Fascinating Algae

When you walk as much as Fran and I do you'd think we might run out of things to say, but we never seem to. Recently as we walked, Fran told me about two recent articles in the newspaper. One was about a friend of hers, whose son was named Teacher of the Year in California. That's quite an achievement. The other story was about a man named Dr. Stephen Mayfield. Dr. Mayfield is director of the San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology and the brother of one of Fran's cousins. (I think that's the relationship, but I'm not sure. Fran has so many relatives, but Dr. Mayfield is related by marriage to Fran.)

I thought the field of alternative fuels sounded interesting, and the fact that Fran knew him made me a little more interested. The research in the Mayfield lab focuses on molecular genetics in green algae and on the production of therapeutic proteins and biofuel moelecules using algae as a production platform. What that means, I'm not exactly sure. I do know that his work is producing results that can be used in the treatment of cancers and infectious diseases. In addition, engineering algae for the production of hydrocarbon molecules that can be used as biofuel is also a major focus of the lab, and recent studies have demonstrated the tremendous potential of eukaryotic algae for the expression of recombianant enzymes that allow for greater production of biofuels.

The work of Dr. Mayfield's lab is way over my head, but I do understand that he and his researchers have made progress in taking a simple thing like algae, and modifying it so that it can be used in medicine and as a biofuel. The San Diego area is one of our country's centers for research of this kind.

Algae is just one of the many sources that is being studied as an alternative fuel source. Corn, animal waste and wind are other possible alternatives. With American ingenuity I'm sure we will quickly find new sources of energy. For more information on algae and the research that is being done, go to www.algaeindustrymagazine.com...Yes, there's a magazine devoted just to algae. Who knew?