New method for identifying genes

Chr. Hansen participates in international bioinformatics project.

Bioinformatics is a relatively new science of converting complex biological data into concrete knowledge using sophisticated mathematical models and statistics.
New models will make it possible to further understand why bacteria perform the way they do, and to find undiscovered potential in lactic acid bacteria. This could in time lead to improved probiotic food products, like fermented milk, and dietary supplements for the global consumers.

”We are proud to be part of this project which gives us access to state-of-the-art bioinformatics methods, and we hope new more advanced methods will be developed within the 4 year duration of the project. It will help us to better understand and develop our probiotic strains for future products with beneficial effect on human health,” says Martin B. Pedersen, Group leader, Genomics, Chr. Hansen.

Bioinformatics and DNA

DNA is a code language that hides valuable information about the properties of biological organisms.

“As opposed to other languages such as Danish, English or Russian, we have a relatively limited knowledge of how to crack this code and which grammar to apply. This project combines statistics and logic programming in a new and more flexible way with greater potential than before,” explains Henning Christiansen, Professor of Computer Science, Roskilde University.

The research project is a co-operation between Chr. Hansen A/S, Roskilde University (DK), the company CLC bio A/S and researchers in Aalborg (DK), Copenhagen and Tokyo. The Danish Strategic Research Council supports the project with DKK 5 million. The project has a total budget of DKK 10 million.