Automated nutrient screening system enables high-throughput optimisation of microalgae production conditions.

Background: Microalgae provide an excellent platform for the production of high-value-products and are increasingly being recognised as a promising production system for biomass, animal feeds and renewable fuels.

Results: Here, we describe an automated screen, to enable high-throughput optimisation of 12 nutrients for microalgae production. Its miniaturised 1,728 multiwell format allows multiple microalgae strains to be simultaneously screened using a two-step process.

Impact of procedural steps and cryopreservation agents in the cryopreservation of chlorophyte microalgae.

The maintenance of traditional microalgae collections based on liquid and solid media is labour intensive, costly and subject to contamination and genetic drift. Cryopreservation is therefore the method of choice for the maintenance of microalgae culture collections, but success is limited for many species. Although the mechanisms underlying cryopreservation are understood in general, many technical variations are present in the literature and the impact of these are not always elaborated.