Current Projects
Current Projects
We are a working lab, not just a catalog. Here is what we have going on right now, and what we learn goes straight back into the kits we sell.
Microalgae Bioprospecting for High School
A five module program that puts real bioprospecting in the hands of high school students. They pick a site, collect a sample, isolate an organism using aseptic technique, and characterize what they found. It is the same workflow a graduate lab runs, scaled to a classroom period and a school budget.
The slide decks and module lesson plans are finished and free to download. The physical isolation kits ship now.
Salton Sea Containment Boom
The New River carries nutrient and contaminant load into the Salton Sea, and the communities around it carry the health consequences. We are working on a containment boom pilot at the outflow, alongside university researchers studying community health impacts in the region.
Algae Bead Production
Algae beads turned into one of the most useful teaching tools we make. Students can watch photosynthesis and respiration happen in a vial, in real time, using a pH indicator. Demand outran our ability to fill vials by hand, so we are building the automation to produce them at scale in our own lab.
The full ebook series that goes with them is written and free.
Porphyridium cruentum Conditioned Media
Twenty five years of growing one red alga taught us that the medium it leaves behind is as interesting as the cells. Porphyridium produces sulfated exopolysaccharides that hold water and calm skin. We now produce conditioned media at commercial scale, and the culture work that makes it possible is the same work behind every Porphyridium culture we ship.
Elementary Standards Alignment
Most hands on science lands in middle and high school. We think a first grader can run a real experiment, so we are building a K through 5 program around algae and brine shrimp, and mapping every lesson against NGSS plus the state standards that matter most to our customers.
Want to work with us?
We collaborate with schools, universities, agencies and companies. If you have a problem that needs algae pointed at it, we would like to hear about it.
Get in touch