Title: ricercatore universitario-RTDB
Association/Company: Università degli Studi di Padova
Biography:
Giorgio Perin holds a master’s degree in industrial biotechnology (2012) and a PhD in Biochemistry and Biophysics (2016). He spent three years at Imperial College London as Research Associate from 2017 to 2020. Currently he is assistant professor (RtdB) in Plant Physiology at the Department of Biology of the University of Padova. His main research interest is metabolic engineering of photosynthetic microorganisms for the sustainable production of biomass and chemicals.
Speech session
Biomass: selection, modification and production of microalgaea
Speech
Strain optimization for the production of biomass from unicellular algae
Abstract
Microalgae biomass is a promising solution to convert current industrial processes to sustainable alternatives. The growth conditions of industrial microalgae cultures are far different from their natural niches, calling for the development of domesticated strains.
One relevant target for strain optimization are the mechanisms regulating photosynthesis that are not optimal for the artificial light dynamics in photobioreactors and have a major impact on productivity at scale. In this work, we describe the major photosynthetic mechanisms limiting biomass productivity at industrial scale and propose innovative genetic engineering strategies for their successful domestication in photobioreactor.