Nutraceutical  Research:

Technology Transfer and Commercialization in New Jersey

Staff:   Geetha Ghai (Coordinator)
            Charles Boyd         
            Stanley Cajigas
            Kuang Yu Chen
            Katalin Csiszar
            Chi-Tang Ho
            Mou-Tuan Huang
            Robert T. Rosen

Project Goal

    To establish a sound scientific basis for the use of foods and food compounds in disease prevention, in order to accelerate the growth of the emerging nutraceuticals market and to position New Jersey as the global leader in that market.

    To attain this goal, the project will meld previously distant fields into an integrated research thrust that is shaped from conceptualization through output with considerations for economic development. As food and food constituents providing disease prevention or medical benefits, nutraceuticals represent a bridge between two of New Jersey’s strongest industries, the food and pharmaceutical industries. At a time when the public is eagerly seeking to maintain health and prevent disease, food, food substances and dietary supplements are perceived increasingly as a desirable route toward personal control over health.

Innovative Approach          The most unusual "cognitive disjunct" to be overcome by the innovative project team is the apparent distance between the fields of food natural products chemistry and molecular medical biology, specifically discoveries from the ongoing human genome project identifying certain genes as playing roles in certain genetic disease (e.g., Alzheimers, prostate cancer, breast cancer).  The team is the first in the U.S. to have begun tackling this challenge by: 1) Identifying and screening for promising novel nutraceutical compounds from several sources; and 2) Developing genomic screens to assay compounds based on the up and down regulation of genes for discovery of biologically active compounds for nutraceuticals or novel lead compounds for development of human therapeutics.

Apoptosis (cell suicide) by food substances on cancer cells, but not on normal cells

Product Development/Outreach Services

Building on the research performed in this project, CAFT offers services to companies interested in commercializing new nutraceutical products or improving production efficiency of existing products. Utilizing resources of the Center’s Technology Extension Program, Food Manufacturing Technology Facility, and Analytical Instrumentation Facilities, CAFT offers the following services on a fee-for-service basis:

• Maximizing scientific opportunities for functional and medical foods and dietary supplements
• Developing products from laboratory to large-scale commercial applications
• Packaging developments for maximizing shelf-life and aesthetics
• Developmental manufacturing of samples for test market
• Evaluating ingredients with greatest short term and long term potential
• Conducting consumer research based on best delivery systems, attitudes about supplements, fortification, and natural products
• Performing clinical studies on effectiveness of ingredients and their delivery system
• Labeling alliances on products for FTC compliance
• Forming alliances between food and pharmaceutical companies
• Developing standardized products