Date/Time Date(s) - 27/10/20211:30 pm - 2:30 pm
In-Person Event: Arthur N. Bourns Building Room 102
Remote Registration: ttps://bit.ly/3vstQBL
Title Developing new efficient methods to harvest microalgae using AFM and FluidFM technologies
Abstract Microalgae are a promising resource for biofuel production, although their industrial use is limited by the lack of effective harvesting techniques. My work focuses on developing efficient and sustainable ways to harvest them using flocculation/flotation technique. This technique first consists in a flocculation step where cells are aggregated into large flocs that can then be captured by rising microbubbles. Microbubbles bring the flocs to the suspension’s surface, allowing their easy separation from water. In this context, we use atomic force microscopy techniques to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying microalgae flocculation. In addition, recent developments using FluidFM technology allows us to take the next step and probe the interactions directly between microbubbles and cells. Understanding these interactions between cells or between cells and bubbles paves the way for the development of cost-effective harvesting processes that will help in making microalgae-based biofuel production economically viable on an industrial scale.
Dr. Cécile Formosa-Dague CNRS researcher at Toulouse Biotechnology Institute (TBI), INSA de Toulouse, France. I realized my PhD between 2012 and 2015 at the Laboratory for Analysis and Architecture of the Systems (LAAS-CNRS) in Toulouse, where I worked on important issues related to multidrug-resistant microorganisms using AFM. After that, I joined Y. Dufrêne team at the Catholic University of Louvain (UCL) in Belgium, where I pushed further the technological concepts developed during my PhD to study biofilm formation in bacteria. In 2017, thanks to a Marie Curie grant, I integrated TBI where I worked on developing interdisciplinary approaches to study microalgae and their interactions with their environment, still using AFM techniques. Finally in 2019 I obtained a permanent position at Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), to continue and develop these research activities on microalgae, in TBI, and to work on new techniques based on FluidFM technology.