarkers and novel druggable targets
- High-throughput immunogenetics in health and disease aiming at identifying disease- and/or context-specific immune repertoire signatures
- Microenvironmental interactions in lymphomas, aiming at improved patient management through interventions on bystander cells and external triggers driving lymphoma evolution
- Molecular and clinical epidemiology studies in female genital cancer and chronic pulmonary disease, aiming at detailed mapping of incidence trends and identifying novel preventive strategies
For the Informatics for Big Biodata and the Medical Informatics Sector:
- Big data analytics for diverse types of health-related data, i.e. genetic, observational, physiological, biosensor, etc.
- Semantic integration of heterogeneous biomedical data – linked data for health
- Design, development and evaluation of systems/services exploiting new types of health-related data for personal health monitoring, lifestyle coaching and behavioural change (personal health systems, Ambient Assisted Living)
- Advanced drug safety surveillance methods - pharmacovigilance
- Learning Health Systems: applications in patient safety with emphasis on adverse event detection and prevention
Target Partners & Collaborations
The main three pillars of research activities that are covered by INAB are
- Agri-biotechnology
- Health translational research
- Informatics for big biodata,
Current and future R&D activities of the Institute of Applied Biosciences include:
For the Food and Pharma Biotechnology Sector:
- Metatranscriptomics of algae species for the isolation of genes involved in the biosynthesis of halogenate terpenes for pharmaceutical uses
- Sequencing of the Haslea ostrearia genome in order to elucidate the biosynthesis of the compound marenine
- 16S metagenomics on food samples to profile the microbial population during conservation and spoilage in order to avoid food-borne pathogens
- Isolation of microbes with potential health benefits
- Genome sequencing of yeast strains of industrial interest
- Molecular Marker Assisted (MMAss) breeding to improve local ovine races and plant varieties with higher nutrition content.
For the Health Sector:
- High-throughput profiling of human cancer, with major emphasis on lymphoid malignancies, aiming at identifying novel pathomechanisms of disease, novel predictive and prognostic biomarkers and novel druggable targets
- High-throughput immunogenetics in health and disease aiming at identifying disease- and/or context-specific immune repertoire signatures
- Microenvironmental interactions in lymphomas, aiming at improved patient management through interventions on bystander cells and external triggers driving lymphoma evolution
- Molecular and clinical epidemiology studies in female genital cancer and chronic pulmonary disease, aiming at detailed mapping of incidence trends and identifying novel preventive strategies
For the Informatics for Big Biodata and the Medical Informatics Sector:
- Big data analytics for diverse types of health-related data, i.e. genetic, observational, physiological, biosensor, etc.
- Semantic integration of heterogeneous biomedical data – linked data for health
- Design, development and evaluation of systems/services exploiting new types of health-related data for personal health monitoring, lifestyle coaching and behavioural change (personal health systems, Ambient Assisted Living)
- Advanced drug safety surveillance methods - pharmacovigilance
- Learning Health Systems: applications in patient safety with emphasis on adverse event detection and prevention
Therefore, we are interesting in getting in touch with companies or organizations of the same fields that will help us to expand our collaborations further not only in Greece but also abroad.
In addition, we are not opposed to collaborations that differentiate the aforementioned pillars but will have potential benefits to our institute.
Technologies / Services offered or sought
- Detection of DNA from Genetic Modified Organisms (GMO) in food products and seeds
- Detection of Horse, Pig, Chicken, Turkey, Bovine, Buffalo DNA in meat products.
- Genotyping of animals and plants
- Genotyping of microbes based on 16S analysis
- DNA microArrays to genotype animals for breeding efforts.
