Microalgal biotechnology
Photosynthetic microorganisms use a direct route to convert inorganic carbon into functional molecules while employing sunlight. Our mission is to develop a commercial and sustainable production chain for food, feed, chemistry and energy from microalgae and cyanobacteria.
We integrate biological and engineering studies of cellular processes, work on strain improvement, cultivation optimization and scale-up. We bridge fundamental research to applications in outdoor pilot facilities of AlgaePARC and use techno-economic models to assess and guide our research program.
Our mission
Develop sustainable processes for cost effective and sustainable conversion of sunlight into functional products by photosynthetic microorganisms.
Research topics
- Design of phototrophic bioprocesses
- Industrial strains: Metabolic engineering and strain improvement
- Techno-Economic and Energy analysis
Expertise
- Photobioreactor design
- Metabolic engineering
- Bioprocess design
Our projects
Monitoring and control of large-scale microalgae cultures
A microalgae culture that grows well in the lab might not perform as well in larger systems, and problems often appear when cultivation is scaled up. However, scaling up microalgae production is essential to reduce costs and ensure commercial applications and bulk production. To achieve this, we need a better understanding of how microalgae grow in large-scale systems. In this project, we study tubular photobioreactors up to 1700 liters and develop monitoring systems to track microalgal growth and metabolic indicators in real time. Based on these observations, we design and test control approaches to optimize and automate operation. This work promotes improved efficiency and automation in industrial microalgal cultivation.
Contact persons: Luca Buscaglia and Marcel Janssen
Partners: LOCALITY consortium
Upscaled autotrophic cultivation of extremophilic microalgae
This project focuses on optimizing operational strategies for large scale outdoors cultivation of extremophilic microalgae. These microorganisms inhabit the most hostile places on Earth, and because of that, they harbor a unique metabolism with great biotechnological interest. To fully exploit their potential, current industrial production processes need to be re-thought and adjusted to meet their specific environmental conditions. Here we specifically focus on the photoautotrophic cultivation of acidophilic and thermophilic microalgae.
Contact persons: Marina López Morales and Marcel Janssen
Partners: Extremolife consortium
Large-scale Triacylglyceride (TAG) Production Using Microalgae
This PhD project is part of the CARMA project, Circular Asphalt Rejuvenation using Microalgae, which aims to develop a circular asphalt recycling agent produced from wastewater-grown microalgae. The PhD project will focus on advancing large-scale microalgal TAG production as a sustainable alternative to conventional oil crops. By integrating strain selection, process design and techno-economic assessment, this project aims to bring microalgal TAG production closer to economic feasibility while contributing to a circular bio-based economy.
Contact persons: Juliëtte Camstra (MSc), prof.dr. MJ (Maria) Barbosa and dr.ir. MGJ (Marcel) Janssen
Partners: TNO
Integrating microalgae process in drain water treatment
Greenhouse drain water is exceedingly rich in nutrients, meaning that when discharged, it can lead to explosive growth of microorganisms.
My project aims to use these excess nutrients as a resource rather than having to deal with them as noxious waste and convert them into valuable bio-products by using the water as a cultivation medium for microalgae. Microalgae are a modern crop that has applications in relevant industries such as nutraceuticals, animal feed, and agricultural biostimulants. Making production of microalgae sustainable and highly efficient by employing elegant process engineering solutions and working at the edge of what is biologically feasible is the focus of this project.
Contact persons: Antonia Fichtbauer and Marcel Janssen
Partners: REALM consortium (UAL, UTU, Necton, and more)
A new reactor for mixotrophic algae cultivation
Microalgae are known for their ability to fix atmospheric CO2 into biomass through photosynthesis, releasing O2 (autotrophy). Unfortunately, scale-up of autotrophic cultivation is limited by high electricity costs associated with gas supply. Mixotrophy offers an alternative production method in which the autotrophic and heterotrophic (converting a carbon source and O2 into energy and CO2) metabolism are active simultaneously. This eliminates the need for external gas supply, as CO2 and O2 are recycled intracellularly.
