New Brunswick's BioSciences CommunityCompaniesResearch OrganizationsDevelopment OrganizationsTechnology transfer, allied industry and scientific associations Other Canadian BioSciences Associations and Commercialization Agencies Research on blue-green algae and waste carbon dioxide earns Southern Victoria High School students top prize in the 2010 Sanofi-Aventis BioTalent Challenge (SABC) for New Brunswick
April 9, 2010Fredericton, NB - Research by Sarah Sullivan and Elleas (Lee) Nicholas of Southern Victoria High School, examined the effects of waste carbon dioxide (CO2) from potato storage on the growth of algae, earning the team first place prize in the 2010 sanofi-aventis BioTalent Challenge (SABC) for New Brunswick. After harvest, potatoes in storage can produce CO2, the primary greenhouse gas, via a natural process known as respiration. That CO2 is currently removed via ventilation, and replaced with oxygen-rich fresh air. The students filled two large containers with potatoes, and two additional containers with water seeded with fertilizer and cyanobacteria. Cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, obtain their energy through photosynthesis, the process that takes CO2 and light energy to form plant matter, while emitting the oxygen that sustains other life on earth. The two students were able to demonstrate that the cyanobacteria were able to grow well under high CO2 conditions, and with refinement, might provide commercial opportunities for biodiesel production.
Other prizes were awarded in the competition for projects on novel preservation techniques for rare oaks; purification of leachates from regional landfills; treatments for reducing potato scab (an important potato disease); technologies aimed at reducing drug resistance in antibiotics; and synthesis of a complex chemical known as Sudan-1.
The first prize team members are students of Mr. Kris Gallagher of Southern Victoria High School in Perth-Andover, New Brunswick, and their mentor for the project was David Wattie, a Pest Management Specialist with the New Brunswick Department of Agriculture and Aquaculture.
The SABC is a challenging annual competition held in all regions of the country. Begun in the Toronto area in 1994, these annual science competitions are intended to raise awareness among students, educators and the public about the emerging science of biotechnology and its applications in health care, agriculture and the environment. It enjoys national support from the following organizations: Sanofi Pasteur Limited; Human Resources and Social Development Canada; BioTalent Canada; Genome Canada; the National Research Council (NRC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR); the Canadian Louis Pasteur Foundation; and the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI). In New Brunswick, the competition is delivered via Science East and BioAtlantech.
For more information on the SABC, please visit:
http://sanofibiotalentchallenge.ca/
For more information on blue-green algae, please visit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanobacteria
For more information on Science East, please visit:
http://www.scienceeast.nb.ca/pages/en/Home.htm
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