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Hands-on Program Helps Students, Algae Grow
Extensive lab facilities and a real-world learning approach at a Texas community college has put students and their algae research on a path to success.
Biotechnology student Timothy Hall squinted at a flask full of algae, then carefully placed a few drops into a lab instrument using a pipette. In a few seconds, hundreds of green algal cells appeared on screen. He clicked on several of the digital images, reviewed their measurements and other data and analyzed it for trends or patterns. Hall goes through this process almost daily, monitoring the growth of algal cells and their production of lipids as part of primary research he’s conducting in hopes of someday leading a viable commercial enterprise selling algae as feedstock for biofuel production and other applications. But Hall hasn’t looked for any venture funding. His work on moving America toward energy independence is part of his associate degree program in biotechnology at Lone Star Community College’s Montgomery campus in Conroe, Texas.
Founded in 1973, the Lone Star College (LSC) System comprises six colleges and two university centers with 78,000 credit students and a total of more than 90,000 students. The college focuses on graduating students with skills and abilities that appeal to potential employers. For the biotechnology program, this means replacing rote textbook learning with practical, hands-on activities and involving students in actual scientific research that addresses today’s real problems. Students get access to the same high-tech instrumentation that professional lab technicians use at the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and oil and gas companies nearby in Houston. This real-world approach focusing on undergraduate research has attracted a number of advanced students who may otherwise have attended four-year institutions, according to Danny Kainer, who directs the biotechnology program.
“Students are realizing that most four-year degree programs put the research, the part that really interests them, at the back end,” says Kainer. “Our two-year program provides research opportunities from day one so you don’t have to wait years and years to do the type of work that’s typically part of a Master’s program.”
During the three and a half years since the LSC biotechnology research efforts were initiated, several students who were either enrolled or planned to enroll at local, four-year institutions instead registered for Kainer’s program to participate in the algae research effort.
As a core part of the hands-on research, students grow, monitor and harvest upward of 35 different strains or species of algae. Each strain exhibits different characteristics that may be ideal for a variety of commercial applications. One project seeks the algal strain that yields high levels of astaxanthin, an antioxidant being added to functional foods and nutraceuticals that has already topped $1 billion in sales. A second project seeks to identify the algal strains that yield the most long-chain hydrocarbons for use in the production of sustainable biodiesel and other biofuels. Today, Botryococcus braunii, with its high lipid production rate, ranks as the most likely candidate to help reduce dependence on fossil fuels. It is being cultivated in the LSC research lab. A third project aims to determine the strains that may be safely fed to microscopic invertebrates, such as rotifers. These are in turn fed to fish in aquaponics systems, which not only generate fish but also produce. The right algal strain may enhance the nutritional value of the farmed fish while the wrong strain could cause harm upstream in the food chain. All of these algae research projects require Kainer’s students to grow algal cells in lab- or pilot-scale cultures, check their progress daily and harvest the algae at the end of the experiment.
“We may or may not hit on the breakthrough that makes biofuels cost-competitive against oil and natural gas today, but our students are becoming the technology leaders and developing best practices in growing and harvesting algae,” says Kainer. “They’re developing marketable skills that are transferable to numerous laboratory applications and the opportunity to develop these skills is attracting serious, mature students who become highly sought after by the biotechnology industry when they graduate.”
Hands-on learning
Hands-on access to two fully stocked laboratories also plays a role in attracting these students, according to Kainer. With one lab for research, the other for teaching, an algae production facility and a supercomputing center for bioinformatics applications, Kainer has secured a number of grants and donations and set up industry partnerships to stock these facilities with the latest lab instrumentation available. His equipment lineup includes an electron microscope, a sputter coater, several types of spectrophotometers, multiple open ponds and photobioreactors (PBRs) for cultivating algae, two biodiesel processors, an automated cell counter, a microplate reader, an automated liquid handling robot, conventional and real-time PCR for quantifying DNA and RNA, an anaerobic chamber, a gas chromatograph, a fuel cell trainer and two shakers with 3-D agitation capabilities called “belly dancers.” The students are also building a commercial-scale aquaponics and algaculture production system powered by solar and wind energy.
