Institute for Molecular Bioscience - University of Queensland

Addressing our sustainability challenges with solar powered bio-technologies.

“Our world is rapidly exceeding a series of planetary sustainability boundaries. Our focus is on developing solar powered bio-technologies to provide competitive sustainable solutions to address these challenges.“

The photosynthetic machinery of plants including single cell green algae (microalgae) have evolved over 3 billion years. These intricate nano-machines together form the biological interface that taps into the huge energy resource of the sun and provide a wealth of information to enable design of high-efficiency solar driven microalgae biotechnologies and artificial bioinspired systems.

Plants and microalgae use the captured solar energy to power the production of atmospheric oxygen and biomass which provides, food, fuel and a wide range of biomolecules, that collectively support life on Earth.

Research overview

“Our research team uses a comprehensive skill set ranging from structural and molecular biology through to engineering, techno-economic analysis and scale up to innovate and commercialise solar powered biotechnologies,” said Group Leader Professor Ben Hankamer.

“Our green-algae technologies tap into the huge energy resource of the sun (5500x global energy demand) and absorb CO₂ to provide economic solar driven solutions that will help supply the world’s growing energy, food and water needs and a path for CO₂ utilisation.

“Our technologies also open up a suite of high value opportunities in the nutraceutical and pharmaceutical sectors.”

The importance of these technologies is illustrated by the fact that our global economy is valued at US$119 Trillion and powered by a $6 trillion energy sector.

80% of this energy is used as fuel and only 20% as electricity.

As our population expands from 7.5 to 9.7 billion people by 2050 it is forecast to require 50% more fuel (International Energy Agency), 50% more water (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) and 70% more food (United Nations) while reducing C0₂ emissions by over 80% to prevent dangerous climate change (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change).

Research projects

Aquaculture and Livestock Feeds: Superior algae feeds for improved health and food quality

Delivering innovative microalgae functional feeds to better meet the increasing needs of the aquaculture and livestock industries. This project will reduce the cost of microalgae production and integrate enhanced water nutrition and microbiome technology to improve food quality and ultimately animal health.

Project contacts: Dr Jennifer Yarnold, j.yarnold@imb.uq.edu.au, +61 7 3346 2015; Professor Ben Hankamer, b.hankamer@imb.uq.edu.au, +61 7 3346 2012

Clean Water: Improve water quality through the integration of microalgae technologies

Integrating microalgae technologies into innovative and sustainable land management practices, to improve water quality, soil biology, crop health and fertiliser efficiency.

Project contacts: Dr Juliane Wolf, j.wolf@imb.uq.edu.au, +61 7 3346 2022; Professor Ben Hankamer, b.hankamer@imb.uq.edu.au, +61 7 3346 2012

Green Smart Cities: Integrating green algae production systems for sustainable solutions

Integrating modular microalgae systems into buildings and urban infrastructure to create eco-cityscapes. This project is focused on designing robust, economically scalable, automated high-efficiency green algae production systems that are visually striking.

Project contact: Dr Jennifer Yarnold, j.yarnold@imb.uq.edu.au, +61 7 3346 2015; Professor Ben Hankamer, b.hankamer@imb.uq.edu.au, +61 7 3346 2012

Integrated Bioeconomy Project: Advancing the bioeconomy through system integration and innovation

Creating robust and economic greenhouse systems—that can be integrated with existing field production—to enhance productivity, resilience, resource efficiency and sustainability. This project will provide a fully integrated demonstration scale facility to act as an industry and technology hub.

Project contacts: Dr Evan Stephens, e.stephens@imb.uq.edu.au, +61 429 054 274; Professor Ben Hankamer, b.hankamer@imb.uq.edu.au, +61 7 3346 2012

Protein Therapeutics: Next-generation clean biologics and enzymes from algae

Using microalgae to produce high-value designer proteins, such as protein therapeutics, vaccines, antibody therapies, industrial enzymes and novel biomaterials.

