Understanding metabolism for biotechnology in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

The green alga Chlamydomonas has the potential to be an important source of high value biochemicals and to be used in the production of biofuels. Manipulating its metabolism to optimise the production of particular types of molecule requires however an understanding of that metabolism which we do not yet have. This project will combine mathematical modelling of cellular metabolism, using constraint-based and kinetic models, with physiological and molecular manipulation of cell growth, to gain insights into factors regulating the partitioning of photosynthetically fixed carbon between different metabolic pathways.