The University of La Laguna (ULL) is a key institution in education and research, offering 46 undergraduate degrees, 38 master’s degrees, 20 doctoral programs, and more than 240 research groups. The Faculty of Science has extensive experience in scientific and academic activity related to the marine ecosystem. Since 2013, it has offered the Master’s Degree in Marine Biology: Biodiversity and Conservation. The research group “Lipid Physiology and Their Derivatives in Animal and Human Nutrition – NUTRAHLIPIDS” at ULL (Go to the NUTRAHLIPIDS website), part of the Department of Animal Biology, Soil Science, and Geology, has extensive experience in research on animal and human physiology and nutrition. This group also maintains close scientific collaboration with other ULL research teams within the Canary Islands marine sciences, agriculture, and livestock ecosystem, which are also members of the NATUR-EXT consortium. Notably, it collaborates with CSIC-IEO through the AQUAFISMAR research group (Go to the AQUAFISMAR website), and more recently with the Biotechnology Department of the ITC and with ICIA. The NUTRAHLIPIDS group includes qualified personnel experienced in the application of numerous techniques for the study of animal nutrition and physiology, and it also has facilities and specific equipment for conducting pilot trials with aquaculture species of commercial interest.
ULL in NATUR-EXT: will contribute its expertise in developing healthy, nutritious, and diverse food products through agricultural production (livestock, aquaculture, and farming), with a focus on harnessing Canarian biodiversity and modulating the lipid composition of farmed organisms to increase their nutritional value in omega-3s and diversify market offerings. It will also work on developing strategies to increase the sustainability of agri-food processes, exploring the reuse of waste and by-products to create ingredients for aquaculture and livestock diets. ULL will play a significant role in the project’s cross-cutting actions: on one hand, it will help channel research results toward the productive sector, drawing on its experience in collaborating with private companies and implementing knowledge transfer projects and outreach workshops; on the other hand, it will contribute its extensive experience in training students and educators, as well as promoting researcher mobility, to support transregional knowledge exchange in agri-food production.