Many concessions made in the design of autotrophic reactors (e.g. gas supply) diminish the reactor’s efficiency. These concessions might not be required for mixotrophic cultivation. This project aims to deepen the understanding of the mixotrophic metabolism and apply this knowledge in the design of a new mixotrophic reactor.
Contact persons: Luka Kuiper and Marcel Janssen
Partners: ALLIANCE consortium
Let’s Go VirAl
Whereas production of vaccines and pharmaceutical interesting proteins is primarily done in cells of animal origin, these systems suffer from several disadvantages which are not seen with microalgae. For this reason, microalgae are being considered promising, safe, alternative future production platforms. Their production is much cheaper and bioreactor systems are already available for growth and upscaling to support heterologous protein production. In order to bypass bottlenecks in microalgae genetic engineering, our project aims to establish the use of viruses infecting microalgae as more efficient production platforms of recombinant proteins. This approach combines fundamental understanding of regulatory mechanisms of these viruses and its application in developing biotechnological tools.
Contact persons: Julia Bevervanco, Sofia Amendola, Sarah D’Adamo
Exploring microalgae for production of plant virus-derived VLPs
Promoting human quality of life not only demands rapid pharmaceutical measures for human diseases, but also requires developing novel therapeutics, delivery approaches, and alternative production processes. Virus-like particles (VLPs) are naturally occurring nanoparticles that can be tailored to act as nanocarriers of a diverse range of therapeutic cargoes in medicine. In this project, we aim to create a universal plug-and-play toolkit comprising several plant virus-derived VLPs of different shapes and sizes for use in biotechnological and biopharmaceutical applications. To explore alternatives for feasible production of the newly developed toolkit, as well to assure its scalability, this project will also establish a microalgae-based bioreactor production system for it.
Contact persons: Esmée Zutt, dr. Sarah D’Adamo
Partners: AdaptVac, AlgaePARC, Batavia Bioscience, LenioBio
Producing omega-3 oil using Nannochloropsis sp.
Humans need to essential omega-3 fats that we obtain by eating fish. But did you know that fish do not produce omega-3 fatty acids themselves? They primarily obtain it from microalgae consumption. Therefore, it is a logical step to start producing omega-3 fats from microalgae in an earth- and animal-friendly way. Nannochloropsis sp. is considered as a great cell factory for omega-3 oil production due to its high photosynthetic efficiency, fast growth rates, and ability to accumulate significant amounts of lipids under both optimal and stressed conditions.
Despite its potential, algal oil is not yet economically competitive with traditional fish oil because of high capital investment, low productivity, and energy-intensive downstream processing. This research aims to bridge this gap. By utilizing a combination of metabolic engineering and process optimization, we will significantly increase the omega-3 oil content within Nannochloropsis sp. cells, making sustainable, animal-friendly omega-3s a commercially viable reality.
Contact persons: Laura Koerts, Marcel Janssen
Partners: ALLIANCE consortium
SUNPERFORM Biohybrid Solar Fuel Production
Current solar fuel technologies, essential for a sustainable energy future, face significant challenges: low efficiency, slow production, and high costs. These hurdles are particularly problematic for sectors like aviation and maritime, where electrification is difficult. The EU-funded SUN-PERFORM project seeks to overcome these barriers with a bio-hybrid approach, combining nanotechnology and synthetic biology. By developing advanced nanocrystal light-harvesting systems and engineered microalgal solar cells, SUN-PERFORM aims to improve current solar-to-fuel conversion efficiencies.
WUR is coordinating the efforts in this European consortium while testing several approaches using the saltwater microalgae Nannochloropsis oceanica. These approaches combine the testing of artificial nanocrystal light-harvesting systems, to efficiently harvest a larger part of the solar light spectrum, as well as the generation of advanced microalgal solar cell factories, by introducing synthetic pathways for a more efficient, rapid conversion of light energy and CO2 into lipid fuel precursors.
These different pipelines should increase the efficiency of photosynthesis and the lipid yield of N. oceanica, surpassing anycurrent solar-to-fuel conversion efficiencies.
