New CA. center to focus on algae, biofuels

S.D. research institutes, biotechs to collaborate on green products

By Terri Somers
Union-Tribune Staff Writer
2:00 a.m. April 29, 2009

OVERVIEW

Background: San Diego is home to a large cluster of biotechnology companies and research institutions, including several doing work on algae and biofuels.

What's happening: The organizations are teaming up to create the San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology, which aims to share research information and develop the technology for algae-based biofuels.
San Diego, known for its sunshine, breathtaking beaches and surfing scientists, now hopes to gain fame for another attribute – algae.
Yes, algae, the green stuff that grows rapidly in brackish water or saltwater when exposed to ample amounts of our Southern California sunshine.

San Diego and neighboring Imperial Valley are already home to some of the world's leaders in growing algae and turning it into fuel that they hope will soon curb the nation's demand for foreign oil.

Yesterday, leaders of the region's scientific, academic, biotechnology and political communities announced that they were forming the San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology, or SD-CAB, to capitalize on this expertise.
Working together, the groups hope to attract much-needed money from federal and state governments to foster commercialization of algal fuel and other products.

“We already have a collaborative community of scientists and entrepreneurs that gave rise to a thriving biotechnology cluster in San Diego,â€