The bioactive compounds of saffron (crocus sativus, L) spice and its floral by-products (mainly crocin, safranal and flavonoids) have potential health benefits particularly regarding cognitive function and mental health. There is a lack of knowledge on their use as a source of bioactive extracts for the development of functional food ingredients. The main objective of the project is to develop new innovative and added-value products from saffron and its floral by-products, improving the saffron quality in the Mediterranean area and turning it into a highly profitable botanical source. Specific project objectives and the approach to achieve them are: -To produce high quality saffron and floral by-products optimizing the cultivation and processing conditions, and their characterization, with contribution of saffron producers and SMEs in Algeria and Spain. -To develop and characterize bioactive extracts and ingredients from saffron and its floral by-products improving functionality and stability, using up-to-date and innovative technologies with involvement of the industry. -To develop innovative healthier food products from the saffron ingredients through traditional recipes, preserving the nutritional and organoleptic quality. -To investigate the antimicrobial and prebiotic potential of the extracts, and their cardiometabolic prospects “in vitro” and “in vivo”. -To test the effect of the bioactive extracts on mood and cognition in humans. The multidisciplinary science-based outputs, technological improvements, and applications of saffron bioactive extracts and ingredients with defined authenticity and functional composition, will lead to new functional foods from the traditional Mediterranean diet, contributing to improve the health of the population. At the same time, saffron production will become more sustainable and profitable taking advantage of a high-value biomass. This will also foster the employment and international market in this industrial sector.

Recently, interest in sustainably produced bio-energy and bio-based products has skyrocketed due to efforts to reduce reliance on nonrenewable fossil fuels, decrease environmental degradation, mitigate climate change, and develop robust knowledge-based bio-economies. Concomittantly, there has been an increased interest in the utilization of lignocellulosic biomass from forest plantations for second-generation renewable bio-energy feedstocks as they are non-food crops and offer the potential for generating a lower carbon footprint than annually produced crops. Fast-growing tree species such as poplar and eucalypts grown as short-rotation coppice (SRC) represent one of the most appealing sources of renewable biomass feedstock for Northern/Western and Southern Europe as they are easy to establish, produce high yields of lignocellulosic biomass, and offer secondary benefits such low nutrient input. Since the chemical and structural composition of lignified secondary cell walls render woody feedstocks particularly recalcitrant to degradation, improved genetic material is needed to use these SRC as energy crops in an efficient manner. The first step to accomplishing this is to identify genes regulating relevant cell wall properties before moving on to identify the specific desirable allelic variants for breeding. This is the overall goal of TREEFORJOULES with a focus on transcription factors (FT) and miRNAs essential in the regulation of wood formation. The project is organized in 4 workpackages: • WP1 will investigate transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of wood formation in eucalypts and poplar, through in silico integration of global transcriptomics to select Candidate Genes (CG) i.e. TF transcription factors and miRNAs differentially expressed in contrasted wood samples. These GCs will be mapped in WP3 and up to 25 will be functionally validated in transgenic wood sectors. The effects of nutrition and biotic stresses on biomass production and wood properties in different eucalyptus and poplar genotypes will also be assessed. • WP2 will develop high-throughput NIR spectroscopic methods for wood property measurements including all key cell wall constituants with impact on the saccharification potential of biomass polysaccharides for bio-ethanol production and bio-oil production from lignin. • WP3 will compare the structural and functional architecture of wood quality in Eucalyptus and Populus by (i) improving the resolution of available genetic maps using high-throughput genotyping methods and common makers (ii) locating precisely and assessing QTLs for wood properties relevant to bioenergy, and (iii) dissecting a major lignin QTL. • WP4 is devoted to project management, coordination through a website and common bioinformatic network to store, mine, and integrate the high-throughput genomic, genetic, and phenotypic data, as well as transfer of tools and technologies to industry and dissemination of results.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are a group of disorders affecting the heart and blood vessels. It has been established that CVD constitute a major health problem since globally, about 30% of deaths are related to CVD and since their incidence increase dramatically with the ageing of population. Moreover, diet, one of the most important lifestyle risk factors, can strongly influence the progression of CVD and may constitute a promising prophylaxis. Recently, a link between CVD, metabolism, mitochondria and diet has been evidenced. This link might involve a crosstalk between mitochondria functions (e.g. biogenesis, bioenergetics, permeability transition), autophagy and cell death and would be regulated at the cellular level by various classes of sensors such as proteins as well as second messengers such as nitric oxide (NO) or cyclic nucleotides. Thus, mitochondria appear as essential players in promoting diet-induced cytoprotection although more investigations are needed to understand how these organelles control cell metabolism, redox steady-state and cell death in the heart. Two academic French and Portuguese partners will conjugate their multidisciplinary expertise in the fields of Nutrition, Cell Biology and Cardiac Pathophysiology to identify novel cardioprotective agents from original blackberries preparations, namely blackberries-derived polyphenols (BDP). BDP cellular and subcellular mechanisms of protection will be characterized in vitro by using primary cell cultures, cell lines and isolated mitochondria and in vivo by using preclinical models of CVD. This proposal will address three major areas of investigation outlined in the following objectives (1) the study the cytoprotective effects of BDP on preserving mitochondrial functions, stimulating autophagy and inhibiting cell death in primary cardiomyocytes and cell lines; (2) the role of phosphorylation and cyclic nucleotides on the regulation of mitochondrial functions by BDP, and (3) the evaluation of the cardioprotective potential of BDP in two validated rodent models of hypertension and catecholamine-induced cardiotoxicity. This proposal will offer scientific knowledge easily transferable to humans concerning the bioefficacy of berry polyphenols in cardioprotection and will additionally envisage the support of fresh berries as a valuable nutraceutical product with beneficial effects for consumer’s health. Finally, in addition to contribute to scientific excellence and significant progress towards the state of the art, we anticipate the possibility to patent innovative preparations and their potential use in cardioprotection, notably in the current context of ageing population in Europe. The ultimate outcome of CardioBDP is the development of a novel polyphenol-based long-term care strategy against CVD, which are often associated with oxidative stress and ageing. Our hypothesis is groundbreaking and will disclose the mode of action by which berries polyphenols can be cardioprotective and indirectly anti-oxidant via modulation of mitochondrial functions and cell metabolism. A cost effective therapeutic strategy, such as a nutraceutical contributing to increasing the number of healthy life years by delaying the cardiovascular health problems and therefore increasing the quality of life for the citizens, will represent a significant social and economical impact. This is a very important issue in our ageing European population with increased incidence of CV related diseases and the proposal is aligned with the main goal of European Innovation Partnership to foster “active and healthy ageing“.