Phaeodactylum tricornutum is a microscopic, single-celled algae with outsized potential.
It is a leading contender to improve sustainable production of biodiesel and other products using seawater and carbon dioxide as raw materials. It captures and stores energy from light, grows quickly and contains a high proportion of lipids, which provide essential oils to much of the marine food chain.
Yet how these diatoms do what they do is not well understood – and that’s where Jamey Young, associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, and his lab come in. He’s part of a team led by the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) that received a five-year, $10.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to optimize metabolic networks in photosynthetic microalgae.
Read the rest of the article about Jamey Young's research here.