FAPC algae project ranks No. 1 for OCAST funding
An algae research proposal from Oklahoma State University’s Robert M. Kerr Food & Agricultural Products Center (FAPC) was ranked No. 1 of 28 plant-related research projects, resulting in $100,000…
Researchers examining fertilizers for algae biofuels
One of the major roadblocks to mass-producing algae for biofuels, observes researchers at the University of Michigan College of Engineering, is the need for fertilizer…
Dinoflagellate microalgae show biofuel potential in Spanish study
Researchers at the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA) and the Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM-CSIC), in Spain, have analyzed the potential of different species…
Hydrogen production efficiency discovery in green algae
That green algae can produce hydrogen under certain conditions has been known and studied for about 15 years, but low efficiency has been a problem, i.e. the amount of energy…
Blue-green algae being engineered for nanocellulose
Genes from the family of bacteria that produce vinegar and Kombucha tea are being engineered by University of Texas at Austin scientists into blue-green algae to produce the “wonder material” nanocellulose…
Genome suggests why red alga didn’t come ashore
The first red alga genome has recently been sequenced by an international team, coordinated in France by Le Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and Pierre-and-Marie-Curie…
Producing hydrogen in the dark from Chlamydomonas
Biologists at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum have identified a pathway whereby the green algae Chlamydomonas can produce hydrogen in the dark. Their findings were published recently…
Sayre Lab: reducing chlorophyll b increases photosynthetic efficiency
Single celled microalgae are among the most productive autotrophic organisms in nature due to their high photosynthetic efficiencies and the lack of heterotrophic tissues. Yet, photosynthetic efficiencies…
NSF project brings algal specimens to Alabama
Algal samples from around the world are arriving at the request of Dr. Juan Lopez-Bautista, an associate professor of biological sciences at The University of Alabama…
UCSD biologists engineer multi-colored algae
Biologists at UC San Diego have announced the successful engineering of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, a green alga commonly used in laboratories, into a rainbow of different colors…
MSU researchers boost oil in leaves with genes from algae
Michigan State University researchers have successfully employed an algal gene involved in oil production to engineer a plant that stores lipids in its leaves, a development they feel could enhance…
UAE’s desert algae being researched at Masdar Institute
Dr. Hector Hernandez of the Masdar Institute writes in The National that as resources dwindle and the population grows, the attraction of reaping the desert’s bounty becomes more and more obvious…
Climate change clues from ancient marine algae
A new study, involving researchers from the University of Southampton, has found that microscopic ocean algae called coccolithophores are providing clues about the impact of climate change both now…
Scotland’s AccliPhot project explores marine algae for biofuel
An international research team led by the University of Aberdeen is researching microalgae from the world’s oceans and seas to make biofuels. Project coordinator Dr. Oliver Ebenhoeh, from the University of Aberdeen…
Neste Oil ups algae research for biodiesel
Neste Oil, ranked the world’s fourth most sustainable company on The Global 100 list at the World Economic Forum in Davos, has been investigating the suitability of algae for its renewable fuels production…
Outing the “cheaters” of the algae world
Biologists in the University of Arizona’s department of ecology and evolutionary biology have discovered what they consider “cheating” on the part of single-celled algae. “There are cheaters out there that…
Touchstone testing new algae technologies in Ohio
West Virginia-based Touchstone Research Laboratory, is experimenting with three new technologies at their raceway farm testing center built around four 30-by-200-foot ponds in Wooster, Ohio. Funded by close…
Sandia scientist engineers cyanobacteria for fuel
Sandia National Laboratories Truman Fellow Anne Ruffing has engineered two strains of cyanobacteria to produce free fatty acids, a precursor to liquid fuels, and has also found that the process…
Algae-based Polymers Project SPLASH Launched by EU Group
Twenty partners involved in an EU-funded research program have formed a project called Sustainable Polymers from Algae Sugars and Hydrocarbons, or SPLASH…