Students become proficient in using all of these instruments for their algae research, but the instrument students use the most is called the FlowCAM, which combines microscopy, imaging and high-speed flow cytometry in one unit. It automatically detects, counts and measures algal cells in a fluid sample, takes a high-resolution, full-color digital image of each one and saves the images and data for review and analysis. It discerns thousands of algal cells from non-algal particles in the same sample in seconds and can even identify the strain of algae detected—automatically.
Public water utilities such as the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, Massachusetts Water Resource Authority and the City of Westminster, Col. use the same instrumentation to monitor their reservoirs for harmful algal bloom species that could contaminate drinking water. The Lone Star biotech students use it to monitor their algae, too. They conduct lipid analysis using both fluorescence and Nile Red staining, verify purity of the cultures and check concentration and growth rates in a bioreactor to help determine the optimal time for harvesting.
“Most biotechnology programs have older models of equipment because of the high costs associated with new, high-end instruments,” says Kainer. “Our FlowCAM is just like the models at the FDA and the big pharmaceutical companies so our students develop marketable skills and understand modern analytical techniques.”
Kainer secured the FlowCAM as part of a scholarship program from the manufacturer, Fluid Imaging Technologies, Scarborough, Maine. The collaborative scholarship provides up to $1,000 per year for up to four consecutive years to a student studying algae and its potential role in the development of biofuels, bioplastics and other products. Unexpectedly, the FlowCAM spawned several collaborative projects among students and faculty from different departments including geology, engineering, chemistry, physics and non-science areas.
“You don’t have to be a scientist to be amazed at the volume of data you’re seeing on the screen,” says Kainer. “The FlowCAM provides a platform for studying data collection and statistical analysis that can be applied to any number of areas. I can envision scenarios where several departments pool funds and then develop interdisciplinary projects.”
Industry collaborations
To promote collaboration with industry, Kainer’s program relies heavily on a Biotechnology Institute Advisory Board. This committee brings together research scientists, laboratory specialists, educational experts and representatives from area businesses to promote cooperation and help maintain the relevance of the program’s curriculum to ensure students learn the skills that lead to employment. Board members include representatives from Univ. of Texas M.D. Anderson School of Health Professions, Sigma Genosys, Rigaku, Huntsman, GlycosBio, Twister Biotechnology, Novozymes and SkinMedica. With input from the Board, Kainer ensures Lone Star students know how to make solutions, use micropipettes and perform common laboratory calculations.
He also learned from the Board that students who graduate with degrees in the life sciences and biotechnical engineering fields often arrive on the job fully able to perform basic laboratory analyses, but don’t always arrive with the level of professionalism required by industry.
“Our program requires students to solve problems, troubleshoot their experiments and act as if they were already paid research professionals,” says Kainer. “They’re comfortable in a lab setting and they’re also developing soft skills, like showing up and accepting responsibility, that hiring managers say many of today’s applicants lack.”
Several students have secured internships and started careers as laboratory technicians with area companies seeking their hands-on skills and experience.
Rather than wait for investment funding for biofuels to loosen, Kainer has started plans to set up a simulated commercial enterprise within the biotechnology program that would provide entrepreneurial and business experiences for the students and potentially create revenue streams capable of supporting its other research projects. The business would leverage its expertise in growing and harvesting algae for internal use or for use by local petrochemical, food, nutraceutical and other companies.
“The ultimate goal is to create an operation where the students feel like they’re working in industry so when they approach a company for a job, they bring real experience from both the lab and the workplace,” says Kainer. “This can’t happen out of a textbook with pre-planned, right or wrong results and it can’t happen online. It requires that both students and faculty engage in projects without having predetermined answers. Instead, students and teachers participate in the discovery process together and experience the thrill of learning something new about nature or developing a technology that may solve some of the most challenging problems faced by the world today.”
