DynaMo Seminar: Steve Mayfield

DynaMo Center of Excellence is pleased to invite you to the first DynaMo Seminar. We are honored to have Steve Mayfield from University of California, San Diego, as our very first speaker.

Micro-algae for the production of biofuels and bio-products

Energy can be changed from one form to another, but cannot be created or destroyed (1st law of thermodynamics). Food and Fuel are simply two forms of chemical energy, and as such are interchangeable. Fuel and food are both derived from photosynthesis, the process by which radiant energy is converted to chemical energy. Eukaryotic algae offer tremendous potential for the large scale production of biofuels as algae require only sunlight as an energy source and sequester CO2 during the production of biomass, and algae can be much more efficient then terrestrial plants in fixing CO2 and producing biomass. Lost in much of the energy debate is the fact that the fertilizers required for productive modern agriculture are derived from fossil fuels as well, and as fossil fuels become more expensive and limited, the costs of agriculture will rise while productivity declines. These factors have provided the impetus behind the development of new renewable energy sources that can supplant fossil fuels while greatly reducing carbon emissions into the atmosphere. The use of micro-algae as a platform for the production of biofuels and bioproducts has significant potential as a source of new energy capture, given the ability of algae to be grown at very large scale in a cost effective manner, with minimal inputs of fertilizers and potable water. Algae also offer the potential to realize large-scale production of food or fuel without competing for existing arable land, but significant challenges remain to bring algal biofuels to economic parity with fossil fuel. We are developing the tools for engineering of algal as a means to alter the accumulation of biofuel and bioproduct molecules, and have successfully introduce biosynthetic enzymes to modify hydrocarbon biosynthesis, as well as a variety of valuable protein co-products. The challenges and potential of algae as a source of biofuels and bioproducts will be discussed.

Stephen Mayfield is director of the San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology, and the John Doves Isaacs Chair of Natural Philosophy at UC San Diego. His research focuses on the molecular genetics of green algae, and on the recombinant production of therapeutic proteins and biofuel molecules using algae as a production platform. As an assistant professor at the Scripps Research Institute Steve was the first person to achieve transformation of the C. reinhardtii nuclear genome, work that allowed this algae to become the dominant genetic organisms for the study of photosynthesis and gene function. Over the last ten years work from the lab has identified mechanisms of chloroplast gene expression that has allowed for development of recombinant protein expression in algal chloroplast. Steve’s lab was the first to show high levels of recombinant protein expression in algae, setting the stage for the use of algae as a platform for therapeutic protein production, including the expression of a human monoclonal antibody. These studies resulted in the founding of Rincon Pharmaceutical, a startup company based on the low cost production of human therapeutics using eukaryotic algae as an expression platform. Recent studies from the lab have shown the potential of engineering algae for the production of superior biofuel molecules as a source of renewal energy. Steve was also a scientific founder of Sapphire Energy, a company developing biofuel production by metabolic engineering of algae and photosynthetic bacteria. Steve is the head of the Scientific Advisory Boards of Sapphire Energy.

Everybody is welcome!