The Oresund region aims at becoming Europe’s microbiome Mecca
Av The bacteria, viruses and fungi that live in the human body have become the subject of
growing interest and additional studies. 20 years ago, the term microbiome barely existed in scientific literature, but today, thousands of studies are produced every year on that very subject.
For the last few years, Medicon Valley Alliance, Invest in Skåne and Copenhagen Capacity have been jointly running a project that aims to make the Oresund region a world leader in the microbiome field.
“We wanted to focus on a specific area in life science to attract targeted investments and talent to this region,” says Sarah Lidé, Project Manager for The Microbiome Signature Project.
As microbiome is a relatively new field of research, there are not many established clusters that focus on it compared to other scientific areas. This presented an opportunity that the Medicon Valley Alliance wants to take advantage of, and the Oresund region can take the lead.
Sarah Lidé emphasises that there are many related fields with excellent research in
the region, and she mentions immune diseases, metabolic diseases and functional food.
Read this article in Swedish:
Samlar krafterna kring mikrobiomforskning
Danish and Swedish companies such as Probi, Ferring, Chr. Hansen and Biogaia all work with applied research on microbiome in one way or another. At the universities of Lund and Copenhagen, as well as the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), there is basic research
in the field.
Some companies in the microbiome field have also attracted criticism. These companies claim that they can produce dietary recommendations based on intestinal samples, and they allege that there is a causal link between a particular microbiome and specific diseases
with no scientific evidence to substantiate these claims.
How do you ensure that the activities you highlight and work with are credible?
“We have a close collaboration with researchers at universities, and we consult with them. Therefore, we can feel confident and trust that our work is based on science.”
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