Cornell and Texas A&M researcher develop algal droplet bioreactors on a chip

September 28, 2017 |

In New York state, researchers from Cornell University’s Boyce Thompson Institute and Texas A&M University report in Plant Direct exciting new technology that may revolutionize the search for the perfect algal strain: Algal droplet bioreactors on a chip.

A single algal cell is captured in a tiny droplet of water encapsulated by oil – imagine the tiny droplets that form when you mix vegetable oil with water – then millions of algal droplets squeeze onto a chip about the size of a quarter. Each droplet is a micro-bioreactor, a highly-controlled environment in which algal cells can grow and replicate for several days, forming a genetically homogenous colony that goes through its typical biological reactions, including the production of lipids.

Category: Research

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