Grant: Alliance Grants

Algae-C is Canadian biosynthetic company using microalgae to produce biomolecules of interest. 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 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 plant product of interest. 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 continue to translate metabolic engineering research into industrial processes. This project aims to optimized microalgae platforms for the production of valuable cannabinoids. 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 plants.