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Supporting the process of fish reproduction in the event of an environmental disaster, safeguarding the stability of breeding in fish hatcheries and protecting the gene pool – these are the main objectives of the fish semen banks that scientists from the Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Olsztyn are developing.

– Awareness of the need for fish semen banks continues to grow. Last year’s ecological catastrophe on the Oder River in Poland made us realise how important it is to have backup to be able to start the process of reproduction of native fish populations efficiently and effectively in such situations – emphasises Dr. Sylwia Judycka from the Department of Gamete and Embryo Biology of the IAR&FR PAS.

In addition to protecting endangered species or entire fish populations, semen banks also make it possible to safeguard the stability of breeding lines in fish hatcheries. Dr Sylwia Judycka worked on the creation of a fish semen bank for the largest facility of this type in Poland, located in Dąbie (Dąbie Fish Hatchery). The project was implemented as part of a project from the National Centre for Research and Development (NCBiR).

– Having frozen semen greatly improves breeding in various situations, e.g. when sexual maturity of females and males does not occur at the same time for various reasons, or when a breeding farm does not have sexually mature males in a certain year, making it impossible to obtain fresh semen for spawning – the scientist points out.

Supporting efficiency in breeding is not the only reason for having a fish semen bank. – Catastrophes can also occur in farms when a dangerous virus for fish is detected in the water. In such situations, unfortunately, the entire stock of the farm has to be disposed of. It can take years to rebuild it by natural means; using frozen semen of valuable breeding lines, the process will be much quicker – stresses Sylwia Judycka.

As the researcher points out, currently the main barrier against having a fish sperm bank is financial: the cost of creating such a base and maintaining it.

Fish semen is cryopreserved (stored at an ultra-low temperature of -196°C) before being deposited in the bank. – We fill thin straws, several centimetres long, with semen, which are frozen on special frames in liquid nitrogen vapour and then transferred to liquid nitrogen containers. Each straw with a sample of frozen semen is accurately labelled, which enables the frozen semen samples to be correctly identified and has a specific number of sperm per millilitre – the scientist explains.

The lifespan of semen frozen and stored in this way is calculated to be up to thousands of years. – So far, we have tested semen thawed after several years and it was still of high quality – Sylwia Judycka reports.

Dr. Sylwia Judycka’s research interests include studies of fish semen – its quality or learning about the mechanisms responsible for, e.g. the maturation of spermatozoa in rainbow trout neo-males (neo-males are sex-reversed fish). The main method used in Dr. Sylwia Judycka’s research is the aforementioned cryopreservation.

Dr Sylwia Judycka’s recent scientific publications have included the development of guidelines for improving the cryopreservation process and semen quality assessment of sex-reversed salmonids.

In September, the researcher starts a three-month research internship in France (at the Laboratory of Fish Physiology and Genomics of the INRAE in Rennes) to learn about a research technique called gene editing and be able to use it later in her further research.

For her scientific achievements, Dr. Sylwia Judycka was awarded the 'L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women and Science’ scholarship (2022).

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Dr Joanna Szuszkiewicz, who completed her PhD thesis under the supervision of Prof. Monika Kaczmarek, received the Scientific Award of the Society for Reproductive Biology for the best scientific work in the field of reproductive biology in 2022.

The awarded publication entitled „Early steps of embryo implantation are regulated by exchange of extracellular vesicles between the embryo and the endometrium” by Joanna Szuszkiewicz, Kamil Myszczynski, Zaneta P. Reliszko, Yael Heifetz and Monika M. Kaczmarek was published in FASEB Journal 36: e22450 (2022); https://doi.org/10.1096/fj.202200677R. This publication was included in the doctoral thesis of Dr. Szuszkiewicz, conducted under the supervision of Prof. Monika Kaczmarek and defended at the Institute’s Hormonal Action Mechanisms Department in March, 2023.

