Algal Biofuels are the Future (For Now)
Jerry Brand said that once we learn how to farm microalgae at extraordinary scales, it will be a viable energy source to fuel our cars, trucks and planes.
News
From the College of Natural Sciences
Large Facility For Growing Algae for Biofuels Opens
Algae has gained significant attention as a feedstock for biofuels and as an alternative to other petroleum-based products because of its potential for high yields, high productivity and scalability.
Biologists Use Bacteria from Hot Springs to Reveal Clues To Evolution of Early Life and To Unlock Biofuels’ Potential
A bacteria that lives in hot springs in Japan may help solve one of the mysteries of the early evolution of complex organisms, according to a study just published in PLoS Biology.
Professor Receives Grant to Develop More Rapid Technology For Screening Blood Samples
Dr. Jennifer Brodbelt has received a $734,068 grant from the NIH to develop a new method for rapidly screening blood samples for biomarkers.
Sibling Rivalry
Here’s what happens when you put some of the world’s smartest and most creative physicists in the same mental space with some of the world’s greatest bacteriologists: Border maintenance among warring colonies of bacteria is explained by applying a little math. That, my friends, is science at work. Physicists Harry Swinney and Avraham Be’er, coll...
Discovery Opens Door For Drugs To Fight Bird Flu, Influenza Epidemics
AUSTIN, Texas—Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin and Rutgers University have reported a discovery that could help scientists develop drugs to fight avian flu and other virulent strains of influenza. The researchers have determined the three-dimensional structure of a site on an influenza A virus protein that binds to one of the human...
New Source for Biofuels Discovered
AUSTIN, Texas--A newly created microbe produces cellulose that can be turned into ethanol and other biofuels, report scientists from The University of Texas at Austin who say the microbe could provide a significant portion of the nation’s transportation fuel if production can be scaled up. Along with cellulose, the cyanobacteria developed by Profe...
Coral Health And Bacterial Communities
PORT ARANSAS, Texas—Bacterial communities endemic to healthy corals could change depending on the amount and type of natural and man-made dissolved organic matter in seawater, report researchers from The University of Texas at Austin Marine Science Institute and Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida. Healthy corals naturally exude a surround...
Monitoring Texas Bays For Dangerous Algal Blooms
PORT ARANSAS, Texas—A new electronic sentinel is on the lookout for dangerous algal blooms in Texas bays. The new instrument, called the Imaging FlowCytobot, automatically takes images of and classifies species of phytoplankton in real-time. It heralds the development of a warning system for the presence of harmful algae, like those that cause red...
Student scientists create living bacterial photographs
AUSTIN, Texas—Using Petri dishes full of genetically engineered E. coli instead of photo paper, students at The University of Texas at Austin and UCSF successfully created the first-ever bacterial photographs. Their work is published in this week’s issue of Nature (Nov. 24, 2005), which is focused on the emerging field of synthetic biology. The s...Read It Now
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