Exandas Program Information

Since March 2016, the Chios Mastiha Growers Association participates in two Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE) program under the EU Horizon 2020 framework. Both programs involve Mastiha in different ways.

One of the programs, EXANDAS, is the acronym of a research project which aims to apply emerging and cutting edge technologies in the field of Natural Products in order to fully and efficiently exploit the therapeutic potential of medicinal and aromatic plants processing waste and by-products.

The scientific concept of EXANDAS involves the exploitation of aromatic plants’ by-products for the development of novel cosmeceuticals and food supplements. The cornerstone of EXANDAS project is the development of novel processes based on eco-friendly technologies for the efficient extraction, purification and transformation of active ingredients, as well as the complete chemical characterization and biological evaluation of produced extracts and pure compounds that can be commercially exploited. Optimization and scaling up of these procedures, as well as formulation using emerging technologies will lead to the development of novel final products.

Overall, the implementation of EXANDAS aspires to develop a successful and sustainable international and intersectoral collaboration model, which will contribute to the innovation potential of Europe for the most effective exploitation of natural resources and the development of novel cosmeceuticals and food supplements.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT: “Both project has received funding from the European Union’s H2020-MSCA-RISE-2015 under grant agreement No691042 & No 691247”.