We're identifying innovative solutions that partner algae research with private industry for commercial success.

San Diego is home to leading experts on algal genetics and physiology. We're also uniquely located between the Pacific Ocean and California's Imperial Valley, where there's plenty of room to grow acres of algae. Through SD-CAB, science unites with industry to apply lab discoveries from biology, chemistry and engineering to real world solutions for sustainable energy and a revitalized economy.

Food and Fuel for the 21st Century Symposium

Food & Fuel for the 21^st Century Conference, to be held in La Jolla, CA this week, will convene scientists, government representatives and industry professionals from around the world to discuss issues surrounding food and fuel security, and potential plant-based solutions to meet rising demand. This is the 3rd annual conference held by the San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology, and the first under our new UC San Diego organized research unit FF21. For more information, please see our symposium webpage: http://algae.ucsd.edu/symposium.html

Futuristic GC-MS brings SD-CAB into the 23rd Century

By Spencer Diamond

If captain James T. Kirk from the Star Trek series could come to the 21^st century and help us develop biofuel he would likely bring with him one very cool piece of sci-fi technology, the Tricorder! SD-CAB scientists would find this fictional device particularly useful as it can scan living organisms and provide a wealth of information, including: size, shape, species, and molecular composition. With technology such as this one Scientists could even screen many different microbial mutants for, say, the molecular composition of their lipids. By doing so Kirk’s future sci-fi device would make it possible to find out how mutating various genes changes an organisms’ overall lipid profile to be more favorable for downstream biofuel production. Well, Kirk, you should probably just beam right back to the 23^rd century, because SD-CAB has acquired an advanced piece of analytical technology that allows researchers to do just such an analysis. READ ABOUT THE GC-MS "TRICORDER" ON THE SD-CAB BLOG!

SD-CAB Blog Highlights Local Researcher, Dr. Susan Golden

by Amanda Herman

Susan Golden is a member of the Faculty of 1000 Biology, a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, and a Member of the National Academy of Sciences. In addition, she runs a lab at UCSD that studies circadian rhythms of gene expression in cyanobacteria. Golden summarizes her graduate school and postdoc experiences, how cyanobacteria are useful in the production of biofuels and how SD-CAB has shaped the direction of her research in this month’s SD-CAB Researcher Spotlight.... READ MORE ON THE SD-CAB BLOG HERE!

Biologists Use Algae-Produced Protein in Global Health Initiative

A research team in the Division of Biological Sciences headed by Stephen Mayfield will produce a mammary gland protein called MAA from algae to determine if has the potential to significantly reduce infectious diarrheal diseases, a major cause of infant mortality in the developing world. The UC San Diego biologists will supply their algae-produced MAA to researchers at the University of Nebraska Medical Center as part of a newly funded initiative from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to enable researchers worldwide to test unorthodox ideas that address persistent health and development challenges... Read more on the SD-CAB blog.

SD-CAB Blog Highlights Local Researcher, Dr. Steve Mayfield

Steve Mayfield is the director of the San Diego Center of Algae Biotechnology, but he also runs a lab studying algal biofuels and spends his days teaching the public about the importance of our future in green energy. In this SD-CAB Researcher Spotlight, Mayfield tells us about how he became interested in algae, what he tells young scientists, and where he sees SD-CAB in the future. READ OUR INTERVIEW on the SD-CAB Blog.