Scientific Consulting
OUR GOAL IS YOUR SUCCESS
Program Assistance to Experimental Design
We provide assistance from multi-year programming to experimental design to data analysis to weekly telecon support. Rapid research progress and learning from past work is essential for accelerating progress in this new era of the algae biotechnology.
Although algae will "grow on their own" to high concentrations in water bodies, this is slow growth. For commercial production, it is crucial to achieve high areal productivity (tons per hectare per year). Raceways are the most practical way to accomplish this for most algae applications. When developing a commercial cultivation operation variables such as the following must be considered and optimized, often in site-specific and industry-specific R&D efforts:
Biochemical composition and its control through strain type, strain improvement, and culturing conditions
Linear phase productivity (as opposed to maximum specific growth rate)
Monocultures vs. polycultures
Resistance to pests (e.g., rotifers) and algal diseases (e.g., viruses, predatory algae strains) and contamination by volunteer algal strains
Cell morphology affects on harvesting
Cell wall strength affect on access to cell contents
Temperature, pH, and insolation robustness
Bioprospecting methods
Cultivation techniques to maximize productivity of target compounds
Planning for daily and seasonal cycles of temperature and insolation
Inoculation systems and methods
Flow mode considerations
CO2 or organic carbon delivery and dosing
Nutrient and trace metal formulations
Pest and pathogen identification and control
In-house and on-site lab setup, analytical training, and sampling protocol
ISO and American Public Health Association (APHA) approved water quality analyses
Algal Biomass Organization (ABO) endorsed biochemical analyses
Water quality analytical training
Microscopy - Identification and cell counting
Biochemical compositional analysis
New Lab Start-Up
Equipment and supplies list
Spreadsheets for data collection and quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC)
In-house and on-site lab setup, analytical training, and sampling protocol
ISO and American Public Health Association (APHA) approved water quality analyses
Algal Biomass Organization (ABO) endorsed biochemical analyses