Program Item Details
TITLE: Dr. Feral Temelli and Dr. Thava Vasathan, Researchers and Professors, Agriculture, Food and Nutritional Sciences, University of Alberta and Partners, Cevena Bioproducts Inc
SUBJECT: #63 Cevena Bioproducts Inc
SYNOPSIS: Two Alberta researchers have figured out how to spin barley into gold. Cevena Bioproductsis a spinoff company at the University of Alberta which has developed a new technique for separating beta glucans from barley. Financial support from AVAC and a two million dollar investment from Foragen Technologies Management Inc. will help Cevena move from the lab into a pilot plant. And the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is a 100 million dollar a year business. Dr. Feral Temelli and and Dr. Thava Vasathan are both professors in Agriculture, Food and Nutritional Sciences at the U of A.
AUDIO: Download Audio (mp3 format)
TRANSCRIPT:
Intro: There's more to barley and oats than horse feed. These grains contain beta glucans which have important benefits for people with heart disease and diabetes. Two researchers at the University of Alberta have discovered a better way to separate beta blucans from the grains. Their company name is Cevena Bioproducts Inc., which derives its name from the work cereal and the latin term for teins. They are now ready to test their technology in a pilot plant. This will happen thanks to a 2.3 million dollar investment from Foragen Technoligies Management Inc. Dr. Feral Temelli is a professor in the Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutritional Science at the University of Alberta.
Dr. Feral Temelli
FT: Well I have been working with barley for the past ten years. When the Alberta Barley Commission first announced that they will be supporting research projects, at that time, I decided to move into working with barley. So I've been working with barley and beta glucan for the past ten years. And this is basically an outcome of ten years of research, of course, in collaboration with Dr. Vasathan. And this is the accumulation of the know how and the expertise and the outcome of that.
CC: THE BETA GLUCAN, WHAT IS SO SPECIAL ABOUT THAT? WHAT HAVE YOU DISCOVERED?
FT: Well, the beta glucan is a soluable dietary fibre component. It's a poly saccharide, and it has been shown that it reduces blood cholesterol levels and it also regulates blood sugar levels. So I guess there are advantages for both heart disease and diabetes. So there is definitely a lot of potential in terms of its health benefits. <.p>
CC: WHAT IS IT THAT YOU ARE TRYING TO DO IN COMMERCIALIZING IT? WHAT ASPECT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?
FT: Well, the main thing we are looking at is to isolate beta glucan from oats and barley, so that it can be incorporated into other food products so it will be available to the public in a wider variety of products in the levels that will generate these health benefits.
CC: THIS SEPARATION, IS THAT WHAT THEY CALL FRACTIONATION?
FT: That's right. That's right. The fractionation process we're working on is being able to separate the grain into its components. Mainly we are separating the starch and the beta glucan.
CC: IS IT A DIFFICULT THING TO DO, SEPARATE THESE THINGS?
FT: Well, the technology obviously takes a long time to develop. But in the end we feel that the technology we have is a relatively simpler process compared to the traditional processes. So we're hopeful that we have a lot of potential to do this in a cost effective manner.
CC: WHAT IS IT ABOUT THE BETA GLUCAN THAT MAKES IT STAY IN THE OATS AND BARLEY AND NOT COME OUT? WHAT'S THE BIG OBSTACLE FOR YOU?
FT: The beta glucan is found in the cell walls of the endosperm part of the grain, and within the endosperm we have a mixture of starch, protein and beta glucans. So I think the trick is to be able to separate these components without destroying these components and still maintain their native form.
CC: THE MEDIA ANNOUNCEMENT TODAY WAS TO LET THE WORLD KNOW THAT YOU HAVE A BIG INVESTOR. WHAT DOES THIS DO FOR YOU AND THE RESEARCH AND HOW YOU ARE GOING TO GET AHEAD?
FT: Well, this is obviously a very exciting development for us. And with the investment, we will be able to expand our research program and we will be actually able to take it to larger scale pilot plant testing. Which otherwise we will not be able to, because as you see in our labs we are working with small beakers. And to be able to take it to the next level of working with industrial scale equipment, even though it's going to be in small scale, but we will be able to work with the industrial equipment. And it has its own challenges, so we are moving to the next phase with this big investment. And with our partners we are moving to that next level.
CC: WELL, I WISH YOU ALL THE BEST OF LUCK. THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
FT: Thank you very much.
Dr. Feral Temelli is a professor in the Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutritional Science at the University of Alberta and a co-discover of the new beta glucan fractionation process that is the basis of Cevena Bioproducts Inc
Intro: Dr. Temelli's fellow inventor and partner in Cevena Bioproducts is Dr. Thava Vasathan. He is also a professor in the Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutritional Science at the University of Alberta.
Dr. Thava Vasathan
TV: The traditional approach of selling grains as grains, that's not a profitable business any more. The grain utilization perspective has changed a lot in the last decade. And there's a lot of value in grain if you break them or if you separate the individual components of grains and sell them at a higher price. They have unique properties and functional properties. And so they can be applied in food as well as non-food applications. So when you fractionate and sell, you are increasing the value of the basic grain that you are selling.
CC: WHAT'S SPECIAL OR UNIQUE THEN ABOUT WHAT IS IT THAT YOU'RE DOING?
TV: The cost efficiency of our process is a key here. There are traditional technologies and the products are available. But they are very high cost, you see. It's not affordable to food industries to get those products and put in the food and get their margin back or their money back. Because you have to sell the Kellogg's or any cereal packets for more the six or seven dollars. I mean, people are looking for money as well.
So it's a cost efficiency and the quality that is the key here. We have reasonably good quality product and an affordable cost. So we are highly hoping we will catch the market.
CC: WHAT HAVE YOU HAD TO DO IN YOUR RESEARCH PROCESS? WHAT ARE SOME OF THE OBSTACLES OR DIFFICUTIES THAT YOU FACED?
TV: Initially it was started at a hobby in our lab. And when we found something interesting and we when wanted money to pursue that, the generous help from the Alberta Barley Commission, I really have to acknowledge their contribution here, financial as well as moral support. And also the Alberta Agriculture Research Institute, they funded this research to start.
We had the expertise here, and we knew the technology was going to work. But we didn't have the money. The people who contributed the finances really should be acknowledged here.
CC: WITH THE PARTNERSHIP WITH FORAGEN WHICH HAS PUT FORWARD A COUPLE OF MILLION DOLLARS, WHAT WILL THAT DO?
TV: We have done some preliminary testing in the lab, and nearly one year of work, and quite promising results we have obtained. The next step is we have to understand the technical and economic feasibility. We have done that in a theoretical basis, but nothing like running in an actual plant or pilot plant and checking the actual values of it. And we are quite confident it is going to work very well but still, it should be checked.
The pre-pilot scaling we are trying to do in the province here. For the large scale pilot testing we may have to go out of the province. But the investment dollars, its quite an expensive process to go through and talk to companies who are interested in our products. And to work with them to market our product. So the investment dollars are mainly going to be used for this purpose.
CC: WHEN DO YOU ACTUALLY EXPECT TO SEE THIS ON THE MARKET?
TV: If everything goes very well, we can have the product, at least a sample product, in the market in one and a half to two years.
CC: WELL, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
TV: Well, thank you. Thanks for coming by.
Dr. Thava Vasathan is a professor in the Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutritional Sciences at the University of Alberta. Working in collaboration with Dr. Feral Temelli, their research led to the establishment of Cevena Bioproducts Inc., a U of A spinoff company.