COOPERATING PARTNERS

The HYPER-MASTIC research project involves reputable Academic and Corporate Institutions. These partners already have extensive cooperation and preliminary results available, to support the possible antihypertensive action of Chios mastic products.

The cooperating partners are:

- IASIS PHARMACEUTICALS HELLAS S.A., Pharmaceutical Industry

IASIS PHARMA is a purely Greek pharmaceutical industry, active in the production, research and development, import and marketing of medicines, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, having its production plant in operation since 1985, in the area of ​​Kamatero, Attica.

IASIS PHARMA serves 2 strategic directions:

Development: medicines that serve specialized therapeutic categories
Research: from the basic ingredients to the final products, the company invests in herbal medicines, recognizing their importance in the prevention and treatment of diseases.

IASIS PHARMA production unit operates under the strictest and most modern production standards cGMP, cGLP, while it is certified by Bureau Veritas with ISO 9001: 2015 (Quality Management System). The unit has an operating license from the Greek National Organization for Medicines (EOF), while it has been inspected by Medicines Organizations of other countries, resulting in being considered suitable for the certification of analytical methods.

Furthermore, in recent years IASIS PHARMA holds the production and commercial promotion within the medical community and pharmacies, of an OTC pharmaceutical product in the form of a 350 mg capsule, indicated for the gastrointestinal system. This product’s active substance, Chios mastic, is supplied as a raw material by Chios Gum Mastic Growers Association.

In 2016, in pursuance to meet the ever-increasing production needs both for the greek and -mainly- for the foreign market, IASIS PHARMA proceeded to acquire a new ownership. This property is located within the Industrial Zone of Koropi, Attica and has an area of ​​42 acres. It has building facilities with industrial specifications of an area of ​​about 9 acres, where the construction of new modern Facilities takes place, including three dedicated and separated Production Facilities, Logistics & Distribution Center, as well as a fully equipped Research & Development Center.


- Chios Gum Mastic Growers Association L.L.C.

Chios Gum Mastic Growers Association L.L.C. was founded in 1938. It is a Compulsory Cooperative and the exclusive management administrator of natural Chios mastic for Greece and abroad. Chios Gum Mastic Growers Association L.L.C. is the collective expression of the 20 primary cooperatives that operate within the 24 mastic villages located in southern Chios, Greece. Today, the Association’s 4.850 members make it one of the largest organizations in the area of North Aegean.

Chios Gum Mastic Growers Association aims for the ubiquitous consumer to get to know Chios mastic through modern and beneficial products for health, products unique in taste and scent, with important and certified healing properties. Furthermore, respecting the growers’ hard work and efforts, Chios Gum Mastic Growers Association stands by their side, helping them to upgrade the cultivation of Chios mastic, to improve the production process and to ensure the highest profit for them.

Chios Gum Mastic Growers Association produces, packages and markets natural Chios mastic, mastic oil and mastic water, mastic powders and ELMA chewing gums. Its commercial activity is mainly focused on exports, as about 75% of the Chios mastic annual production is promoted in foreign markets. Noteworthy is the fact that the most important products of the Association are products of Protected Designation of Origin (PDO).

Currently, the Association’s Administration has approved the basic directions of a medium to long-term Development and Reorganization Plan, with a budget of €10.000.000. That plan’s implementation is expected to lead to even higher levels of returns and performance, that will ensure both the present and the future of mastic growers. Furthermore, the Association’s new facilities establishment in Kardamada, ​​Chios, the Chios Mastic Research & Development Center establishment and the creation of "Mastic Museum" in Chios, within the co-financing plan of the European structural and investment funds (ESIF), will also contribute to the Association’s Development and Reorganization Plan mentioned above.

Chios Gum Mastic Growers Association has funded a total of 29 research projects and studies, carried out by research Centers and Universities both from Greece and abroad, at a total cost of €513.100, while it has co-financed 3 research programs in cooperation with the Greek General Secreteriat for Research and Innovation. Τhe results that came up, significantly contributed to the worldwide aknowledgement of Chios mastic’s beneficial properties and promoted products based on Chios mastic in the international markets.


- Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, School of Health Sciences & Education, Harokopio University of Athens

Harokopio University of Athens is, according to the chronological order of its foundation, the 18th University of Greece. It was established with article 9 of Greek Law 1894/90, as amended by article 17 of Greek Law 1966/91, on the initiative of Professor Georgios Karabatzos († 2011). Harokopio University is named after the national benefactor Panagi Harokopou, a cosmopolitan Greek from abroad with a European orientation, who envisioned an educational institution with excellent building infrastructure and equipment, in harmony with the natural environment, that would offer the most modern scientific expressions.

Harokopio University has three Faculties and five Postgraduate Programs. The research developed at the University contributes to the promotion of scientific knowledge and public health, as well as to the improvement of the economic and social development of Greece. The University has developed several collaborations through various Memoranda of Cooperation, bilateral agreements of the ERASMUS action, as well as research programs in cooperation with Universities in Greece and abroad.

The Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, School of Health Sciences & Education, Harokopio University of Athens, was founded in 1992 under the name of “Dietology Department”. It became operational in 1994 with the introduction of its first students, while in 1999 it was renamed in “Department of Nutrition and Dietetics”. In 2013, the Department joined the School of Health Sciences & Education, Harokopio University of Athens.

The Department of Nutrition and Dietetics consists of the oldest University Department in the field of diet & nutrition in Greece. Along with the students’ education, research programs are developed, many of them with international collaborations, the results of which rank the Department among the top in Europe. From the Academic Year 2000-01 and on, the Department also provides a Postgraduate Program, with full and part time options, which leads to a postgraduate and doctoral degree.

