Our Mission

We here at Algae Research and Supply are committed to educating the world about our favorite living organism: algae! Algae produces over half the world's Oxygen, is the base of most marine food chains, and is a key player in the future of clean energy. Algae Research Supply wants to educate the future scientists of the world about this incredible species through fun science projects, where children can learn for themselves the properties of our biosphere. 

Meet our Team

Matthew Huber: Chief Scientist

Our founder, Matthew Huber M.S., is trained as a Biological Oceanographer. He has spent his entire life in research and development in the sciences. During the 90s he worked in pharmaceuticals (Allergan and Purdue). During the 2000s he shifted his focus to marine science. He has been heavily involved in education, teaching at Hartnell, Cuyamaca, and Mira Costa Colleges.

Matt has been working specifically with algae cultivation since January of 2000. Studying phytoplankton photosynthesis at Moss Landing Marine Labs. Later he did research on Arthrospira platensis (spirulina) for Earthrise Nutritionals in the Imperial Valley of California. Mr. Huber was also involved in the efforts to bring algae-biofuels to market, working for General Atomics, Green Reactions and several smaller startups. He was involved with building algae farms in New Mexico, Texas, California, and Hawaii. In 2009 he received a grant from the State of California to build next-generation harvesting and growing equipment for algae biofuels.  To date, he has no tattoos of algae.

Daphne Warren - Strategic Operations

Daphne is the head strategic operations at ARS. If you are emailing or calling us, you're probably talking to her! Daphne is a 2022 UCSB grad in Earth Science, with an emphasis in climate and environment. There she was involved in research work, the national non propfit Clean Water Action, and the youth-led climate activism group Sunrise Movement. After graduation, she worked as an environmental educator in San Diego County where she fell in love with educating our youth about climate change.  At ARS, she is packing your orders, answering your questions, and helping to further develop our education program both in the lab and the community!

Hunter Jenkins- Lab Technician

Hunter is the Lab Technician at Algae Research Supply, and comes from a diverse background working at a technician level in various fields of biological research, from stem-cell treatments for neurodegenerative diseases to alternative foods for aquacultured shrimp larvae. He graduated in 2018 with a BS in Ecology; and spent a few years working for Cal-CAB under Steve Mayfield PhD at the California Center for Algae Biotechnology. There he isolated new strains of algae that have been used for various projects, such as bio-based plastics and nutraceuticals, and gained experience cultivating algae from bench-top to production scales.  

After leaving ARS the first time, he worked on a joint grant between MicroBio and Cal Poly SLO working on wastewater strains. After that grant ended, he rejoined the ARS team, ready to tackle our upcoming projects.

Hunter has a passion for biological production systems, like photobioreactors, hydroponics, and fermentation; his long-term goal is to further the development of the artificial ecosystems humans will be using to live in off-earth environments, ie. Mars, large space stations, etc. 

Danielle Martinez- Operations Manager- Emeratius 

Danielle has left our normal operations and is now a full time teacher!!!!   
She is staying onboard with us for special projects. 
She was  our operations manager, her amazing work is the reason Algae Research Supply is running so smoothly. Danielle started working for Matt as a nanny about 10 years ago, and became operations manager 5 years ago.