Algal growth

The laboratory allows for the growth of different algal strains of fresh and marine water sources, as well as their physiological characterization by absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy through main parameters as growth rate, cell count, microscopical observation, analysis of the main photosynthetic pigment content, photosynthetic activity. This activity enables the selection of novel biological recognition components for the development of biosensors for agro-environmental monitoring, as well as new genetic variants of the algae suitable for bioremediation applications. Finally, these studies help to produce novel functional materials and estimate their performance propensity towards cultural heritage and green building, in relation to the durability requirement in the presence of colonizing microorganisms (observations under an optical microscope) and its non-toxicity (algal vitality).

Available equipment: TC10 Biorad Cell-counter; Cell culture incubator Certomat BS-1 Sartorius; Refrigerated incubator VELP scientifica FOC 225I; Biological hood Aura Vertical S.D.4 Bioair; Optical Microscope B-350 Optika; Palmsens 4 potentiostat; Hansatech fluorimeter.