- Research Projects
Research Projects
Dissolved inorganic carbon dynamics in biofilms of soda-lake phototroph consortium
Phototrophic organisms living in soda lakes are exposed to comparatively high dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) concentrations. However, due to the high pH of such environments, free dissolved CO2 hardly presents and bicarbonate, carbonate dominate the DIC. These have to be converted first to CO2 in order to be available for photosynthesis. Furthermore, due to the limited mass transfer rate in the benthic mats, the concentration of DIC itself can be limiting.
The current study aims to understand the DIC uptake dynamic in such systems, and how the CO2 is made available for photosynthesis.
Dynamics inside biofilm based photobioreactors
The potential of biofilm based photobioreactors (PBRs) in biotechnology have recently been recongnized (e.g. CO2 sequestration, pigment and/or lipid production). However, due to the novel design of some of the PBRs, the dynamics inside such biofilms were scarcely understood. Consequently, bottom-up improvement of the system is hardly possible.
The goal of the current study is to use a combination of methods (e.g. microsensor, modeling) to investigate dynamic interactions in such systems, and further the knowledge to PBRs designers for system improvement.
Better evaluation of hyperspectral images through liquid chromatography pigment analysis
Hyperspectral imaging has been applied to investigate pigment distributions of large surface areas. However, due to several factors (e.g. depth distribution of pigments, confounding spectra), qualification and quantification of the acquired hyperspectral images can be inaccurate. On the other hand, pigment analysis through liquid chromatography is very accurate. However, due to its laborious sample preparation and relatively long analysis time, it is impossible to be applied on a large scale.
By compiling a matrix of data containing both sample pigment compositions acquired through liquid chromatography and sample hyperspectral images. The current study aims at establishing a better method for pigment distribution analysis from hyperspectral images.