IsoLife - Stable Isotope Labelled Plant Products for the Life Sciences

Highlights

December 9, 2009
Trace gas detector central in large EU project Ultragas.

The trace gas detector developed at Radboud University Nijmegen plays a central role in a 4,2 Meuro EU-project. The innovative measuring technique will be applicated in fruit storage, greenhouse crops, and in medical diagnostics. IsoLife is one of the partners to further develop this high-tech detector for use in her labeling facility.

August 25, 2009
Intecol 2009.

The Intecol congress held in Brisbane on August 15 – 21, 2009 has been a very successful event. Interesting discussions with participants, nice temperatures, and good foods & drinks, have yielded new valuable ideas on how to use stable isotope labelled higher plants and plant components in ecological sciences. For those who missed it: download our poster presentation here.

June 1, 2009
Stable Isotopes Support Functional Ingredients Research.

Interview in Food Marketing & Technology about the use of stable isotopes in food research.
Read more »

May 27, 2009
A novel method for the quantification of quinic acid in food products.

Publication of "A novel method for the quantification of quinic acid in food using stable isotope dilution analysis", based on the use of IsoLife's 13C-Quinic acid as an internal standard.

May 22, 2009
Prize winning publication with IsoLife's 13C-potato starch.

The scientific paper "Linking phylogenetic identities of bacteria to starch fermentation in an in vitro model of the large intestine by RNA-based stable isotope probing" won the prestigious TIFN publication prize. Read more »

May 14, 2009
IsoLife receives the TechnoPartner Certificate.

The Dutch minister of Economic Affairs Maria van der Hoeven and ABN AMRO have awarded IsoLife's highly innovative R&D plans with the TechnoPartner Certificate. The certificate acknowledges the courage, knowledge, and perseverance to further develop her innovative initiatives to commercial successes.

March 1, 2009
Healthy food: Potato products with low caloric values and high dietary fiber contents.

Potatoes are a good, natural source of carbohydrates, energy, dietary fiber, minerals, and vitamins. 13C-labeled potatoes are extremely helpful to investigate the caloric properties and the behavior of functional components of specific potato varieties in a normal daily diet. For this purpose, IsoLife has produced several stable isotope labelled potato varieties during recent years. One of the projects - co-financed by ‘Samenwerkingsverband Noord-Nederland’ and performed by IsoLife in co-operation with the partners HZPC, Aviko and the University Medical Center Groningen – investigated whether the caloric value of potatoes and potato products could be (further) decreased by specific procedures in potato breeding or product processing.

HZPC Holland BV is a breeding company and a trade company for the development and sales of innovative potato varieties in the potato supply chain with focus on potatoes for consumption and potatoes for French fries, chips and the food chain.
AVIKO BV is the largest Dutch producer of potato products with focus on health aspects.
The ‘Center for Medical Biomics’ (UMCG), the department of professor Roel Vonk, has contributed in areas like digestion, fermentation, and metabolism of potato components in relation to human health. The UMCG has co-ordinated the large EU-research project EUROSTARCH

The results, based on detailed experiments with 13C-labelled potato products, show that the caloric value of potato products can indeed be (further) decreased through changes in their composition.

  This project was co-financed by the European Community, the European Regional Development Fund, and the “Samenwerkingsverband Noord-Nederland (SNN)”, a joint agreement between the provinces of Drenthe, Groningen and Fryslân. EZ/KOMPAS under number AA099.  

September 1, 2008
Development of 13C-labelled cannabinoids and 13C-hemp oil fatty acids.

IsoLife BV, Prisna BV and Bedrocan BV have joined forces to develop a new high-quality hemp oil and an innovative set of reference standards for mass spectrometry, including 13C-labelled cannabinoids and hemp oil fatty acids.

June 7, 2008


Isolife BV has been identified by FEM Business Tech 25 as one of 25 young, innovative companies who 'shake the market with brilliant ideas'.

October 27, 2007
Greenhouse crops extra healthy through hightech developments.

Isolife BV and Plant Dynamics BV have signed an agreement to develop a innovative sensor technology for continuous monitoring and steering plant vitality and content of health promoting bioactive compounds.

September 24, 2007
Asian specialty.

Uniformly (~98%) 13C-labelled kangkong is now available! Kangkong (Ipomea aquatica Forsk.), also known as water spinach, is an important green leafy vegetable in Southeast Asia. There are two common types. One type is growing on land and one type grows near waterways. The land-grown type has long, narrow leaves, the water-grown Kangkong has broader leaves.

Kangkong has known qualities for health! Kangkong contains large amounts of anti-oxidants like chlorogenic acid and is recommended to strengthen the body's resistance to cancer, diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases. Nutrients in kangkong are Vitamins A and C. Moreover, because it is also rich in iron, the vegetable is recommended to patients suffering from anemia.

April 27, 2007
Methane emission from plants: Yes they do! No they don't!

In 2006, Nature published a sensational article by Keppler et al, who claimed that plants would be able to emit methane under aerobic conditions. A Dutch consortium consisting of IsoLife, Plant Research International, Plant Dynamics, Nijmegen Radboud University, Utrecht University tried to reproduce their results using a novel technique with uniformly 13C-labelled plants. We found methane emissions that were between 0.1% and 0.3% of the rates reported by Nature. Apparently, the textbooks do not have to be rewritten. Our findings have been published in New Phytologist (for further details see Applications; for more news read the News commentaries).

July 20, 2006
The first uniformly uniformly 13C-labelled tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill. cv 'MicroTom') were harvested.

We are proud to have served our customers with mature, uniformly (~98% 13C) labelled tomatoes.

December 1-3, 2005
First results published on U13C-starch using RNA-SIP

Kovatcheva-Datchary et al. published their results of research performed at the Wageningen Centre of Food Science (WCFS; www.foodsciences.nl) with U13C-starch using the RNA-SIP-technique on the congress "Biomedicine in the Post-Genomic Era" in Mexico. They concluded that "RNA-SIP has the potential to elucidate microbial structurefunction relationships in the human colon, e.g. regarding the fermentation of dietary relevant carbohydrates". For more details download the WCFS poster.

April 2, 2005
Wageningers produceren planten met louter zware isotopen

Zware planten
Twee Wageningse biologen kweken planten op in een hermetisch gesloten ruimte. Zo kunnen ze planten laten groeien op voeding naar keuze die geheel voorzien is van zware isotopen. 'Dat opent een heel nieuwe wereld van onderzoek.'
bron: NRC Handelsblad Wetenschap & Onderwijs - Sander Voormolen
Lees meer »

February 3, 2005
BioPartner Masterclass Award 2004

IsoLife's businessplan received the BioPartner Masterclass Award 2004. The plan was judged by a jury consisting of representatives from industry, the financial world, and BioPartner.

The founders of IsoLife, Ton Gorissen and Ries de Visser, received the price from Chris Buijink, Director-General Enterprise and Innovation at the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs.

From left to right: Ton Gorissen, Chris Buijink, Ries de Visser

From left to right:
Ton Gorissen, Chris Buijink, Ries de Visser

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