Synthetic Biology in Microalgae for Useful Products

Lead Research Organisation: University of Sheffield
Department Name: Chemical & Biological Engineering

Abstract

Due to their fast growth and relatively low cost of cultivation, microalgae have been tipped to be the production host cells of choice for the future. Microalgae are being characterised to further understand production of native molecules like lipids, which can be converted to fuels or higher value chemicals, or recombinant proteins for therapeutic use in humans. In the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, metabolic engineering tools are being integrated with whole genome and proteome analyses to provide clues as to how to improve microalgae as a production host for this purpose. Recently, there has been rapid development in genetic tools to manipulate the genomes of microalgae cells, aiming to improve cell performance and production efficiency, and fall under the umbrella of synthetic biology. This project aims to apply synthetic biology tools to a laboratory strain of microalgae and engineer metabolism for improved production of high value chemicals/proteins.

Publications

10 25 50

Studentship Projects

Project Reference Relationship Related To Start End Student Name
EP/N509735/1 30/09/2016 29/09/2021
2291637 Studentship EP/N509735/1 30/09/2015 09/12/2018 Josie McQuillan