Reski’s efforts are part of the MossTech project under the EU’s Innovative Training Network. MossTech will receive €1.6 million ($1.8 million) from the EU over the next four years as part of its Horizon 2020 program, with €500,000 earmarked for the University of Freiburg. Reski has already demonstrated that the genome of the moss Physcomitrella patens has 10,000 more genes than the human genome—many of which synthesize complex chemical molecules such as long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids.
The project is coordinated by the Technical University of Denmark in Copenhagen. Other participants include the University of Lund in Sweden and the Gulbenkian Institute in Portugal, as well as corporate partners Taxa Biotechnologies, Transactiva, ArcticMass, and Mosspiration Biotech.
“I’m excited that we were able to convince four (for us) new small and medium-sized businesses to support moss engineering. This gives us a new opportunity to translate our research into actual products,” Reski says .