Contact persons: Áureo Cutillas Farray, Igor Vunderink, Sarah D’Adamo
Partners: Bielefeld University (GER), Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology -Marburg (GER), Torino University (ITA), University of Amsterdam (NL), SolarFoil BV (NL), InSociety (ITA)
Monitoring and control of large-scale microalgae cultures
A microalgae culture that grows well in the lab might not perform as well in larger systems, and problems often appear when cultivation is scaled up. However, scaling up microalgae production is essential to reduce costs and ensure commercial applications and bulk production. To achieve this, we need a better understanding of how microalgae grow in large-scale systems. In this project, we study tubular photobioreactors up to 1700 liters and develop monitoring systems to track microalgal growth and metabolic indicators in real time. Based on these observations, we design and test control approaches to optimize and automate operation. This work promotes improved efficiency and automation in industrial microalgal cultivation.
Contact persons: Luca Buscaglia and Marcel Janssen
Partners: LOCALITY consortium
Upscaled autotrophic cultivation of extremophilic microalgae
This project focuses on optimizing operational strategies for large scale outdoors cultivation of extremophilic microalgae. These microorganisms inhabit the most hostile places on Earth, and because of that, they harbor a unique metabolism with great biotechnological interest. To fully exploit their potential, current industrial production processes need to be re-thought and adjusted to meet their specific environmental conditions. Here we specifically focus on the photoautotrophic cultivation of acidophilic and thermophilic microalgae.
Contact persons: Marina López Morales and Marcel Janssen
Partners: Extremolife consortium
Large-scale Triacylglyceride (TAG) Production Using Microalgae
This PhD project is part of the CARMA project, Circular Asphalt Rejuvenation using Microalgae, which aims to develop a circular asphalt recycling agent produced from wastewater-grown microalgae. The PhD project will focus on advancing large-scale microalgal TAG production as a sustainable alternative to conventional oil crops. By integrating strain selection, process design and techno-economic assessment, this project aims to bring microalgal TAG production closer to economic feasibility while contributing to a circular bio-based economy.
Contact persons: Juliëtte Camstra (MSc), prof.dr. MJ (Maria) Barbosa and dr.ir. MGJ (Marcel) Janssen
Partners: TNO
Integrating microalgae process in drain water treatment
Greenhouse drain water is exceedingly rich in nutrients, meaning that when discharged, it can lead to explosive growth of microorganisms.
My project aims to use these excess nutrients as a resource rather than having to deal with them as noxious waste and convert them into valuable bio-products by using the water as a cultivation medium for microalgae. Microalgae are a modern crop that has applications in relevant industries such as nutraceuticals, animal feed, and agricultural biostimulants. Making production of microalgae sustainable and highly efficient by employing elegant process engineering solutions and working at the edge of what is biologically feasible is the focus of this project.
Contact persons: Antonia Fichtbauer and Marcel Janssen
Partners: REALM consortium (UAL, UTU, Necton, and more)
A new reactor for mixotrophic algae cultivation
Microalgae are known for their ability to fix atmospheric CO2 into biomass through photosynthesis, releasing O2 (autotrophy). Unfortunately, scale-up of autotrophic cultivation is limited by high electricity costs associated with gas supply. Mixotrophy offers an alternative production method in which the autotrophic and heterotrophic (converting a carbon source and O2 into energy and CO2) metabolism are active simultaneously. This eliminates the need for external gas supply, as CO2 and O2 are recycled intracellularly.
Many concessions made in the design of autotrophic reactors (e.g. gas supply) diminish the reactor’s efficiency. These concessions might not be required for mixotrophic cultivation. This project aims to deepen the understanding of the mixotrophic metabolism and apply this knowledge in the design of a new mixotrophic reactor.