- Genetic traceability of food products (ex. Products made from Greek Black Pig, Fava Santorinis, monovarietal olive oils, Feta Cheese etc)
- Molecular breeding of animals and plants
- Molecular profile of food products (ex. Total fat, full profile of fatty acids, total polyphenols, olive oil phenols, full profile of free aminoacids
- Metagenomic analysis of microbes in fermented foods based on Illumina platforms
- Gut microbial profile based on 16S analysis and metagenomics based on illumine platforms
Technology and R&D
The Institute of Applied Biosciences, aims to bridge the gap between bioscientific research excellence and applications meeting the evolving needs of the end-user. INAB is involved in the development and use of biotechnological applications taking full advantage of the current advances in the field with emphasis on “omic” sciences and applications to Health, Nutrition and Agri-Food sectors. To this end INAB exploits progresses in molecular biology, genome sequencing and mapping, computational biology, protein engineering, protein localization and trafficking, molecular breeding, plant-variety and animal-race typing. Current and future R&D activities include:
For the Food and Pharma Biotechnology Sector:
- Metatranscriptomics of algae species for the isolation of genes involved in the biosynthesis of bioactive compounds for pharmaceutical uses
Sequencing of the Haslea ostrearia genome in order to elucidate the biosynthesis of the compound marenine
- 16S high throughput sequencing and metagenomics on food samples to profile the microbial population during conservation and spoilage in order to avoid food-borne pathogens
Isolation of microbes with potential health benefits
Genome sequencing of yeast strains of industrial interest
Transcriptomics and metabolomics of aromatic and pharmaceutical plants
For the Health Sector:
- High-throughput profiling of human cancer, with major emphasis on lymphoid malignancies, aiming at identifying novel pathomechanisms of disease, novel predictive and prognostic biomarkers and novel druggable targets
- High-throughput immunogenetics in health and disease aiming at identifying disease- and/or context-specific immune repertoire signatures
- Microenvironmental interactions in lymphomas, aiming at improved patient management through interventions on bystander cells and external triggers driving lymphoma evolution
- Molecular and clinical epidemiology studies in female genital cancer and chronic pulmonary disease, aiming at detailed mapping of incidence trends and identifying novel preventive strategies
For the Informatics for Big Biodata and the Medical Informatics Sector:
- Big data analytics for diverse types of health-related data, i.e. genetic, observational, physiological, biosensor, etc.
- Semantic integration of heterogeneous biomedical data – linked data for health
- Design, development and evaluation of systems/services exploiting new types of health-related data for personal health monitoring, lifestyle coaching and behavioural change (personal health systems, Ambient Assisted Living)
- Advanced drug safety surveillance methods - pharmacovigilance
- Learning Health Systems: applications in patient safety with emphasis on adverse event detection and prevention
Clients & Collaborations (NATIONAL)
1. Hematology Department and HCT Unit, G. Papanicolaou Hospital, Thessaloniki
2. Hematology Department, Nikea General Hospital, Athens
3. Hematopathology Department, Evangelismos Hospital, Athens
4. School of Medicine, University of Crete, Heraklion
5. School of Medicine, University of Patras
6. School of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
7. School of Medicine, Democritus University of Thrace
8. Faculty of forestry, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. Dept of Electrical & Computer Engng, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. Dept of Electrical & Computer Engng, National Technical University of Athens
11. Institute of Communication and Computer Systems, Athens
12. School of Informatics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
13. School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
14. School of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
15. School of Pharmacy, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
16. Agricultural University of Athens
17. Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Democritus University of Thrace
18. Department of Agricultural Development, Democritus University of Thrace
19. School of Pharmacy, University of Athens
20. School of Sciences and Technologies, University of Ioannina
21. Hematology Department and HCT Unit, G. Papanicolaou Hospital, Thessaloniki
22. Hematology Department, Nikea General Hospital, Athens
23. Hematopathology Department, Evangelismos Hospital, Athens
24. School of Medicine, University of Crete, Heraklion
25. School of Medicine, University of Patras
26. School of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
27. School of Medicine, Democritus University of Thrace
28. Faculty of forestry, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
29. Dept of Electrical & Computer Engng, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
30. Dept of Electrical & Computer Engng, National Technical University of Athens
31. Institute of Communication and Computer Systems, Athens
32. School of Informatics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
33. School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
34. School of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
35. School of Pharmacy, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
36. Agricultural University of Athens
37. Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Democritus University of Thrace
