NUIG are primarily involved in Task 4 but with a feedback loop to all other Tasks. The laboratory-scale anaerobic culture, fermentation and reactor studies, which are a critical feature of this proposal, require specialized resources for both. NUIG has extensive anaerobic microbiology and reactor demonstration facilities equipped with gas monitoring and safety equipment, anaerobic glove cabinets, incubation facilities and anaerobic manifolds for sample collection and processing.

UCC are primarily involved in the Task 1 and Task 6. In this regard UCC expertise in sustainable development of the agri-food sector, protein functionality, formulation science, plant-based foods, powder technology, processing and preservation of food muscle based foods, food Packaging and sensory will be employed to drive the development of food products as well assess the impact of the project on sustainability indicators.

Characterisation of protein and peptide material in extracts from Task 3 and residual biomass from Task 4 and/ or after digestion (in-vivo / in vitro) in Task 5 will be performed by NUIM. The Proteomics suite and Chemical Biology Laboratory at NUIM are extensively equipped for the investigation of protein in addition to their experienced staff.

Queens University Belfast are primarily working within Task 5 in the investigation of human metabolic responses to crop, grassland and/or marine proteins and will also be providing data in a forward and backward mechanism for all tasks. All equipment and expertise required to complete the project are collectively available within the Nutrition and Metabolism Group, the Institute for Global Food Security and the Advanced Mass Spectrometry Core Technology Unit.

University of Limerick is primarily involved in Task 5 with a feedback and feedforward loop to all other Tasks in the project. University of Limerick will investigate the presence of ‘anti-nutritional’ factors, which are a range of molecules that inhibit key enzymes associated with metabolism of food constituents, e.g., proteinases and carbohydrases (α-amylase). The role of these inhibitors is the subject of much speculation. However, much interest has focused on the potential of plant derived protease inhibitors to confer ‘anti-nutritional’ properties to plant protein extract/isolates (Clemente et al., 2015).

Teagasc have all the laboratory infrastructure required to take on a project of this scale. Each of the 5 Teagasc centers involved in U-PROTEIN have dedicated specialist laboratories e.g. Herbage analysis laboratory, at Teagasc Oak Park, Grassland Research laboratory at Teagasc Moorepark essential for Task 2; Protein Chemistry Laboratory, Powder Properties Laboratory Rheological Characterisation Laboratory, Process laboratory, at Teagasc Moorepark, essential for Task 3; NextGen Sequencing Facility, Bioactive Protein Discovery Unit, Biosafety Level 2 lab facility available to Task 4. Laboratory Infrastructure of relevance to Task 5 at Moorepark includes; State of the art Protein and Digestion Laboratories (food colloids, digestion, and encapsulation), Tissue Culture Laboratory. At Teagasc Ashtown Infrastructure of relevance to Task 6 includes both Meat Technology Ireland (MTI) and the Prepared Consumer Foods Centre (PCFC), which include ten multidisciplinary meat research focused laboratories, the Food Pilot Processing plant as well as the Meat Industry Development Unit (MIDU) which is the only research abattoir in Ireland and the newly refurbished Sensory Suite.