Investigating the use of marine thraustochytrids for biofuel production
This project seeks to characterize the growth, life cycle and characteristic of novel strains of Labyrinthulomycetes, primarily Thraustochytrids, through genome and RNA sequencing, leveraging high quality functionally annotated genomes of strains spread throughout the clade to develop a non-transgenic pan-thraustochytriideae synthetic biology toolkit.
By generating near-chromosomal, functionally annotated genomes for 8 novel strains of Labyrinthulomycetes, as well as annotating existing published genomes, a rich database of classified coding and non-coding sequences can be utilized to develop a robust gene editing toolkit. This is being achieved through the development of novel bioinformatics packages, which are aimed to be published as secondary outputs of this project.
Supervisors
Dr. David Green (SAMS)
Dr Frederik De Boever (SAMS)
Professor Adam Hughes (SAMS)
Professor Michele Stanley (SAMS)
Funder
Industrially funded
University
University of the Highlands and Islands
Project period
2023-2027
Peer reviewed publications
Rock A, Wilcockson D, Last KS (2022) Towards and Understanding of Circatidal Clocks. Frontiers in Physiology, Chronobiology 13.
Rock A, Novoveská L & Green D (2021). Synthetic biology is essential to unlock commercial biofuel production through hyper lipid-producing microalgae: a review, Applied Phycology, 2:1, 41-59,
Fieldwork experience
Highly branched isoprenoid lipid extractions | Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (including maintenance)| Purification of Biomolecules through size exclusion chromatography | Terpenoid extraction | Carbohydrate extraction | Carbon / Nitrogen analysis | Spectrophotometry | Pigment extraction | Ocean Data View (ODV) | R software | CTD arming, deployment and analysis | Secchi disk | Water sampling (Niskin-type bottles, Lund tube) | Benthic sampling (Van-Veen grab) | Acoustic Doppler Current profiler (ADCP) deployment and analysis| Zooplankton and phytoplankton collection with nets | Sterile Aseptic Technique | Microalgal cultivation and subculturing | Microalgal media preparation| Microalgal Polycultures | Coulter Counter | Multi-plate reader | Hemocytometer | Microscopy | BSAC Ocean Diver qualification
Media mentions
Employment
Jun 2021 – Sep 2021 - Research Assistant on the CHASE project - SAMS
Apr 2021 – Sep 2021 - Media Technician / Support Scientist - Culture Collection of Algae and Protozoa, SAMS
Jun 2019 – Aug 2019 - Undergraduate Research Assistant - SAMS
Higher Education
2023 MRes Development and use of a synthetic biology toolkit to enhance high value lipid production in Nannochloropsis oculata. 91精品视频UHI
2021 - BSc (Hons) 1:1 Marine Science. 91精品视频UHI