Author: Carrie Cox

We are right in the middle of the holiday season and you may be looking for new inspiration in the kitchen. There are no better ingredients to make your meals healthier and more exciting than microalgae and seaweeds! At ABO we’ve gathered more than a few algae recipes that can help you add these superfoods to the menu.

Seaweed recipes

At BlueEvolution you can find how to make any number of dishes with seaweeds harvested from the deep, clean and cold waters off Alaska’s Kodiak Island. Find out how to incorporate seaweed into hummus, snacks, smoothies and even mayonnaise or chimichurri. See all the recipes at BlueEvolution.

Seagrove Kelp Co. is also an indispensable resource for new ways to use seaweed in the kitchen. They have published recipes for favorites such as a kelp chowder, kelp gnocci, and delicious sugared bull kelp & tahini seaweed chocolate chip cookies. Read the recipes from Seagrove here.

Microalgae recipes

The team at Arizona Algae Products has been busy discovering new cooking applications for microalgae. Find out how they have developed recipes for algae in noodles, bread, cookies and crackers. See their blog for a full list of recipes.

A number of ABO members (Cyanotech, AstaReal) are producers of astaxanthin, a powerful antioxidant produced by algae, and also the source of salmon’s pink color. The applications for astaxanthin in cooking are nearly endless. Check out OneGreenPlanet for a few suggestions like a deep-red tomato soup, chocolate pudding, several smoothie options, and even bean soup.

Of course, cooking isn’t the only application for algae–far from it! Today’s algae industry is cultivating this amazing crop to make everything from sustainable animal feeds, to fossil-free plastics & foams to low-carbon fuels. Algae is also used in advanced wastewater treatment facilities, and as a valuable soil amendment and fertilizer. At ABO we see these as the early days of a revolutionary new kind of agriculture that will transform how we live more sustainable lives.

Join us and become part of the movement! ABO members get discounts to events and other perks, but perhaps most important is the support of a community with deep technical experience, startup chops, market access, and unmatched enthusiasm for the power of algae.

What’s your favorite algae recipe? Let us know and we’ll see if we can add it to this post. Drop us a line at info@algaebiomass.org.

See you in 2022!

Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash

The Algae Biomass Organization is introducing two new membership categories for the academic community that is contributing so much to the advancement of algae and seaweed-based solutions. 

These new categories have been designed to provide more accessible avenues for university department heads, mentors and students to engage with the commercial algae industry, as well as a broad global research community. 

They come after hundreds of academic participants took the stage at the virtual 2021 Algae Biomass Summit to share their progress with a global audience. A number of ABO board members took note, and felt that even stronger participation from this community will be important as the world begins to recognize that algae and seaweed will be important components of a sustainable economy. 

The new ABO membership options are meant to give the academic community even more engagement opportunities with the organization’s growing network. Some of these benefits include:

• Discounts to ABO events, such as the Algae Biomass Summit;
• Preferred scoring for abstracts submitted to the Summit;
• New talent and workforce development programs;
• Information about federal funding opportunities, and avenues to work with other members to build compelling applications;
• Reciprocal member benefits with ABO’s global partners, such as the European Algae Biomass Association;
• Platforms to share organization or student milestones on ABO’s websites, newsletters, social media and ABO events; and more. 

Every university with an interest in algae and seaweed will have different goals, so we have developed two ways for institutions to join ABO and begin building new connections. They are: 

A University membership level

The new University membership level is open to all academic labs, research centers, and institutes. The primary contact for this type of membership might be a primary investigator or a professor running a lab or department at a university. Up to 5 students in that department are eligible for annual ABO membership, and all the benefits that come with it. The University level comes with the same benefits as a Bronze-level corporate membership at ABO, such as event discounts, VIP opportunities, and access to members-only resources. 

A University Premium level

For larger programs, the University Premium category allows for up to 10 students, as well as the department head, to qualify for ABO’s membership benefits. There are also some additional perks that come with this level, equivalent to an ABO Gold-level membership. 

There is no doubt that a more robust academic participation in ABO’s efforts is vital to building an industry that can responsibly address some of the greatest challenges the world faces. Researchers, students and their supporting networks within universities have made some of the most important advances that are reducing the costs of algae cultivation, creating new products, and finding locations that are best suited to sustainably and productively grow algae and seaweed.

These findings have provided insight for startups and commercial projects that are working to make algae and seaweed a mainstream ingredient in dozens of markets. In many cases, new companies have been spun out directly from innovations developed in academic settings. With the new membership category, efforts like those will have one more avenue to make contacts, share results, solve problems and ultimately succeed. 

“Algae and seaweed can play an outsized role in addressing climate change, water issues, food security challenges and more only if the academic community has a strong voice, and ample resources to advance science,” said Dr. Rebecca White, executive director of the Algae Biomass Organization. “We have organized our new university memberships to maximize the opportunities for collaboration and resource development in the research community.” 

More information about ABO’s University membership categories, and others can be found here.

To reach out about becoming a member please contact ABO today!

Viridos is one of the Algae Biomass Organization’s oldest members, but you might not know it from their new name. Formerly known as Synthetic Genomics, Viridos has taken its new title from the Greek word viridis, which means green or fresh. It’s a reference to a commitment to build the natural solutions we need to create a better future. Toward this mission, Viridos has made astounding progress on one of algae’s most promising potentials: sustainable, low-carbon biofuels.

