Algal Related Studies

 

Sugar Secreting Algae

Our laboratory is studying several strains of algae that we are developing into model systems for the study of extracellular sugar production. These are simple sugars such as glucose and maltose that are released into the medium as the algae grow. The production of extracellular sugars enables processes that can avoid costly harvest and extraction and enables cells to be reused multiple times for continuous sugar production. This process has been reported for decades, but recent biotechnological advances are enabling more intricate studies, and efforts in our laboratory to identify additional strains are also underway. We have published one paper related to this work, and have several additional manuscripts in preparation.