Up to now, hardly anyone had this on the screen: to increase the effectiveness (adjuvant) of vaccines, the oil squalene is used and it is derived from animals. It is estimated that up to three million sharks are slaughtered annually for this. The oil is also used in the production of various other products, such as cosmetics and food supplements.

Due to the feverish search for a vaccine against the coronavirus, the demand for sharks has increased once again. At the same time, they are already on the red list.

Scientists from the Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology (acib) and from the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology at the Technical University, led by Prof. Dr. Harald Pichler, have therefore found another way to produce the required oil - with the help of brewer's yeast. They have already been able to successfully produce larger quantities in the laboratory. Brewer's yeast cells produce squalene naturally, but in small quantities.  Therefore, certain metabolic pathways of the yeast cells were modified in a way that they now enrich this oil many times over.

The researchers now want to optimize their development for industrial production.

Source:
https://www.laborpraxis.vogel.de/warum-fuer-impfstoffe-haie-sterben-noch-a-969691/?cmp=nl-102&uuid=63E3C4F6-4639-461D-B148-07624636FB83
https://www.acib.at/de/lab-produced-squalene/