SEC Microalgae researcher wins ETH medal for outstanding Master’s Thesis 2023

Byron Perez, a doctoral researcher with Singapore ETH Centre's (SEC) Urban Microalgae-Based Protein Production project, won the ETH medal for his outstanding Master’s thesis on 31 March.

Byron developed his thesis at the Sustainable Food Processing laboratory at ETH Zurich under the supervision of Dr Robert Axelrod and Prof. Dr Alexander Mathys, in collaboration with Dr Iris Haberkorn at the SEC.

This award recognises his research in nanosecond pulsed electric fields (nsPEF) based process, and bioprocess optimisation to leverage heterotrophic microalgae efficiency.

Working on heterotrophic microalgae
Heterotrophic microalgae are gaining momentum as a source of valuable nutrients for the food industry due to their low arable land requirement and reduced carbon footprint. Innovative processes that improve the eco-efficiency and productivity of microalgae are currently needed to make microalgae products more commercially viable.

Nanosecond pulsed electric fields is a promising tool to increase upstream efficiency in cellular agriculture. Several biological effects including gene expression and growth stimulation have been reported for photoautotrophic microalgae species. The process window tailoring such effects is defined by several electrical and biological parameters. Optimization protocols have been limited to photoautotrophic organisms; however, heterotrophic species currently have a higher relevance owing an improved consumer perception and industrial relevant productivity.

Byron’s research findings provide a basis to increase heterotrophic microalgae cultivation efficiency and productivity, thus overcoming the limitations to achieve affordability and sustainability of heterotrophic microalgae as a novel food alternative.

Research methods and future application
Byron applied an innovative research methodology through the combination of emerging technology, statistical process window research and bioprocess control increasing microalgae biomass productivity. These results will be directly translated to the Urban Microalgae-Based Protein Production project effort for producing more eco-efficient, urban food systems based on single-cell production systems for Singapore.Byron joined the SEC in August 2022 and now he is upscaling this application to an industry-relevant pilot scale.

He was previously awarded the 'MSc Master Student of the Year Award' by The European Federation of Food Science and Technology (EFFoST) for his advances in this topic highlighting the international interest of the scientific community in the microalgae research at the Singapore ETH Centre (SEC) .