Dr. Szuszkiewicz and coworkers (2021) described the mechanism of communication between the embryo and the mother in the peri-implantation period with the participation of extracellular vesicles (EVs) carrying miRNAs. EVs, identified in the uterus, together with the miRNAs they carry, of both embryonic and maternal origin, appear to modulate the transcriptome of the embryo, affecting its proper growth, development, and implantation. These results make an important contribution to our understanding of the complex processes involved in early pregnancy.

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The Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research PAS has joined a large EU partnership for the development of sustainable production, processing, distribution and consumption of food – Future FoodS. This only Polish entity in the international consortium will be responsible for creating a European network of so-called living labs, i.e. laboratories where new solutions for the agrifood industry will be developed and tested.

– Ensuring people’s food security is one of the key challenges around the world. In this context, it is important that actions for the production and consumption of healthy, nutritious and diverse food also translate into sustainable environmental, social and economic development. Therefore, the mission of our partnership is to integrate the work of European research centers and the food industry in order to create a healthy, environmentally friendly, socially safe, fair and economically viable food system in Europe, in the perspective of 2030 and beyond, emphasizes Mariusz Piskuła, director of the Institute.

87 institutions from all over the European Union participate in the Partnership for Sustainable Food Systems – Future FoodS. These are scientific entities, food producers, legislators, innovation support centers and organizations operating in the agri-food industry. The initiative is coordinated by the French National Research Agency (ANF).

The Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research PAS is one of the most significant research centers in Poland focusing on scientific research in the field of food, e.g. its safety, health-promoting effect or food innovations.

As part of the partnership, the Polish representative, together with the large Belgian agri-food cluster Flanders’ Food, will co-manage the work to create an EU network of so-called living labs.

– Living labs are multi-stakeholder structures, open to innovation and local cooperation. Their main task is to  test solutions in real conditions, with the participation of all interested parties. In our case, these are laboratories where new solutions in the field of food are developed and tested, e.g. with consumers as active agents. As part of the partnership, we will identify such places in Poland and other European Union countries, and then we will create an international network – explains Iwona Kieda, project manager at the Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research PAS.

The aim of the European Union is that in the future this network of living laboratories will form the backbone of an ecosystem of food systems.

The activities carried out under the described partnership focus on the issue of sustainable food systems. It is about such a system of food production and consumption, which in a fair and honest way will provide the society with safe and healthy food, taking care of low environmental impact.

The consortium will announce external calls for international projects open to entities from outside the partnership, which will promote research and innovation in such areas as:

• ensuring food security;
• reducing greenhouse gas emissions from food systems;
• ensuring the availability of water, e.g. in the context of droughts affecting Europe;
• preventing food waste;
• appropriate business models for the food sector in the European Union, including i.a. environmentally friendly management;
• ensuring diversity and inclusiveness in food systems.

The Partnership for Sustainable Food Systems is part of the global efforts of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, in particular Goal 17: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development.

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The potential of honey to prevent e.g. hypertension, obesity and neurological diseases will be examined by scientists from the Department of Chemistry and Biodynamics of Food at IARFR PAS, as part of a project financed by the National Center for Research and Development.

– Honey is rich in many ingredients with health-promoting properties, which has already been described in scientific publications. We will test the potential of honey in the prevention of civilization diseases. We will verify whether honeys – enriched with targeted additions of antioxidants of natural origin – have the potential to prevent i.a. hypertension, obesity or neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s – says Dr. Małgorzata Starowicz, head of the Department of Food Chemistry and Biodynamics of  Food at IARFR PAS in Olsztyn.

Poland is the largest producer of honey in Europe, and its production is an important element of the national economy.

In the opinion of Dr. Małgorzata Starowicz, it is worth monitoring and improving analytical techniques for determining the level of bioactive compounds, i.e. those that can affect the proper functioning of our body, because high environmental pollution, the use of plant protection products or climate changes (e.g. droughts) negatively affect the amount of honey produced by bees and its quality.

– The most commonly consumed types of honey are multiflorous, linden and buckwheat. All honeys are healthy, but in our previous studies we showed that the latter – buckwheat honey – is the richest source of polyphenolic compounds among the basic types of honey and it shows the highest antioxidant activity – the scientist points out.

