Adelina de la Jara Valido (Ph.D. Student) "Development of rapid screening methodology of microalgae suitable for industrial production"

The main objective of the Spanish Bank of Algae is the maintenance of the local biological heritage through the isolation, identification, characterization, conservation and supply of microalgae and cyanobacteria. This institution has a stock of 1,600 species of microalgae. The development of rapid and high-throughput screening techniques would allow characterizing a high number of strains and selecting those with the best technological properties. Flow cytometry is useful for analysing the composition and physiological state of microalgae when cells are labelled with specific fluorescent markers, contributing to the rapid development of feasible bioprocesses. The goal of the thesis project is the development of different fluorescent labelling protocols to analyse the chemical composition and the physiological state of microalgae cells grown under different environmental conditions to finally obtain those with the best technological properties.