Project contacts: Dr Melanie Oey, m.oey@uq.edu.au, +61 7 3346 2010; Professor Ben Hankamer, b.hankamer@imb.uq.edu.au, +61 7 3346 2012

Solar Fuels: Clean renewable biofuels from microalgae

Developing advanced microalgae systems that use solar energy and CO2 to produce crude oil, biodiesel, jet fuel, ethanol, methane and hydrogen

Project contacts: Dr Ian Ross, i.ross@imb.uq.edu.au, +61 7 3346 2010; Professor Ben Hankamer, b.hankamer@imb.uq.edu.au, +61 7 3346 2012

Functional Foods: Next-generation green nutraceuticals from microalgae products

Delivering enhanced human nutrition options in the food and health industries. Expanding this niche market by targeting and overcoming existing barriers such as high production costs, poor taste and a lack of consumer awareness as to the health benefits.

Project contacts: Dr Evan Stephens, e.stephens@imb.uq.edu.au, +61 429 054 274; Professor Ben Hankamer, b.hankamer@imb.uq.edu.au, +61 7 3346 2012

Growing Roads: Integrating sustainable green algae production systems into transport infrastructure

Facilitating the integration of aesthetic, architectural microalgae production units into rapidly evolving roadscapes. Through replacing traditional noise barriers with eco-algae production facilities, this initiative will help to re-green our roads, reduce CO2 emissions, as well as open up new economic opportunities and sustainable services.

Project contacts: Mr John Roles, j.roles@imb.uq.edu.au, +61 7 3346 2022; Professor Ben Hankamer, b.hankamer@imb.uq.edu.au, +61 7 3346 2012

Research training opportunities

Bioinspired design: Visualising the photosynthetic machinery of microalgae in molecular resolution detail

Discipline: Several projects are available in electron tomography, single particle analysis and image processing.

Project Overview: Our long-term aim is to deliver a 4D atlas of the dynamic photosynthetic solar interfaces of microalgae cells, to fast-track the development of advanced algae-based and artificial solar fuel technologies. Several projects are available to support this work.

Algae cells have evolved over ~3 billion years of natural selection to yield a diverse array of highly efficient, self-assembling, light-responsive thylakoid membranes that act as Nature’s best-practice solar interfaces for photosynthesis. These interfaces contain nano-machinery to drive the photosynthetic light reactions which convert light from the sun into food, fuel and atmospheric oxygen to support life on Earth. Using electron microscopy, electron tomography and single particle analysis we aim to establish molecular resolution 3D atlases of the photosynthetic machinery. These models will be extended into 4D to analyse how the system responds to light. These 3D and 4D atlases will reveal critical design principles based on which self-assembling, low-cost, high-efficiency solar interfaces can be developed to generate competitive solar fuels, using advanced microalgae systems and artificial solar fuel technologies.

Preferred skills: Experience in structural biology (e.g. electron tomography and single particle analysis) and willingness to gain specialized image processing experience.

Understanding the molecular pathways of photosynthetic light-acclimation in microalgae

Discipline: Bioinformatics

Project Overview: Light capture is the first step of all photosynthetic microalgae production. Optimising light capture efficiency is therefore central to process optimization. This project will use high throughput RNA-sequencing and ChIP-sequencing technology to profile gene expression levels in algae exposed to different light conditions, to identify gene targets that influence efficient light absorption.

Preferred skills: Bioinformatics and data analysis, molecular techniques (i.e. RNA extraction, PCR), microbiology, plant and algae biology, photosynthesis.

For more information please contact Ben Hankamer (b.hankamer@uq.edu.au)

Determination of microalgae biomass productivity in new photobioreactor designs

Discipline: Process / chemical engineering

Project Overview: The Centre for Solar Biotechnology and its partners are developing high efficiency microalgae production systems. This project will focus on the testing of these photo-bioreactor systems at our advanced pilot plant facility.

