Journalist from Dazhong Daily Zhang Xiaofan

2022-11-10 16:55:57 Release source: Dazhong Newspaper · Dazhong Daily App

Recently, the first China Postnatal Metatechnology Conference, initiated and hosted by Qingdao Yuanda Biotechnology, was successfully held in Qingdao. Nearly 20 top experts from all over the country and more than 80 industry leading enterprises conducted discussions on "Fundamental Research and Industrialization of Emerging Elements". The conference focuses closely on the development of the health industry, exchanging new technologies and achievements in the field of health research, and discussing new directions and paths for promoting high-quality development of the health industry as an emerging functional raw material.

Postbiotics, an excellent health effect factor, has become a blue ocean in the big health industry due to its outstanding efficacy in promoting body health and its advantages in safety, efficiency, and multi scenario applications. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the "Postnatal Element", the reporter interviewed Professor Li Zhaojie, one of the founders of Yuanda Biotechnology Co., Ltd. and a professor at Qingdao Agricultural University.

Why did the Postnatal Element suddenly explode?

The emergence, development, and explosive growth of the primordial element are not overnight, but rather have their own path of growth.

At present, China has entered the era of big health, and the public's awareness of health is gradually shifting from "treating the disease before it occurs" to "treating the disease before it occurs", which is also an inherent demand for the development of the big health industry.

However, in modern society, with the changes in people's work and lifestyle, such as high work and life pressure, fast pace, and unhealthy and irregular diet, gastrointestinal problems have become increasingly serious. Under the new requirements of the national strategy of "Healthy China 2030" and the development of the big health industry, from the perspective of "preventing diseases before they occur", finding beneficial microecological preparations and functional biological materials for intestinal health and human immunity has become a breakthrough point to promote the transformation and upgrading of the big health industry and high-quality development. Probiotics have become widely recognized by the public as a micro ecological product that promotes physical health.

With the continuous deepening of research on probiotics, researchers have found that the dead cells and even their metabolites of many microorganisms also have good probiotic effects, that is, prebiotics. In fact, research on epigenetics has been ongoing in the scientific community for many years, but it was not until May 2021 that the International Association of Probiotics and Prebiotics Sciences (ISAPP) released its first consensus statement on epigenetics globally, which clarified the definition and scope of epigenetics for the first time. In China, in August 2022, the Chinese Society for Food Science and Technology organized industry experts to jointly write a review titled "Research Status and Industrial Applications of Postbiotics", which was published in the well-known EI journal "Chinese Journal of Food Science and Technology" in the domestic food field. It was the first time in China to release a consensus statement on Postbiotics.

At the same time as issuing a consensus statement on epigenetic elements, the above-mentioned institutions also pointed out the efficacy, advantages, and scope of application of epigenetic elements. The application scope of Postbiotics is very wide, and it can be used in multiple industries such as food, health products, cosmetics, feed, plant nutrition, etc., with broad market application potential.

Under the urgent need for the transformation and upgrading of the big health industry, the emergence of young talents as an outstanding health effect factor has timely entered the field of vision and immediately ignited the industry, showing a trend of explosion.

Why launch the China Postnatal Metatechnology Conference?

Professor Li Zhaojie introduced that this should start from the development trend of the probiotic industry, the multifunctionality and high application properties of the emerging elements. With the continuous deepening of research on probiotics, the probiotic industry is constantly iterating and upgrading. In recent years, scientists have found that the various probiotic effects of probiotics are closely related to their dead cells or metabolites, which has upgraded the probiotic industry to the next stage of industrial development, namely the emergence of probiotics. With the successive release of consensus statements on the concept of reincarnation both domestically and internationally, China has ushered in the era of reincarnation 1.0.

At the beginning of the development of the emerging industry in China, it is beneficial to gather academic and industry colleagues to discuss the research and industrialization of emerging industries. This will greatly benefit the healthy and rapid development of China's emerging industry and empower the development of the big health industry.

In this context, Dr. Peng Chuantao from Yuanda Biotechnology, together with Academician Chen Wei from Jiangnan University, Professor Zhang Heping, Director of the Key Laboratory of Dairy Biology and Engineering at Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, and Vice President Zhao Jinshan of Qingdao Agricultural University, and other well-known scholars and experts, jointly initiated the establishment of the China Postnatal Metatechnology Conference to create an important exchange platform for the high-quality development of the Postnatal Metatechnology industry.

What are the highlights of the China Postnatal Metatechnology Conference?

The reporter learned that there are two major highlights of this conference.

