Algae-Based Biopharmaceuticals

The interactive effects of stratospheric ozone depletion, UV radiation, and climate change on aquatic ecosystems

“…Coastal environments, including natural seaweed communities, provide a range of important ecosystem services such as sequestration of CO 2 , provision of food, and supply of useful chemicals for food, cosmetic, and pharmacological industries 30,117,181,208 (see also Chapter 3). Global aquaculture of seaweed has increased nearly three-fold between 2000 and 2014 (from 9.3 to nearly 27 million tonnes) and its value has doubled over this period from about USD 3 billion to USD 6 billion.…”

Photosymbiosis for Biomedical Applications

“…Photosynthetic platforms offer versatility of product targeting, since they merely require the engineering of a transgenic strain to enable the production of a specific product ( Mayfield and Golden, 2015 ). Due to their autotrophic nature, they are viewed as a cost-effective and environmentally friendly platform that offers a number of advantages over alternative approaches to the production of recombinant proteins such as cytokines ( Rosales-Mendoza, 2016 ), growth factors ( Wijffels et al, 2013 ; Rasala and Mayfield, 2015 ) and other promising bioactive molecules such as biomaterials ( Molino et al, 2016 ) and enzybiotic proteins, i.e., enzymes designed to have an antibiotic function ( Stoffels et al, 2017 ). The methodology and molecular tools required to generate transgenic photosynthetic organisms capable of producing recombinant biomolecules are now so well established that, to date, more than 45 recombinant proteins have been produced in green algae such as C. reinhardtii , and many more in cyanobacteria ( Vijayakumar and Menakha, 2015 ; Singh et al, 2017 ).…”

Microfluidics for microalgal biotechnology

“…Thanks to their high protein (6%–52%), carbohydrate (5%–23%), and lipid (7%–65%) contents along with fatty acids of the ω‐3, ω‐6 and ω‐9 families, pigments like chlorophyll and carotenoids, and the ability to synthesize all essential amino acids, they can significantly contribute to human‐animal nutrition either as a direct food product or supplement (Chisti, 2007; Gantar & Svircev, 2008; Spolaore et al, 2006; Zhu, 2015). Algal chloroplasts serve as functional antibodies and immunotoxins and ensure to produce highly biocompatible and non‐toxic biopharmaceuticals (BFs) or bioceuticals (i.e., an alternative to pharmaceutical) at lower costs (Rosales‐Mendoza, 2016). Microalgae have already gained attraction in the markets of antibiotics, antioxidants, vitamins, carotenoids and anticancer drugs (Novoveská et al, 2019; Rahman, 2020; Silva et al, 2020).…”