Preferred skills: Process engineering, chemical engineering or equivalent discipline and a basic knowledge in SCADA and PLC. Successful applicants are expected to be able to work independently within an interdisciplinary team environment, setup microalgae cultivations, support the running of photobioreactors, as well as conducting sample and data analysis.

For more information please contact Ben Hankamer b.hankamer@imb.uq.edu.au

Automation of data processing and analysis from high-throughput screening resulting in large biological datasets

Discipline: IT / Software engineering

Project Overview: The Centre for Solar Biotechnology has developed high-throughput automated processes for the optimisation of nutrients and light conditions to maximize the efficiency of microalgae production. These process can run over 1700 samples simultaneously and yield large amounts of data, the analysis of which will be aided by automated data processing. This project is focused on the development of software to support our high-throughput screening processes. The project will involve programming of Matlab scripts based on manual processing steps and visual basic scripts, software documentation and the development of a graphical user interface (GUI).

development, data analysis and visualisation of biological high throughput screening datasets.

Preferred skills: Programming knowledge in Matlab and Visual basics

For more information please contact Ben Hankamer (b.hankamer@uq.edu.au)

CRISPR modification of light harvesting antenna genes of microalgae

Discipline: Molecular Biology

Project Overview: Light capture is the first step of all photosynthetic microalgae production. Optimising light capture efficiency is therefore central to process optimisation. This project will use CRISPR gene editing technology to develop microalgae cell lines with altered light harvesting antenna systems to improve their biotechnology utility.

Preferred skills: Experience in molecular biology.

For more information please contact Ben Hankamer b.hankamer@imb.uq.edu.au

Techno-economic and life cycle modelling of microalgae processes

Discipline: Economics/Engineering

Project Overview: Our team has developed a powerful integrated techno-economic and life cycle analysis (TELCA) platform to fast track microalgae systems optimisation. TELCA can analyse up to 350 variables of a microalgae based fuel plant to identify the best settings in terms of economic return, energy return on energy invested and greenhouse gas emissions. A number of project options are available to expand the capabilities of TELCA to allow the analysis of new production systems and downstream processing on a range of products from solar fuels, clean water, aquaculture and livestock feeds, biogenic fertilisers and peptide therapeutics. Projects are also available on our Integrated Bioeconomy Project which is focused on the development of a next generation greenhouse system ‘The Controlled Biosphere’ which is designed to produce 10x more food with 10x less water than conventional agriculture and to provide closed loop stable production conditions for subtropical and tropical conditions.

Preferred skills: Experience techno-economic and life cycle modelling and excel based programing.

Contact: Professor Ben Hankamer

+61 7 3346 2012
b.hankamer@imb.uq.edu.au

Find out more about Research Training at IMB:

Research Training

Featured publications

Technology overview: Can algae systems be scaled to supply global fuel demand?

Climate change and fuel security: How quickly do we have to transition to renewable fuel systems?

Economics of production:

Algae production systems: How do different algae production systems perform?

Optimising production: How can I optimize production conditions: Light? Nutrients?

Optimising Harvesting: Can algae be efficiently harvested?

Cryo-preservation: Can algae be cryo-presevered? Yes

View all Publications

Engagement and impact

Our team has worked with approximately 15 Industry partners. We have developed an advanced process pipeline from algae collection through to demonstration systems development.

Partners and collaborators

Coming soon.

Growing tomorrow’s pharma in algae

Published on: 23 August 2021

Solar biotechnologies are being designed to expand Australian advanced manufacture, from next-generation COVID therapeutics through to renewable fuels.
Oceans of opportunity for medicines, food and biofertiliser

Published on: 23 July 2021

Better medicines, food, nutraceuticals, nanomaterials and biofertilisers will flow from new Australian Government funding to bolster marine bioproduct innovation.
Could algae help us fight the plastic problem?

Published on: 27 September 2019

It’s no secret that the world has a problem with plastic. An IMB research team examined the future of plastics and how tiny species of algae and bacteria may help us produce more environmentally friendly versions.