38. Department of Agricultural Development, Democritus University of Thrace
39. School of Pharmacy, University of Athens
40. School of Sciences and Technologies, University of Ioannina
41. Hellenic Agricultural Organization, Demeter
42. Hellenic Society of Haematology
43. University Hospital of Heraklion
44. Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania
45. FORTH – Institute of Computer Science, Crete
46. Intrasoft S.A.
47. SINGULAR LOGIC S.A
48. MLS Multimedia AE
49. BYTE Computer SA
50. SafeBlood-Boanalytica SA
51. PZ Zafiropoulos SA
52. ANTISEL SA
53. Genesis Pharma
54. Leriva SA
55. Varelas SA
56. Eulambia Advanced Technologies LTD, Greece
From Greece
- Hematology Department and HCT Unit, G. Papanicolaou Hospital, Thessaloniki
- Hematology Department, Nikea General Hospital, Athens
- Hematopathology Department, Evangelismos Hospital, Athens
- School of Medicine, University of Crete, Heraklion
- School of Medicine, University of Patras
- School of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
- School of Medicine, Democritus University of Thrace
- Faculty of forestry, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
- Dept of Electrical & Computer Engng, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
- Dept of Electrical & Computer Engng, National Technical University of Athens
- Institute of Communication and Computer Systems, Athens
- School of Informatics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
- School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
- School of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
- School of Pharmacy, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
- Agricultural University of Athens
- Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Democritus University of Thrace
- Department of Agricultural Development, Democritus University of Thrace
- School of Pharmacy, University of Athens
- School of Sciences and Technologies, University of Ioannina
- Hematology Department and HCT Unit, G. Papanicolaou Hospital, Thessaloniki
- Hematology Department, Nikea General Hospital, Athens
- Hematopathology Department, Evangelismos Hospital, Athens
- School of Medicine, University of Crete, Heraklion
- School of Medicine, University of Patras
- School of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
- School of Medicine, Democritus University of Thrace
- Faculty of forestry, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
- Dept of Electrical & Computer Engng, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
- Dept of Electrical & Computer Engng, National Technical University of Athens
- Institute of Communication and Computer Systems, Athens
- School of Informatics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
- School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
- School of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
- School of Pharmacy, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
- Agricultural University of Athens
- Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Democritus University of Thrace
- Department of Agricultural Development, Democritus University of Thrace
- School of Pharmacy, University of Athens
- School of Sciences and Technologies, University of Ioannina
- Hellenic Agricultural Organization, Demeter
- Hellenic Society of Haematology
- University Hospital of Heraklion
- Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania
- FORTH – Institute of Computer Science, Crete
- Intrasoft S.A.
- SINGULAR LOGIC S.A
- MLS Multimedia AE
- BYTE Computer SA
- SafeBlood-Boanalytica SA
- PZ Zafiropoulos SA
- ANTISEL SA
- Genesis Pharma
- Leriva SA
- Varelas SA
- Eulambia Advanced Technologies LTD, Greece
Clients & Collaborations (INTERNATIONAL)
- IMGT®, the international ImMunoGeneTics information system®, Université Montpellier 2, LIGM, Institut de Génétique Humaine IGH, UPR CNRS 1142, Montpellier, France
- Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
- Department of Genetics and Pathology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
- The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, Manhasset, NY, US
- Department of Haematology, Royal Bournemouth Hospital, Bournemouth, United Kingdom
- Department of Immunology, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands
- Department of Hematooncology, University Hospital Brno and Central European Institute of Technology, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
- Department of Hematology, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Department of Haematology, Imperial College Academic Health Science Centre, Hammersmith Hospital, London, United Kingdom
- CERMS, San Giovanni Battista Hospital, Turin, Italy
- Laboratory of B Cell Neoplasia and Unit of Lymphoid Malignancies, Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele and Istituto Scientifico San Raffaele, Milan, Italy
- Hematology Department and University Pierre et Marie Curie, Hôpital Pitié-Salpètrière, Paris, France
- Lund University and Hospital Department of Hematology, Lund, Sweden
- Hopital Henri Mondor, and Universite Paris-XII Val de Marnes, Creteil, France