Contact persons: Luka Kuiper and Marcel Janssen
Partners: ALLIANCE consortium
Let’s Go VirAl
Whereas production of vaccines and pharmaceutical interesting proteins is primarily done in cells of animal origin, these systems suffer from several disadvantages which are not seen with microalgae. For this reason, microalgae are being considered promising, safe, alternative future production platforms. Their production is much cheaper and bioreactor systems are already available for growth and upscaling to support heterologous protein production. In order to bypass bottlenecks in microalgae genetic engineering, our project aims to establish the use of viruses infecting microalgae as more efficient production platforms of recombinant proteins. This approach combines fundamental understanding of regulatory mechanisms of these viruses and its application in developing biotechnological tools.
Contact persons: Julia Bevervanco, Sofia Amendola, Sarah D’Adamo
Exploring microalgae for production of plant virus-derived VLPs
Promoting human quality of life not only demands rapid pharmaceutical measures for human diseases, but also requires developing novel therapeutics, delivery approaches, and alternative production processes. Virus-like particles (VLPs) are naturally occurring nanoparticles that can be tailored to act as nanocarriers of a diverse range of therapeutic cargoes in medicine. In this project, we aim to create a universal plug-and-play toolkit comprising several plant virus-derived VLPs of different shapes and sizes for use in biotechnological and biopharmaceutical applications. To explore alternatives for feasible production of the newly developed toolkit, as well to assure its scalability, this project will also establish a microalgae-based bioreactor production system for it.
Contact persons: Esmée Zutt, dr. Sarah D’Adamo
Partners: AdaptVac, AlgaePARC, Batavia Bioscience, LenioBio
Producing omega-3 oil using Nannochloropsis sp.
Humans need to essential omega-3 fats that we obtain by eating fish. But did you know that fish do not produce omega-3 fatty acids themselves? They primarily obtain it from microalgae consumption. Therefore, it is a logical step to start producing omega-3 fats from microalgae in an earth- and animal-friendly way. Nannochloropsis sp. is considered as a great cell factory for omega-3 oil production due to its high photosynthetic efficiency, fast growth rates, and ability to accumulate significant amounts of lipids under both optimal and stressed conditions.
Despite its potential, algal oil is not yet economically competitive with traditional fish oil because of high capital investment, low productivity, and energy-intensive downstream processing. This research aims to bridge this gap. By utilizing a combination of metabolic engineering and process optimization, we will significantly increase the omega-3 oil content within Nannochloropsis sp. cells, making sustainable, animal-friendly omega-3s a commercially viable reality.
Contact persons: Laura Koerts, Marcel Janssen
Partners: ALLIANCE consortium
SUNPERFORM Biohybrid Solar Fuel Production
Current solar fuel technologies, essential for a sustainable energy future, face significant challenges: low efficiency, slow production, and high costs. These hurdles are particularly problematic for sectors like aviation and maritime, where electrification is difficult. The EU-funded SUN-PERFORM project seeks to overcome these barriers with a bio-hybrid approach, combining nanotechnology and synthetic biology. By developing advanced nanocrystal light-harvesting systems and engineered microalgal solar cells, SUN-PERFORM aims to improve current solar-to-fuel conversion efficiencies.
WUR is coordinating the efforts in this European consortium while testing several approaches using the saltwater microalgae Nannochloropsis oceanica. These approaches combine the testing of artificial nanocrystal light-harvesting systems, to efficiently harvest a larger part of the solar light spectrum, as well as the generation of advanced microalgal solar cell factories, by introducing synthetic pathways for a more efficient, rapid conversion of light energy and CO2 into lipid fuel precursors.
These different pipelines should increase the efficiency of photosynthesis and the lipid yield of N. oceanica, surpassing anycurrent solar-to-fuel conversion efficiencies.
Contact persons: Áureo Cutillas Farray, Igor Vunderink, Sarah D’Adamo
Partners: Bielefeld University (GER), Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology -Marburg (GER), Torino University (ITA), University of Amsterdam (NL), SolarFoil BV (NL), InSociety (ITA)
Contact us
Research themes
Bioprocess Engineering
Bioprocess Engineering, led by Rene Wijffels, teaches and develops innovative bio-based processes.
Follow us on social media
Stay up-to-date and learn more through our social channel.