diff --git a/services/web/server/src/simcore_service_webserver/products/_model.py b/services/web/server/src/simcore_service_webserver/products/_model.py
index de3955652a3d..cccd77070081 100644
--- a/services/web/server/src/simcore_service_webserver/products/_model.py
+++ b/services/web/server/src/simcore_service_webserver/products/_model.py
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ class Product(BaseModel):
 
     @validator("*", pre=True)
     @classmethod
-    def parse_empty_string_as_null(cls, v):
+    def _parse_empty_string_as_null(cls, v):
         """Safe measure: database entries are sometimes left blank instead of null"""
         if isinstance(v, str) and len(v.strip()) == 0:
             return None
@@ -119,12 +119,21 @@ def parse_empty_string_as_null(cls, v):
 
     @validator("name", pre=True, always=True)
     @classmethod
-    def validate_name(cls, v):
+    def _validate_name(cls, v):
         if v not in FRONTEND_APPS_AVAILABLE:
             msg = f"{v} is not in available front-end apps {FRONTEND_APPS_AVAILABLE}"
             raise ValueError(msg)
         return v
 
+    @validator("host_regex", pre=True)
+    @classmethod
+    def _strip_whitespaces(cls, v):
+        if v and isinstance(v, str):
+            # Prevents unintended leading & trailing spaces when added
+            # manually in the database
+            return v.strip()
+        return v
+
     @property
     def twilio_alpha_numeric_sender_id(self) -> str:
         return self.short_name or self.display_name.replace(string.punctuation, "")[:11]
@@ -132,9 +141,10 @@ def twilio_alpha_numeric_sender_id(self) -> str:
     class Config:
         alias_generator = snake_to_camel  # to export
         allow_population_by_field_name = True
+        anystr_strip_whitespace = True
+        extra = Extra.ignore
         frozen = True  # read-only
         orm_mode = True
-        extra = Extra.ignore
         schema_extra: ClassVar[dict[str, Any]] = {
             "examples": [
                 {
diff --git a/services/web/server/tests/unit/isolated/test_products_model.py b/services/web/server/tests/unit/isolated/test_products_model.py
index b3ee823a37ea..84fa67d94ebc 100644
--- a/services/web/server/tests/unit/isolated/test_products_model.py
+++ b/services/web/server/tests/unit/isolated/test_products_model.py
@@ -76,3 +76,22 @@ def test_product_to_static():
         ],
         "isPaymentEnabled": False,
     }
+
+
+def test_product_host_regex_with_spaces():
+    data = Product.Config.schema_extra["examples"][2]
+
+    # with leading and trailing spaces and uppercase (tests anystr_strip_whitespace )
+    data["support_email"] = "  fOO@BaR.COM    "
+
+    # with leading trailing spaces (tests validator("host_regex", pre=True))
+    expected = r"([\.-]{0,1}osparc[\.-])".strip()
+    data["host_regex"] = expected + "   "
+
+    # parsing should strip all whitespaces and normalize email
+    product = Product.parse_obj(data)
+
+    assert product.host_regex.pattern == expected
+    assert product.host_regex.search("osparc.bar.com")
+
+    assert product.support_email == "foo@bar.com"