- Hospital Clinic, and University of Barcelona, Institute of Biomedical Research August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Barcelona, Spain
- Department of Pathology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, Netherlands
- Hôpital Necker, Paris, France
- Department of Oncology, The Norwegian Radium Hospital, Oslo, Norway
- Department of Internal Medicine III, University Hospital Munich, Munich, Germany
- Pathology Department, University of Wuerzburg, Wuerzburg, Germany
- University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein, Kiel, Germany
- Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom
- Hospital Virgen de la Salud, Toledo, Spain
- Department of Hematology, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy
- Hospices Civils de Lyon, Université Lyon 1, Lyon, France
- Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, US
- Hospital Universitario Marques de Valdecilla, Santander, Spain
- Kings College, London, UK
- Wageningen Institute, The Netherlands
- Molecular and Oncology Research Institute, Tufts University, US
- University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, US
- Veterinary School of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Max-Plank Institute, Jena, Germany
- Pfizer, Joint Genome Institute, Department of Energy, US
- Euroclonality-NGS Network
- Istituto Nazionale per la Ricerca sul Cancro, Genoa, Italy
- Institute of Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering, University of Belgrade, Serbia
- European Research Initiative on CLL
- Central European Institute of Technology
- National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, Bethesda, MD, US
- Engineering Department, Harper Adams University, UK
- Department of Engineering, Aarhus University, Denmark
- Singapore Institute for Neurotechnology, National University of Singapore, Singapore
- Fox Chase Cancer Center, PA, US
- Faculty of Pharmacy, University Ss Cyril and Methodius, FYROM
- Dpt. of Biotechnology, Univ. of Tirana, Albania
- Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, Croatia
- Plant Sciences, University of Manchester
- Dipartimento di Scienze delle Produzioni Agrarie e Alimentari Università of Catania, Italy
- University of Novi Sad, Serbia
- Plant production research center Piestany, Slovakia
- Dpt. of Biology, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, China
- School of Biological and Biomedical Sciences Dpt. of Chemistry University of Durham, UK
- Institute of Sciences of Food Production (ISPA), National Research Council (CNR), Italy
- Edmund Mach Foundation, Istituto Agrario di San Michele all’Adige (IASMA), Italy
- SINTEF, Norway
- IBM, Haifa
- PHILIPS
- Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
- Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto, Canada
- Austrian Institute of Technology, Vienna, Austria
- Norwegian Telemedicine Center
- University Polytechnico of Valencia, Spain
- ERIKSSON S.A., Croatia
- CNR, Pisa, Italy
- GNUBILA, France
- EXUS S.A., London, UK
- MAXELER Technologies, UK
- TIME.LEX, Brussels, Belgium
- Kingston University, London, UK
- Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam, the Netherlands
- Croydon Health Services NHS Trust, London, UK
- GLOBAZ S.A., Portugal
- Medasys, Paris, France
- Technosite, Madrid, Spain
- LIMICS, UMRS1142, INSERM – UPMC – Université Paris 13, Paris, France
- Centre Régional de Pharmacovigilance, Hôpital Européen Georges-Pompidou, AP-HP, Paris, France
- University Hospital of Lille, France
- University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology (UMIT), Hall in Tirol, Austria
- Dublin City University, Ireland
- University of Ulster, Ireland
- Electronic Record Services B.V., Netherlands
- Nurogames GmbH, Germany
- Engineering IT, Italy
- Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
- Mater Hospital, Ireland
- University of Glasgow, UK
- Vastra Gotalands Lans Landsting, Sweden
- Linkopings Universitet - Centre For Dementia Research, Sweden
- Fundacion Instituto Gerontologico Matia – Ingema, Spain
- Consorcio Regional De Transportes De Madrid, Spain
- University of Sheffield, UK
- Roessingh Research and Development BV, The Netherlands
- Internationales Informationszentrum für Terminologie, Austria
- Institut Jozef Stefan, Slovenia
- Open Evidence, Spain
- Stichting Trivium Meulenbelt Groep, The Netherlands
- Virtualware 2007 SA, Spain
- Association for the Advancement of Assistive Technology in Europe (AAATE), Denmark
- Sheffcare Ltd, UK
- Doktor24 d.o.o., Slovenia
- Telbios S.p.a, Italy
- Bit4ID s.r.l., Italy
- Fundacio Eurocat (EURECAT), Spain
- Agencia de Qualitat i Avaluacio Sanitaries de Catalunya (AQUAS), Spain
- Consorci Institut d'Investigacions Biomediques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Spain
- Consorzio Interuniversitario Nazionale per l’Informatica (CINI), Italy
- Commissariat a l’Energie Atomique Et Aux Energies Alternatives (CEA)
- MedCom, Denmark
- Sundhed.dk IS, Denmark
- Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine, UK
- Fondazione Santobono Pausilipon onlus, Italy
- Novartis
- Janssen Pharmaceuticals
- Gilead Sciences
- Roche SA
- Celgene
- Illumina
- Beckton Dickinson
- MLL Lab