What to look for when buying honey?

– Consumers are often guided by the crystallization of honey, considering it a negative value, but it is a natural process. It is worth remembering that each honey is specific in this respect, e.g. acacia honey can remain liquid for several months, unlike rapeseed honey, which crystallizes very quickly, because the crystallization process begins after 1-2 weeks. In turn, heather honey crystallizes, taking the form of a „jelly” – says the researcher.

She also reminds that it is best to buy honey straight from the apiary or from local producers.

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Buckwheat husk is a waste product that housewives used to fill pillows and mattresses with. Today, it is also known to be a valuable source of dietary fibre and compounds with antioxidant properties. Dr. Małgorzata Wronkowska from the Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Olsztyn convinces that it is worth adding it to bread.

– The novelty of our research is the use of ground buckwheat hulls in a retail bakery product. The bread we have proposed using buckwheat hulls is richer than the traditional bread with an increased proportion of dietary fibre and compounds with proven antioxidant properties – emphasises one of the authors of the study, Dr. Małgorzata Wronkowska, from the Department of Chemistry and Biodynamics of Food at the Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Olsztyn.

The results of the study were described in a paper published in the journal „European Food Research and Technology” .

VALUABLE WASTE

Buckwheat is included in the group of so-called pseudo-cereals, which produce seeds similar to cereal grains. The seeds are then used to produce one of Poland’s most popular groats, as well as buckwheat flour. They are rich in nutrients including dietary fibre, high-quality protein, vitamins, minerals or compounds with antioxidant properties. In addition, they are gluten-free products.

During the production of buckwheat groats, the husk is separated from the seeds. For decades, this waste was used to fill mattresses and pillows, and is now also used as a substrate for biofuel production, among other things.

As Małgorzata Wronkowska points out, the husk is, indeed, a waste product, but an extremely valuable one.
– The husk of every seed is a reservoir of many valuable ingredients. By getting rid of it, we remove not only dietary fibre, but also many micro- and macroelements and vitamins. Therefore, it is recommended to eat processed cereals as little as possible – the scientist points out.

BREAD WITH HUSK

Scientists from Olsztyn decided to study whether and how buckwheat hulls could be used in food products and, in particular, in bread.

They developed a recipe for enriching the composition of traditional Balton bread and graham rolls with ground buckwheat hulls. These products were available for retail sale in Warmia and Masuria.

In vitro studies, which simulated the conditions of digestion occurring in the human body, confirmed that 3% buckwheat hull in bread can have a beneficial effect on the human body. – In the proposed digestion model, we showed that the components that are released from a solid food matrix, which in this case was a popular and generally available bakery product, are compounds that exhibit antioxidant activity. And thus they can be, after digestion, better absorbed by the body – the scientist points out.

In studies on the sensory evaluation of baked products containing buckwheat hulls, consumers and experts have pointed to a perceptible 'sandy’ quality in the texture of the bread. As the co-author of the study explains, this is due to the degree of hardness of the buckwheat hull, which can only be ground in suitable equipment; this is unlikely to be possible at home. – Recently, however, a ground buckwheat husk product has become available in the retail market, which consumers can use themselves, for example, as an addition to home-made bread – the researcher adds.

In future, the Olsztyn researchers would also like to find out whether and how buckwheat hulls can be used to produce other bakery products such as cakes or savoury snacks. – Since we already know that buckwheat hull is a very valuable raw material, why not use it to obtain other products as well – concludes Małgorzata Wronkowska.

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The recipe for the baked product described in the aforementioned publication was presented to bakeries cooperating with the Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Olsztyn during a project led by Professor Henryk Zieliński of the Department of Chemistry and Biodynamics of Food. In this project, scientists proposed enriching bakery products (bread and rolls) available for retail sale in the Warmia and Mazury region with various ingredients (such as buckwheat hulls or onions) that contain biologically active compounds with positive (tested and documented) effects on human health.

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