One major highlight is the establishment of the Chinese Postnatal Industry Development Community. In order to promote the healthy and rapid development of China's emerging industries, Qingdao Agricultural University and Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, together with 22 industry leading enterprises such as Beijing Ketao Hengtong Biotechnology Co., Ltd., Qingdao Yuanda Biotechnology Co., Ltd., and China Resources Jiangzhong Pharmaceutical Group, have established the China Emerging Industry Development Community and the Expert Committee of the Emerging Industry Community. The establishment of a community not only creates a platform for communication, exchange, and cooperation among member units, but also enables the organization of cross disciplinary, cross industry, and cross regional demonstration applications, accelerates core technology research and development, promotes the integration of industry, academia, research, and application, promotes the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, and plays a positive role in promoting the research and industrial application of emerging elements, as well as the integrated development between the supply and demand sides of emerging elements.

This is the first innovation and entrepreneurship community in China that focuses on the development of emerging industries, indicating that China's emerging industries will embark on a path of collective, healthy, and benign development, and the development of China's emerging industries is poised to take off. In addition, the community will gradually attract more outstanding enterprises to join based on the development of emerging industries, continuously develop emerging industry alliances, and achieve mutual promotion, sharing, and prosperity.

The second highlight of this conference is the release of 6 annual post production raw materials and 2 annual post production products. This is the specific implementation of the technology conference to promote the development of emerging industries.

What stage of development is the emerging generation currently in both domestic and international?

At present, in developed regions such as Japan and Europe, the layout of the emerging industry chain has begun to take shape, and the commercialization process is constantly advancing. The emerging industries in our country are in their infancy, but they are developing rapidly. Yuanda Biotechnology is the first domestic research and production enterprise dedicated to the development and production of raw materials and terminal products for metaelements. Currently, Yuanda Biotechnology's research in the field of metaelements mainly includes two aspects. On the one hand, it is a key preparation technology for epigenetic elements. On the other hand, there is scientific evidence for the emergence of new elements. The efficacy of epigenetic elements must be validated through animal experiments or clinical trials. Yuanda Biotechnology is at the forefront of this field in China, and has conducted multiple animal experiments and population experiments to evaluate the efficacy of post production elements.

What breakthrough changes can Postnatal Elements bring to the food nutrition and health track?

The components of epigenetic elements are complex, including not only bacterial components such as peptidoglycan and phosphoric acid, but also active metabolites such as vitamins, lipids, organic acids, bacteriocins, and short chain fatty acids. The diversity of ingredients determines that it has multiple functional characteristics.

In addition to possessing this multifunctionality, epigenetic elements also have multiple advantages:

Firstly, the primordial element is more stable. Postbiotics have a longer shelf life and better environmental tolerance, making them more tolerant of food processing methods. They can be applied to processed foods such as dairy products, beverages, baked goods, and candy products at room temperature. Moreover, post production products do not require cold chain transportation during storage and transportation, which can significantly reduce the transportation cost of food.

Secondly, the safety of offspring is higher. Postnatal elements are also adapted to certain special populations such as newborns and sensitive individuals, and are not inhibited by the interference of antibiotics. If applied to the food industry, safety will also be greatly improved.

In addition, epigenetic elements have a wider range of targets of action. Postbiotics are not limited to the intestine, but can be targeted in the oral cavity, skin, urogenital tract, or nasopharynx, and are more easily absorbed by the intestine to improve utilization. Therefore, the application range of epigenetic elements is very wide and can be used in multiple industries such as food, health products, cosmetics, feed, plant nutrition, etc.

What difficulties may young people encounter on the path of industrialization? How to solve it?

In the early stages of development, any technology will face corresponding challenges. Professor Li Zhaojie stated that in the process of industrialization development, there are challenges in the following aspects:

Firstly, policies and regulations urgently need to be improved. Although the relevant standards for the generation of offspring are currently on the way, there is still a need to accelerate progress and shorten the cycle.

Secondly, we will continue to strengthen technological innovation in emerging industries. The industrialization of emerging elements cannot be separated from technological innovation and evidence-based efficacy evaluation. Therefore, it is necessary to avoid only hyping up concepts and neglecting technological innovation and efficacy evaluation.

Similarly, this is something that all young peers need to strive for and persist in. I believe that with the joint efforts of industry experts and peers, the emerging industry will become a powerful force in promoting the high-quality development of China's health industry.

(Reported by Zhang Xiaofan, a reporter from the Dazhong Daily client)