gms | German Medical Science

Objectives: The BlueHealthTech project is globally the first project of its kind to systematically link marine research (Blue) to the healthcare sector and medical industry (Health) to develop new instrumental diagnostic approaches, methods, and tools. Furthermore, to identify and extract new substances from marine organisms to further improve the therapies and treatment of chronic and other diseases in the future.

Methods: Marine and medical research have more in common than is usually known. This is because all analytical and instrumental methods used in marine research can also be used to analyze body fluids such as blood, urine, and sweat. The best example is the use of the echo sounder method for water depth measurements in the sea, which was later transferred to medicine to visualize non-invasively human organs as it is applied today as sonography. In addition, mathematical models and concepts of marine research are also transferable to medicine. The only difference is the scale of the processes, which are many orders of magnitude larger in the sea than in the human body. Another aspect that connects marine research and medicine is that chemical substances produced by marine organisms are already the pharmaceutical base of many drugs and will increasingly become more important in the future.

Results and conclusion: In currently 11 projects clinicians and marine researchers are working closely together to develop new diagnostic tools or extract marine substances for new drugs.

Among them, the project “hyperquant” is developing new methods for the non-invasive measurement and visualization of metabolic processes, lung function, and drug distribution using Magnetic resonance therapy (MRT).

In another project (IsoOx) oxidative Stress being hypothesized to cause a variety of diseases is studied by determining the isotope ratios of essential elements such as zinc and copper in blood and urine. Precise determination of these isotope ratios may help to quantify the degree of oxidative stress from a simple blood sample.

To improve the diagnostic of neurodegenerative diseases the project „NeuroMetals“ is studying selective trace element and isotope ratios on specific proteins by applying a sophisticated analytical approach.

Substances produced by marine organisms like the Fucoidans have biological properties that make them interesting for the treatment or prevention of certain diseases like age-related macular degeneration (AMD), among others. In the project „FucoKiel“ promising Fucoidans will be identified in in-vitro studies to later test and possibly apply them for AMD healing.

In summary, the BlueHealthTech alliance provides an excellent platform for the interaction of medicine and marine sciences for the development of new and innovative diagnostic, treatment, and therapy approaches for future medicine.