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One of my projects is to improve the way we harvest algae from water. Algae are a great source for biofuel, but common methods to harvest algae are very energy intensive and undermine the utility of algae as a fuel source. . Our approach is to use "flocculation“flocculation," ” which is the method where dispersed particles (algae) are aggregated into larger particles through the use of another molecule (virus-like particles).
The virus-like particles that we intend to use is a derived from a benign strain of influenza that we are already immune to. Influenza contains surface proteins called hemagglutinin that binds to sugar groups on cells. Hemagglutinin is also special in that at a low pH, it changes shape so that hydrophobic spikes protrude outward away from the virus towards the target host cells. These hydrophobic spikes can stick to cellular membranes and, hypothetically, cause many algae cells to clump together. We can confirm that the algae are clumping together using microscopes and machines that measure particulate sizes. Our hope is that the larger algae clumps can be scooped out of solution in an energy-efficient way.