Microalgae for the production of plant specialized metabolites of interest

Algae-C is a company specialized in algal biomass production. It enables on-site production of algae for a wide

variety of sectors (aquaculture, nutraceutical, cosmetic and biofuel). To date, many fuels, pharmaceuticals and

cosmetic products are extracted from plants. These valuable plant natural products (PNPs) are often produced

in low quantities in plants and extraction methods can be long and expensive. Thus, there is much interest in

metabolic engineering for developing microbial platforms to produce specific PNPs. Microalgae are

well-known systems for plant biology and genetic engineering and are interesting and suitable hosts for the

reconstitution of complex plant pathways. Algae-C wishes to translate metabolic engineering research into

industrial processes. This project aims to optimized microalgae platforms for the production of valuable PNPs.

These ventures are motivated by consumer demand for products that are environmentally friendly, less

expensive, and possess properties similar or superior with those generated by PNPs.