The company

EderaGen was established by professor emeritus Jan Raa together with his long-term partner in other businesses, Knut Eirik Andersen, and is the result of decades of scientific and business experience. Later, the esteemed scientist Pål Trosvik joined the Company, contributing with cutting edge competence in human and animal microbial ecosystems. The scientific and business experience includes microbiology, biochemistry, aquaculture, marine biotechnology, immunology, genetics, physiology, etc., as well as commercialization in the biomedical industry, genetic analysis, and other relevant disciplines.

EderaGen develops concepts and applications based on ecological principles, with the goal of balancing the microbial community in the human gut, and of strengthening our innate immune system. A varied and healthy gut microbial community interacts with our body in multiple ways of major importance for our health and well-being. Being a technology driven science, research on the human microbiome has expanded explosively since the turn of the century to become one of the hottest research topics in medicine and life sciences today.

Advanced ultra-high-throughput DNA-analysis enables EderaGen to characterize complex microbial communities, such as those found in the gut. This descriptive technology is also used as a tool for developing compositions to balance the gut microbiota in an ecological manner.

Get in touch

Email

mail@ederagen.no

EderaGen AS

Litleåsvegen 13
N-5132 Nyborg (Bergen)
Norway

The people

Dr. Jan Raa

Our Chairman and main shareholder is Professor emeritus Dr. Jan Raa, who has been associate professor in cell biology at University of Bergen, professor in microbiology at the University of Tromsø, General Director of Research of two National Norwegian research institutes (today NIFES and NOFIMA). Based on own inventions Jan Raa has founded and contributed to establishing several new companies, including the biomedical company ArcticZymes ASA (listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange) where he acted as the Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) until 2008. Jan Raa has received the Commander of St. Olav’s Order from the Norwegian King for his achievements and contributions to industrial innovations.

Knut Eirik Andersen

Our CEO is Knut Eirik Andersen, who has been holding leading positions in emerging businesses in Norway and abroad. The experience comprises business administration within R&D, development and commercialization of biotechnological products, and includes the present biomedical company ArcticZymes ASA where he was the first Managing Director at the time when beta-1,3/1,6-glucans were researched and developed as commercial products. A significant part of his experience has been won internationally.

Dr. Pål Trosvik

Our senior scientist Dr. Pål Trosvik is an esteemed contributor in multiple publications about human and animal gut microbiota and related topics in international scientific publications, including Nature, Microbiome, Journal of Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Environmental Microbiology, International Journal of Food Microbiology, etc. He is affiliated with the Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES) at the University of Oslo.

Technology

Only a minor number of species present in complex microbial ecosystems can be detected by means of classical methods of isolation and cultivation of microorganisms. The few species which can be cultivated are not necessarily the most relevant for maintaining stability and diversity of microbial ecosystems. Identifying all species present in microbial ecosystems became possible with the development of ultra-high-throughput DNA-analysis. This represents the scientific core of the company.

Focus is on the complex ecosystem of the human gut, the mode of action of eco-stabilizers and their components, and on related issues. Using a self-developed in vitro model system of human gut microbiota, numerous factors of relevance to gut dysbiosis have been explored, generating documentation directly pertaining to deconstructed soil. Microbiome characterization is done by means of 16S rRNA gene amplicon DNA sequencing on the Illumina MiSeq and Illumina HiSeq 4000 platforms, followed by subsequent bioinformatics analysis. Shotgun metagenomics sequencing of the base inoculum for the Company’s human in vitro model is also carried out.