Katharina Nøkling-Eide
PhD candidate, SINTEF Industry (Industrial and Marine Biotechnology) and Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)
https://www.sintef.no/en/all-employees/employee/8075/

Macroalgae contain chemical compounds unique for them (including biopolymers, polyphenols and pigments), with many desirable bioactivities targeting food, feed and medical applications. I am working with standardisation of extraction, purification and characterisation methods of the macroalgal compounds, to better understand the relationship between chemical structure and biological activity, such as anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory effects. Working with material both from cultivated and wild growing macroalgae, the aim is to find products that could facilitate a further upscaling of the macroalgal industry in Norway.

Maren Oftebro
PhD candidate, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), NOBIPOL group
https://www.ntnu.no/ansatte/maren.oftebro

I work on characterizing the structure of fucoidan, a valuable bioactive polysaccharide isolated from brown seaweed, as well as isolating and characterizing novel fucoidan active enzymes. Fucoidan is a highly complex sulfated polysaccharide that poses problems with regards to structural determination and fine characterization, due to its heterologous buildup of varying sulfation degree, different substituents and sub-structural groups. Screening for new fucoidan active enzymes, and establishing their activity on fucoidan from different species, can aid in the understanding the relationship between fucoidan structure and its function as a bioactive component.

Cecilie Bay Wirenfeldt
PhD candidate, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and Technical University of Denmark (DTU)
https://orbit.dtu.dk/en/persons/cecilie-wirenfeldt-nielsen

My primary interest is seaweed as food. I am a food engineer with a research focus on how seaweed food quality is affected by processing after harvest. I mainly work with processes such as drying and blanching. I have worked on the reduction of iodine by blanching, which showed promising results. Currently, I am looking into shelf stability and new drying methods.

Johanna Liberg Krook
Industrial PhD candidate, Orkla Ocean and Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU)
https://www.nmbu.no/med/johanna.mathilda.liberg.krook

I work with seaweed, mainly sugar kelp and winged kelp, as a food ingredient in common food products. Farming of seaweed is sustainable, scalable and can play a role in meeting the need for increased food production now and in the future. Seaweed as a raw material has many interesting properties as a food ingredient, both nutritional and technological. For large scale use of seaweed as a food ingredient we need more knowledge on the processing of seaweed to obtain a high quality, safe and nutritious raw material, how seaweed as an ingredient interact with other ingredients in a food matrix and develop seaweed ingredients suitable for different applications. This is also what my PhD project is about, to study different aspects of using seaweed as an ingredient in common food products – from sea to table.

Nanna Rhein-Knudsen
Post doctor, Norwegian University of Life Science (NMBU)
https://www.nmbu.no/emp/nanna.rhein-knudsen

I work on characterizing new fucoidan active enzymes. Fucoidans are complex polysaccharides found naturally in brown seaweeds, with chemical structures that vary depending on seaweed specie. Different important bioactivities have been reported for fucoidans and fucoidan oligomers but the exact underlying chemical structures responsible for these activities are still unknown. The discovery and use of fucoidan active enzymes can potentially be used to elucidate the structural components responsible for these activities and also assist in the production of bioactive oligomers with different structural elements.