Projects

Project leader: Dr. Ivana Drvenica

Project collaborators: Dr. Vesna Ilić, Dr. Drenka Trivanović, Dr. Biljana Ristić, Dr. Marijana Kovačić

Duration of the project: 1.10.2025-31.5.2026.

Leading institution: Institute for Medical Research, University of Belgrade

Description of the project:

Iron deficiency remains the most prevalent nutritional disorder worldwide, highlighting the need for innovative, effective, and sustainable iron supplementation strategies. This project aimed to transform the meat-industry byproduct, slaughterhouse blood, into a high-value, sustainable, and consumer-friendly ingredient by revalorizing hemoglobin into an innovative, heme-iron-based formulation for dietary supplements and functional foods. The developed technology delivers a long-term stable, bioavailable heme-iron protein complex with superior nutritional value and enhanced taste and color, improving consumer appeal and facilitating its incorporation into a wide range of food matrices.

The technology is based on a dual natural origin (bovine and porcine), globally adaptable to dietary and cultural preferences, enabling broader market applicability. Furthermore, it turns by-products into sustainable bioactive ingredients, supporting circular bioeconomy principles and reducing waste from the meat industry.

During the project, the technology was successfully advanced from TRL 4 to TRL 6, including formulation optimization, safety and functionality validation, consumer acceptance studies, market assessment, and commercialization planning. The project established a strong foundation for intellectual property protection, industrial partnerships, and market entry, demonstrating the potential to bridge the gap between scientific research and industry while delivering innovative solutions for improved nutrition and sustainable resource utilization.

Project leader: Dr. Aleksandar Krmpot

Project collaborators: Dr. Ivana Drvenica, Dr. Drenka Trivanović, Dr. Mihajlo Radmilović, Dr. Stanko Nikolić, Dr. Danica Pavlović

Duration of the project: 1.9.2020–31.8.2022.

Leading institution: Institute of Physics, University of Belgrade

Collaborating institution: Institute for Medical Research, University of Belgrade

Description of the project:

In this project, we are aiming to utilize state-of-the art optical microscopic techniques expanding their applicability for erythrocytes and erythrocyte derivatives imaging as a potential diagnostic method for modern age disorders, such as cancer, diabetes and other inflammatory/autoimmune diseases. Our research will be mostly based on two-photon excitation fluorescence microscopy (TPEF) and recently demonstrated intrinsic feature of hemoglobin to become a fluorescent molecular target upon two-photon excitation by ultra-short laser pulses. We will unite our “know-how” on TPEF with third harmonic generation (THG) imaging of erythrocytes and complement it with quantitative information obtained by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS). The latter two will be developed within this project. Using erythrocytes as sensitive markers, we will demonstrate how combining the data acquired by custom–made techniques and established protocols for in vitro and ex vivo hemoglobin based imaging can contribute to a better understanding of the underlying biological basis of specific disorders. This is the first step in development of novel methods for diagnosis and disease risk stratification. We will also boost our initiated research on TPEF microscopy as an effective tool for label- and fixation -free imaging of erythrocytes and their membranes at single cell level. The research revealed the relation between spatial distribution of hemoglobin within erythrocytes and their morphology implying that this relation is an indicator of erythrocytes functional status.

Six researchers from two leading national institutions and from various, complementary, fields (physics, biology, biophotonics, pharmacy) will carry out the activities divided into 7 tasks and deliver 13 items, amongst two new techniques will be developed: THG and FCS for the benefit to the broad international and Serbian scientific community. HEMMAGINERO is supported by DESY, Germany and Karolinska Institutet, Sweden formally and by open access to the equipment. The project will be realized in 2 years and by cca 200,000EUR employing and upgrading the most valuable equipment in Serbian scientific institutions and respecting all the safety and ethical issues.

Project leader: Dr. Aleksandar Krmpot

Project collaborators: Dr. Ivana Drvenica

Duration of the project: 2020-2022.

Leading institution: Institute of Physics, University of Belgrade

Description of the project:

Project leader: Dr. Vladan Čokić

Project collaborators: Dr. Dragana Marković, Dr. Marijana Kovačić

Project number: ОI175053

Duration of the project: 2011-2019.

Leading institution: Institute for Medical Research, University of Belgrade

Description of the project:

Project leader: Dr. Branko Bugarski

Project collaborators: Dr. Vesna Ilić, Dr. Ivana Drvenica

Project number: III46010

Duration of the project: 2011-2019.

Leading institution: Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy, University of Belgrade

Description of the project:

Project leader: Dr. Diana Bugarski

Project collaborators: Dr. Vesna Ilić, Dr. Irina Maslovarić

Project number: OI175062

Duration of the project: 2011-2019.

Leading Institution: Institute for Medical Research, University of Belgrade

Description of the project: