Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad researchers have derived collagen from waste eel skin and shown that tissue scaffolds built using such collagen allow growth and proliferation of stem cells. The practical applications of this research can lead to utilising eel fish skin-derived collagen as a promising alternative to animal derived collagen, which are expensive and associated with pathological diseases.
The Researchers believe that sustainable utilisation of marine discarded eel skin derived-collagen for the biomedical application would boost Indian ‘blue’ bioeconomic growth and help in the development of an alternate industry that converts waste into useful products.
Explaining this research and it’s significance, Dr Mano Govindharaj, Young Scientist Fellow, Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Laboratory, IIT Hyderabad, said: “Our team’s finding is a valuable asset in the area of ‘blue’ biotechnology. The color ‘blue’ in biotechnology is assigned to the development of technology on the basis of aquaculture, coastal and marine biology. Our research group at IIT Hyderabad uses a common marine waste product for producing collagen, a biomaterial that is extensively used in tissue engineering.”
Low immunogenicity, porous structure, good permeability, biocompatibility and biodegradability make collagen scaffolds useful in tissue engineering applications. Collagen is usually extracted from bovine skin and tendons, porcine skin and rat tail. Such sources are associated with several problems such as the spread of diseases such as the mad-cow disease and religious constraints of using certain animals. Extraction of collagen from non-mammalian sources is therefore attractive.