Professor Christine Edwards c.edwards@rgu.ac.uk
Professor
Unlocking the biotechnological potential of Desertfilium tharense
People Involved
Professor Linda Lawton l.lawton@rgu.ac.uk
Professor
Project Description
Cyanobacteria, often known as blue-green algae, are an essential component of global ecosystems using light and carbon dioxide to produce organic carbon and oxygen. Consequently, they are found in diverse habitats including terrestrial and aquatic habitats, hot springs to Antarctic mats. The ecological diversity has resulted in chemical diversity and they increasingly investigated as sources of new chemical entities in drug discovery programs in the search for new drugs to treat cancer and microbial diseases.
Culture collections such as the Culture Collection of Algae and Protozoa (CCAP) in the UK represent a vast, untapped resource with biotechnological potential beyond drug discovery, pigments, polymers, lipids with wide application in cosmetics, food and drink sectors.
This project will explore the potential of a strain of cyanobacteria isolated from the Thar Desert in India. The team from RGU and SAMs will produce biomass at scale, and explore what is inside and outside the cells. The extracts will be cleaned up and simplified before screening in a panel of assays.
| Status | Project Live |
|---|---|
| Funder(s) | Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council |
| Value | £32,671.00 |
| Project Dates | Aug 1, 2023 - Jul 31, 2024 |
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