About Biolink Group
About Biolink Group
The areas of business in Biolink Group AS are Biotech R&D within “Life Science” and “Sustainable Environment”. We are convinced that these two business areas will grow extraordinarily strong and steady in the decades to come.
Biolink Group´s main goal is to utilize biological active anthocyanins as a platform for development of novel industrial applications.
Biolink Group was founded in 1999. The company is located at Hanabryggene Technologycentre in Sandnes, Norway close to the international airport of Stavanger.
Biolink Group AS is the holding company in the company group. It handles all administrative tasks, including managment, for the other companies in the group.
During the last 20 years, the team has become a world leader within applications utilizing anthocyanins.
The group is working on scale up of the synthesis making the anthocyanins available for selected novel industrial application areas.
Biolink Group is working on several industrial application areas among others are:
- Diagnostic system for endometriosis
- Smart breeding system for cattle
- Ingredient for functional food
- Medical applications
What are Anthocyanins
Anthocyanins are antioxidant flavonoids that protect many body systems. They have some of the strongest physiological effects of any known plant compounds.
Anthocyanins are the active component in several herbal folk medicines such as bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus), which was used in the 12th century to induce menstruation and later to improve eye sight. Our scientists are now discovering the in vivo mechanisms of such anthocyanins, and appreciation of their enormous health benefits continues to increase.
Anthocyanins link with sugar molecules to form anthocyanins; after chlorophyll, anthocyanins are probably the most important group of visible plant pigments. Anthocyanins, a flavonoid category, have been found to be one of the strongest antioxidants among the 4000 flavonoids we currently know about.
In vivo studies have proven anthocyanidins to express their antioxidant power through a recycling effect with the body’s own, most important antioxidant, glutathione. Vitamin C and vitamin E, which in vitro are very strong antioxidants, do not retain this effect, hence displaying only a fraction of the antioxidant effect compared to anthocyanidins in man.
In animal studies, the anthocyanin cyanidin has proven to protect cell membrane lipids from oxidation by a variety of harmful substances.Additional animal studies confirm that cyanidin is four times more powerful an antioxidant than vitamin E. The anthocyanin pelargonidin protects the amino acid tyrosine from the highly reactive oxidant peroxynitrite.
As anthocyanins have recently been shown to possess very strong anti-inflammatory properties (NF-KappaB), and as there is a synergic link between oxidation, chronic inflammation and the metabolic syndrome, the potential pharmaceutical applications of the Biolink Group’s synthetic anthocyanins have increased manifold over the last few years.
Collaboration with Universities
Biolink Group is contributing to the resarch sosiety both in Norway and internationally by offering PhD students and Master students the ability to do their resarch within the group.
The students work at the company laboratories and do the formal fields of study at a colaborating university.
Throughout the years, many students have benefitted from the co operation with the universities.
Research
Biolink Group has deliverd different pure molecues to more than 600 R&D groups all over the world. The customers are universities, university hospitals and pharma companies.
Biolink Group has also supported a great number of medical studies with anthocyanins and knowledge. The studies have been publised in well reputated international publications.