An international partnership for marine biotechnology

AIMARIA brings together 11 beneficiary organisations, coordinated by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). The consortium combines complementary capabilities across marine microbiomics, artificial intelligence, biosynthetic pathway engineering, natural-product chemistry and industrial biotechnology.

Project Coordinator

• Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway
  
  Project coordination, AI-guided biological engineering, predictive gene-expression design, sustainability assessment, exploitation and communication.

Academic and Research Partners

• Wageningen University, Netherlands
  
  Marine microbiome analysis, biosynthetic diversity mapping, BGC prioritisation and AI-guided cultivation of previously uncultivated microorganisms.
   
• ETH Zürich, Switzerland
  
  Marine natural-product biosynthesis, reconstruction and engineering of complex biosynthetic pathways, and sustainable production of high-value compounds, particularly Peloruside A.
   
• Imperial College London, United Kingdom
  
  Synthetic biology, engineered Streptomyces expression systems, cell-free protein synthesis and high-throughput biosynthetic pathway validation.
   
• Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), Germany
  
  Biosynthetic gene-cluster capture and reconstruction, discovery and structural characterisation of novel natural products, and antimicrobial and anticancer bioactivity screening.
   
• Leibniz Institute DSMZ, Germany
  
  Development of the AIMARIA digital twin, integration of microbial and enzymatic knowledgebases, cultivation prediction and enzyme function annotation.
   
• Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
  
  Marine natural-product chemistry, expertise in Peloruside A and Pateamine A, marine biological resources, and access and benefit-sharing, including engagement with Māori communities.
   
• VIB, Belgium
  
  Engineered microbial expression platforms for complex biosynthetic pathways, particularly ribosomally synthesised and post-translationally modified peptides (RiPPs), and automated experimental validation.

Industrial Partners

• Syngens AS, Norway
  
  AI-powered DNA design and biosynthetic pathway refactoring, including context-aware optimisation of promoters, 5′ untranslated regions and coding sequences for microbial production hosts.
   
• Prozomix Ltd, United Kingdom
  
  Metagenomic enzyme discovery, industrial biocatalysis, enzyme production and bench-to-pilot bioprocess development.
   
• Algorithmiq Oy, Finland
  
  Development of AI-based predictive models for biosynthetic gene-cluster function, enzyme activity and bioactivity to support the prioritisation of marine natural products.

Associated Partner

• AstraZeneca AB, Sweden
  
  Industrial guidance on target product requirements, evaluation criteria and potential applications of selected AIMARIA technologies and production systems.