HIGH-THROUGHPUT PHOTOBIOREACTOR FOR MICROALGAL BIOFUEL ASSAY

Microalgae are emerging as a source of future biofuel due to high oil productivity and low environmental impact. Optimizing microalgal growth and oil production by the study of growth conditions will address the high production cost of microalgal biofuel. A testing solution is needed for high-throughput studies. Here we present a photobioreactor (PBR) capable of providing control of multiple culture conditions to investigate their effect on microalgal growth. A light source was designed to implement light intensity, cycle, and wavelength control, and a feedback control system was designed to control temperature. Both subsystems are managed by a microcontroller. Microalgal cells were isolated and analyzed with an integrated droplet microfluidics platform at single cell resolution. The PBR has been successfully used to characterize Chlamydomonas reinhardtii species by various testing growth conditions in parallel

All optical full adder based on intramolecular electronic energy transfer in the rhodamine-azulene bichromophoric system

peer reviewedCharge and electronic energy transfer (ET and EET) are well-studied examples whereby different molecules can signal their state from one (the donor, D) to the other (the acceptor, A). The electronic energy transfer from the donor (Rh) to the acceptor (Az) is used to build an all-optical full adder on a newly synthesized bichromophoric molecule Rh-Az. The results are supported and interpreted by a full kinetic simulation. It is found that the optimal design for the implementation of the full adder relies in an essential way on the intramolecular transfer of information from the donor to the acceptor moiety. However, it is not the case that the donor and the acceptor each act as a half adder

Genomic Designing for Climate-Smart Tomato

Tomato is the first vegetable consumed in the world. It is grown in very different conditions and areas, mainly in field for processing tomatoes while fresh-market tomatoes are often produced in greenhouses. Tomato faces many environmental stresses, both biotic and abiotic. Today many new genomic resources are available allowing an acceleration of the genetic progress. In this chapter, we will first present the main challenges to breed climate-smart tomatoes. The breeding objectives relative to productivity, fruit quality, and adaptation to environmental stresses will be presented with a special focus on how climate change is impacting these objectives. In the second part, the genetic and genomic resources available will be presented. Then, traditional and molecular breeding techniques will be discussed. A special focus will then be presented on ecophysiological modeling, which could constitute an important strategy to define new ideotypes adapted to breeding objectives. Finally, we will illustrate how new biotechnological tools are implemented and could be used to breed climate-smart tomatoes