Jim DeKloe, Nature of Things

Jim DeKloe, Nature of Things
In June, I attended a biotech conference in Washington DC, and while there I couldn’t help but visit the breakout star of the summer: the algae in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
Rather than viewing this surprise celebrity as a perfect symbol of Washington incompetence, cronyism and failure, I would like to argue that it’s a triumph – of the algae.
The algae seemed to appear out of nowhere, grew rapidly to take over the entire pool, and persisted despite multi-million dollar renovations, thousands of gallons of hydrogen peroxide, and dozens of ozone nanobubble systems working their mechanical hearts out. Like the 15-star and 15-stripe flag located in the Smithsonian Museum of American History a block away – by the dawn’s early light, the algae was still there.
The rapid growth and heartiness of this algae shows why this life form can become a powerful biotechnology platform – if a company chooses the right algae species that can be enlisted to produce the right valuable product. Algae don’t have to be fed; like terrestrial plants, they produce energy using photosynthesis, saving money in raw material inputs. Algae can be grown in poor quality water on marginal lands found to be unsuitable for crops or under controlled conditions in tanks.
At the large scale, giant concrete-lined areas called race-way ponds cover many acres and paddlewheels keep the water moving to stir the algae to keep them in suspension. These ponds are in the open and therefore encounter the same challenges as agriculture: weeds (competing algae that fall into the pond), pests (often a small animal called a rotifer), diseases (my favorite parasitic bacterium is Vampirovibrio chlorellavorus – latin for “the vampire algae eater”). But these challenges can be overcome
Since it’s biotech, Solano College students study it. The college has been part of the Algae Technology Education Consortium sponsored by the Algae Foundation and the California Center for Algae Biotechnology. Faculty attend ATEC meetings, attend the Algae Biomass Organization conferences, have given presentations at the Phycological Society of America, and interact with algae specialists from all over the country. Solano College developed an Algae Biotechnology and Synthetic Biology class and for those interested this class starts in a few weeks.
Solano College biotech students formed an Algae Club that became finalists in the national AlgaePrize sponsored by the United States Department of Energy.
For the last AlgaePrize, Solano College bachelor’s degree students formed the Blue Genes Algae team. (www.bluegenealgae.org ). In their year-long research project they figured out a way to grow an especially tough red algae called with the scientific name Galdieria suphuraria. This species could grow at a really high temperature and could tolerate very acid conditions.
As a product, the algae produced “a pigment-protein complex called Phycocyanin. This blue dye could be used as a natural food dye. The team carried out the research, developed a company, wrote up a Techno-Economic Analysis and Life Cycle Assessment, and submitted their results. They hosted multiple school groups to introduce them to science.
The judges from Bioenergy Technologies Office chose them to participate in the AlgaePrize finals. As finalists the AlgaePrize team flew to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to present their research to algae experts recruited from around the country to serve as judges. They gave oral presentations and participated in a poster session where everyone asked about their research. They met the other teams and formed new friendships.
In the end, judges chose two PhD students from UC San Diego working on their dissertation research as the Grand Prize winners. Judges chose the Solano College team for the “Best Team Energy Prize.” They had shown the judges the most enthusiasm for science. Those students graduated in May and are this experience on their resume helped them gain employment in the biotech industry.
The next round of the AlgaePrize competition had been scheduled to launch last September, but chaos in Washington delayed it for a year and the Department of Energy intends to launch the competition at the end of this month.
The Solano College Algae Club has already put together a team and a project. The will screen the algae species that NASA considers the best candidate to survive on mars, and they intend to toughen them by genetically engineering them with water bear (tardigrade) genes. Since the target algae is a cyanobacterium, they’ve named their group the Cyanobears and have chosen as their logo a California State Flag on which a tardigrade substitutes for the bear on the Bear Flag.
They are considering collaborating with Lone Star Community College in Houston, a college with a relationship with NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Wish them luck as they begin their year-long extracurricular journey.
Since the carbon raw material used by algae comes from carbon dioxide in the atmosphere rather than out of the ground, this makes algae a carbon neutral source for energy and a source of the carbon for specialty and commodity chemicals. As it turns out, the size of the hydrocarbons produced by algae matches jet fuel perfectly and research is going into the production of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) using algae.
Algae enthusiasts dream of flying over a United States that is green horizon to horizon – with all marginal lands being utilized to grow algae that produce useful renewable products.
They want to extend the green beyond the celebrated Reflecting Pool.
Jim DeKloe is a professor of Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing and founded the Solano College Industrial Biotechnology program in 1997.
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