Background

Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations continue to rise, with substantial negative impacts to the environment and societies across the globe. Beyond just reducing future emissions, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projections demonstrate that active CO2 removal technologies will be needed to maintain the climate within tolerable levels. 

With their fast growth and utilization of atmospheric/oceanic carbon dioxide, marine microalgae may offer multiple solutions to this grave societal challenge. But, at large industrial scales, microalgae do not grow in isolation — just like other organisms such as humans and plants, they have associated microbiomes that can help or harm them, thus impacting their overall “health” and growth, as well as their biomass composition and yield. 

Project Description

This project builds on a large Department of Energy-funded project called MAGIC (Marine Algae Industrialization Consortium), in which marine microalgae are being grown at commercially relevant scales toward the sustainable production of numerous bioproducts and durably sequestering carbon dioxide. 

In the first phase of this project, the team will characterize the variability of existing microbiomes in the context of different environmental conditions. Members will collect new data and analyze specific microbial populations using Bayesian Generalized Joint Attribute Modeling. In the second phase of the project, microbes (bacteria) from open-pond data that have predicted “probiotic” properties will be isolated and tested at the laboratory scale to determine the impact of these interactions on growth and yield. From this screening, team members will select one or more bacteria for a similar outdoor trial. In the third phase, samples from both laboratory and open pond trials will be analyzed to uncover the mechanisms of positive interactions. 

Anticipated Outputs

Data on microbiome variability and microbe-algae interactions; oral/poster presentation; manuscript; development and submission of external grant application

Student Opportunities

Ideally, this project team will include 2-3 graduate students and 4-6 undergraduate students. Interested students will likely be microbiologists, engineers, computational biologists, marine scientists and others interested in conservation technology. An ideal make-up for the team would include one or more members with experience in the following categories: programming language, environmental field sampling, computational data analysis, microbial ecology and fabrication/systems integration. 

All students will benefit from working at the intersection of environmental, biological and engineering sciences. Students will be working with faculty from across the university, including in the Nicholas School of the Environment, the Pratt School of Engineering, Trinity College and the School of Medicine. Students will gain tangible skills in bioengineering, environmental analysis, biology, ecology and problem-solving. Graduate students will be able to develop leadership skills, while also getting exposure and training in a cutting-edge field. Students and leaders will be exposed to a unique interdisciplinary learning opportunity and enhance their teamwork skills.

Adrian Estrada Graf will serve as project manager. This project includes an optional summer component in Summer 2023.

Timing

Summer 2023 – Spring 2024

• Summer 2023 (optional): Finalize project goals/products and agree upon timeline; sample and process algae microbiome; isolate microbes
• Fall 2023: Review literature; continue analysis of microbiome samples; test individual microbes on algae
• Spring 2024: Perform metatranscriptomic analyses; present at one or more microbiome meetings

Crediting

Academic credit available for fall and spring semesters; summer funding available

Image: Algae nutrient recycling, by Sandia Labs, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0