This past month Viridos announced an agreement with ExxonMobil that will help take the company’s technology closer to commercial production, with particular emphasis on biofuels that work in trucks and airplanes. Heavy transportation and aviation are particularly important in the effort to build a cleaner economy, since they are both critical components of global commerce but also difficult to decarbonize with electricity or other readily available technologies. 

To build a better biofuel, Viridos has focused on creating strains of microalgae that are better suited to produce the oils needed to make fuels. Algae strains found in nature can be used to make biofuels at modest scales with today’s technology, but Viridos adjusts those capabilities to improve efficiency, and make production more commercially viable. 

Besides genetic innovations, Viridos is also developing systems to maximize biological production, algal crop measurement tools, and scalable development programs that can form the basis of an integrated system to tackle the challenges of sustainable biofuels. 

Milestones from Viridos are among the most exciting when it comes to finding a new source of biofuel from microalgae. In 2017, they demonstrated technology that can double the oil production potential of algae without inhibiting growth. In 2020, they showed they could achieve outdoor algal bio-oil productivity at an industrially relevant scale. And more recently, the company secured additional EPA approvals to conduct outdoor cultivation of their lead algal biofuels strains, unlocking an accelerated pathway for safe and continuously improved technology development. 

“Viridos has applied science, patience and technical expertise to give us a glimpse of the astounding potentials of algae,” said Dr. Rebecca White, Executive Director of the Algae Biomass Organization. “Their commitment to harnessing this potential at the global scales needed to decarbonize complex industries like aviation or heavy trucking is a model to technology developers everywhere.”

Learn more about Viridos at: https://www.viridos.com/

Interested in joining Viridos as a member of the Algae Biomass Organization? Find out more.

The Algae Biomass Organization is helping to build a better future with one of the most promising new technology platforms. We believe algae and seaweed cultivation can improve global sustainability, feed billions of people, and offer new economic opportunity.

Today this industry is seeing major advances and record funding in research, new commercial production facilities coming online, and innovative algae products making waves in a range of new markets.

Join us as we push forward to develop new technology, science, business development, regulations and public awareness about what algae can do. With our current membership drive, you can get discounted rates when you help grow out community:

Corporate Level Members:

• Existing corporate level members will receive a 20% discount on their 2022 membership for signing up new corporate level members.*
• Each new corporate member you recruit will also receive a 20% discount on their 2022 membership.

Individual Level Members:

• Existing individual level members will receive a 20% discount on their 2022 membership for signing up new individual level members.*
• Each new individual member you recruit will receive a 20% discount on their 2022 membership.

These offers expire November 30, 2021.

Your participation in ABO puts you on track to play a role in building a new industry that is perfectly suited to meet the biggest challenges of our times. Be part of our community and invite others to do the same.

Ready to sign up a new member?

Read up on our member benefits and contact ABO’s Barb Scheevel today at 877.531.5512 ext. 1, or email her at bscheevel@algaebiomass.org

New members do not need to be coming in at the same level as the current member. The new member must complete payment by November 30, 2021. Following payment by the new member, the recruiting member will be invoiced for membership at the 20% discounted rate. Payment must be completed by December 31, 2021.

*Each new member will receive the new member discount. Recruiting members will only receive a single discount to their membership rate.

The 2021 Algae Biomass Summit concluded last week and was a great success! Hundreds of people from around the world joined online presentations and networking sessions to share advances, challenges and solutions on everything from carbon capture, microalgae production, seaweed markets, new materials and more. 

And in case you missed it, we have recorded every session and will be giving attendees full access for several months after the event. If you did not attend the Summit you can still purchase access to the recordings and virtual networking platform! Reach out to us today to get access. 

One of the most exciting developments for this year was the increased engagement we saw in the virtual format. Live networking sessions bookended the month-long event, and hundreds of questions and discussion threads were added to the Summit’s online platform. Some sought answers to technical questions, others were interested in tips on how to best prepare for a career in the algae and seaweed industries. In every speaker session a live Q&A allowed attendees to quiz presenters and make new connections.

Among the VIP speakers was US Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who stressed that algae is primed to become a new agricultural sector that can add to global sustainability and economic development. We also saw keynote presentations from Michael Berube, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Sustainable Transportation in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the Department of Energy; Marcius Extavour, Vice President of Energy and Climate, XPRIZE; and Trond Helgerud, Seaweed and Clean Label R&D Leader, Managing Director at Dupont Nutrition Norge AS. All spoke about the critical role algae can play in becoming a technology platform with benefits for carbon capture, food, health care, fuel production and more.  

The Summit also included a number of special sessions on its agenda that explored new areas where ABO can accelerate its efforts. One included a presentation from the startBlue Accelerator at UC San Diego that is helping to form more startups focused on ocean-focused solutions to global challenges. Another was a macroalgae focus workshop that brought together seaweed experts of all stripes to explore the state of seaweed research and market development. 

Finally, the 2021 Summit expanded on a tradition of providing career development opportunities for those just getting started in algae. Weekly sessions of the Young Innovators Lounge connected students with established research leaders and CEOs, and digital poster sessions allowed many in the academic community a chance to showcase their research and also meet with company representatives on the lookout for new talent. 

This was the second time ABO has organized a virtual Summit, and we are incredibly humbled by the participation and response. For 2022, we are hopeful this event will return to an in-person format, but the digital advantages we have built over the past two years will not be left behind.

Stay tuned as we plan the next chapter of the world’s largest algae conference!