About the Project
NERC-Funded CASE Studentship (European/UK students only)
This project will be supervised by Prof. Melody Clark at the British Antarctic Survey and Prof. Alison Smith and Dr. Matthew Davey at the University of Cambridge, Department of Plant Sciences.
Background:
CASE with Algaplex-A4F
Oceans cover approximately 75% of the planet’s surface, encompassing a wide range of habitats, from deep oceans, hydrothermal vents, through hypersaline lakes to frozen seas. As a consequence the diversity of organisms that inhabit the oceans is enormous, particularly in the microbial world, and these communities provide us with a natural catalogue of highly adapted organisms capable of thriving under extreme conditions. Polar algae, particularly many diatoms, have evolved a range of physical, chemical and catalytic features that enable them to survive in the extreme cold waters around Antarctica and in the high Arctic. These organisms represent a tractable renewable source of novel cold-adapted compounds and other functional traits that could be of use for many biotechnological processes. Characterisation of these growth and metabolic traits and genetic variation would provide insights into their adaptation strategies, and facilitate their industrial cultivation, as production costs may be reduced if these traits can be exploited to reduce energy inputs during cultivation.
This project has three major aims:
1: to characterise growth and metabolic traits in polar marine algae.
Algal species that are being investigated for use in the bio-economy are commonly temperate species, but in northern Europe their growth rate is usually too low for viable biomass production in the winter months, since their minimum growth temperature is generally above 15 ºC. In contrast, the majority of polar algal species have an optimal growth temperature below 10 ºC. Therefore, a possible solution to this production bottleneck would be to cultivate polar species in the UK during winter in order to increase annual biomass production. Our preliminary studies show that the growth/productivity of the polar species are comparable to the temperate species at the same growth temperature.
A comparative growth and metabolic profile study of polar microalgae, sourced from CCAP and possibly environmental samples, under 'native' temperature conditions, and under British winter conditions will be carried out within small scale (100-1000mL) specialised bioreactors in the laboratory at BAS and the Department of Plant Sciences (University of Cambridge) and at larger volumes (10-100L) at the new Algal Innovation Centre at the University Botanic Garden. The plasticity/variation in growth characteristics and biochemical traits (changes in total protein/lipid/carbohydrates/pigments) will be determined for each species. In order to screen for novel metabolites of potential commercial interest, their metabolites will be screened in collaboration with Glycomar and European colleagues in the EMBRC (European Marine Biological Resources Consortium), specifically Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Naples who specialise in the screening of novel metabolites for industrial purposes.
2: to collaborate with industry to screen for large scale biomass production.
The project will interact with an industry partner, Algaplex-A4F, who specialise in the scale up of algal cultures that are useful for biotechnological and industrial purposes. They are currently growing temperate strains of some of the polar diatoms (eg. Thalassiosira spp.) and are interested in whether the polar strains have different growth and glycoprotein traits that provide an advantageous growth rate or metabolic products over the temperate strain. The student will spend 3-6 months at Algaplex-A4F in the UK and/or Lisbon site to measure the growth parameters of polar strains compared to the temperate strains grown under industrial cultivation conditions (several 1000 L).
3: to understand the intra-specific variation between the native populations of key polar diatoms
Algae are increasingly being explored as a potential natural resource for production of compounds of commercial value across Europe. However, there are concerns over the ecological impact of large-scale algal-monoculture industries being established, particularly in relation to the environmental risks to populations of algae native to the locality of the site. On the other hand, these concerns may not be relevant if the intra-specific metabolic and genetic variation of these species is negligible, but nothing is know about this. Moreover, many culture collections maintain polar cultures above their natural temperature range (eg. at 4 oC rather than 0°C). Therefore, a key question is how representative of current natural populations are they and do they still have the same growth characteristics as field samples. The student will work with both strains from the CCAP and isolate new strains from the natural environment (subject to a successful CASS (Collaborative Antarctic Science Scheme) application for Antarctic field work). Sampling fresh isolates in Antarctic will be used to compare the fresh isolates to those that have been in culture collections for many generations. Metabolomic techniques will be used to quantify metabolic variation in amino / organic acids, carbohydrates, pigments and lipids in the algal tissue. Nucleotide polymorphisms between populations will be identified by sequencing Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) rDNA sequences.
Requirements:
• BSc and/or Masters in a biological (marine or plant preferred) or biochemical discipline.
• Ability to travel and work abroad for 3-6 months industrial placement and also spend time in Oban, Scotland for training in algal culture and preservation techniques.
• If CASS application is successful for Antarctic fieldwork, the student will need to pass a BAS medical.
Funding Notes
NERC fully-funded CASE studentship:
The studentship is fully funded for up to 4 years, including stipend (based on RCUK minimum), fees and research costs. The project has an industrial partner which will be involved in the supervision and training of the successful student throughout the PhD. There will also be a requirement for the industrial partner to host the student from 3 months and up to 18 months during the studentship.
Criteria:
BSc and/or Masters in a biological (marine or plant preferred) or biochemical discipline.
Eligibility:
To be eligible for a full award from NERC, you must be a UK/EU citizen or a non-EU citizen with settled status in UK AND have been ordinarily resident in the UK for at least 3 years prior to the start of the studentship.
Please refer to the RCUK Funding Terms and Conditions (http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/documents/documents/termsconditionstraininggrants-pdf/) to check your eligibility and email us if you are still in doubt.
How to apply:
Deadline for applications is midnight on Sunday 18 June 2017.
Application procedure: Please send a letter of motivation and full CV (including the contact details of two references) to Professor Melody Clark at [Email Address Removed] by the closing date, midnight on 18 June 2017.
We anticipate that the interviews will be held in Cambridge either at the end of the week of 19 June or early in week beginning 26 June.