The Department aims to train scientists, who will apply the Science of Dietetics and Nutrition to improve the eating habits and nutritional status of both individuals and groups of the population, either healthy or with health problems, infants, children, adolescents, athletes and people with disabilities.

The training provided in the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, covers the widest range of subjects in Nutrition, Metabolism, Pathophysiology, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Food Science, combining theoretical teaching with laboratory and practical exercises, and monitors current scientific developments in nutrition and health.

The Department also runs high level research programs, contributing to the promotion of scientific knowledge and public health, as well as the economic and social development of the country.

- National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, NKUA:

The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) was officially founded in 1837. It is the leading and most well-known academic institution in Greece, offering valuable educational services. NKUA, with the dynamics of its members (approximately 80,000 pregraduate and postgraduate students, over 2,000 members of academic staff and approximately 1,300 administrative and secretarial staff), is at the leading edge of education and research.

More specifically, the Departments from the UOA participating to the HYPER-MASTIC scientific project are the following:

  • Department of Pharmacy, Division of Pharmacognosy and Natural Products Chemistry, NKUA

    The Division of Pharmacognosy and Natural Products Chemistry (DPNPC) belongs to the Department of Pharmacy of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. The main research activities of DPNPC include the discovery of new active natural products with various applications, such as pharmaceuticals, food supplements, cosmetics and agrochemicals based on the Greek, Mediterranean and global biodiversity. In that scope, DPNPC has an extensive library of plants numbering more than 1000 species, most of which are endemic.

    In particular, the main activities of the DPNPC include:

    • the extraction and isolation of natural products on a laboratory and pilot scale, focusing on the application of advanced techniques and the optimization of extraction / isolation protocols, with particular emphasis on the use of "green" techniques
    • the isolation and identification of new molecules with possible biological activity
    • the development and application of analytical methods for the qualitative and quantitative characterization of extracts, fractions, and pure substances, with possible application in quality control and authentication studies
    • the metabolomic study of extracts and biological materials using state-of-the-art technologies such as high-resolution mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, with the aim of discovering biomarker molecules
    • the development and validation of analytical methods for the qualitative and quantitative determination of natural products and biomarker compounds in biological fluids and other substrates
    • the semi-synthesis and lead scaffold modification of natural products for the increase of their bioactivity
    • the preliminary evaluation of the biological activity of extracts and pure compounds using enzymatic assays
  • Faculty of Biology, Department of Cell Biology and Biophysics, NKUA (Research Group: Molecular-Cellular Ageing and Carcinogenesis)

The Department of Cell Biology and Biophysics is based at the Faculty of Biology, the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece.

The research Group of “Molecular-Cellular Ageing and Carcinogenesis” (MCAC) (PI: Professor Ioannis P Trougakos) which participates in the HYPER-MASTIC project, has intense research activity in various fields of cell-molecular biology, including those of aging and age-related diseases (e.g., cancer, neurodegenerative diseases), as well as in the study of the bioactivity of medicinal and/or natural products.

The MCAC group has published a large number of research papers in leading international scientific journals in recent years. It has also participated in several National and International research projects, as well as in clinical trials of pharmaceuticals.

The available equipment of the MCAC group meets the requirements of the scientific project HYPER-MASTIC since the group has all the needed laboratory and technological infrastructure for the research areas of molecular-cell biology, biochemistry, cell culture, metabolism, culturing of experimental models (e.g., Drosophila insects), high-resolution bioimaging, and the high throughput study of the bioactivity of medicinal and/or natural products.The MCAC group also participates in the National Infrastructures projects BioImaging-GR and PlantUP-GR, thus its members have access to a number of additional state-of-the-art research technologies.

 

  • Therapeutical Clinic of Medical School, NKUA

The Therapeutical Clinic (TC) is located at the "Alexandra" Hospital, Athens, and belongs to the Medical School of NKUA. TC is one of the oldest Clinics of the Medical School and the only one in Greece that has as its main academic object the teaching, research and applied practice of Clinical Therapy in a wide range of Pathological diseases. It has 110 hospital beds, ambulatory and emergency care facilities, as well as specialized Units with laboratories of various pathological specialties. One of them is the Unit of Angiology and Pathophysiology of the Endothelium and the Hypertension Unit of the Therapeutical Clinic, which have been collaborating during the recent decades, with the aim of studying vascular inflammation in atherosclerosis and hypertension.

Previous experience

The Endothelial Angiology and Pathophysiology Unit of the Therapeutical Clinic has been operating since 1995 with a focus on clinical, teaching and research activities. More specifically, it provides clinical and diagnostic examinations of vascular diseases to patients at Alexandra Hospital and other hospitals in Athens.

In addition, the Therapeutical Clinic contributes significantly to the completion of many doctoral dissertations. It also participates in the education and training of doctors of various specialties.

The research range of the Clinic is focused on:
i) the study of vascular inflammation in atherosclerosis and hypertension
ii) the identification of new cardiovascular risk biomarkers
iii) the study of the effect of epigenomic and epigraphic mechanisms on atherosclerosis
iv) the study of the effect of interventions with pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical agents, in newer indicators of vascular inflammation and atherosclerosis.

The Clinic’s Hypertension Facility has been operating since 1991, with the main clinical goal of diagnosing and treating hypertension. The Hypertension Facility examines more than 1100 patients annually. The educational activities of the Facility include completion doctoral dissertations and hypertension training for postdoctoral students and practitioners.

The research range of the Therapeutical Clinic include the study of blood pressure recording, the hypertension phenotypes, the variability of blood pressure, dysautonomic parameters and the effect of all the above on the lesions of target organs of hypertension.

In total, the research activity of the Therapeutical Clinic has resulted in more than 200 international publications in high-level scientific journals, such as Nature Medicine, Annals of Internal Medicine, Blood, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Hypertension, Stroke, etc.

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