{"id":227792,"date":"2026-01-05T08:00:24","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T18:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=227792"},"modified":"2026-01-02T13:21:03","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T23:21:03","slug":"microalgae-renewable-energy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2026\/01\/05\/microalgae-renewable-energy\/","title":{"rendered":"Microalgae could fuel Hawai\u02bbi\u2019s renewable future"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

\"microalgae\"<\/p>\n

Tiny, sun-powered organisms found in freshwater pools could soon fuel Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>\u2019s sustainable future. Researchers at the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa are charting a path to transform microalgae into a “green gold” reality for biofuels, medicine and nutrition. In a study published in Plant Biotechnology Journal<\/em><\/a>, experts from the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience<\/a> (CTAHR<\/abbr>) reveal how cutting-edge synthetic biology and metabolic engineering are clearing the way for microalgae production locally and around the world.<\/p>\n

Microalgae excel at capturing carbon dioxide and converting it into high-value compounds such as lipids (oils) and terpenoids (organic chemicals). These can be used to create everything from renewable jet fuel to life-saving medications.<\/p>\n

\"microalgae\"<\/p>\n

“Microalgae have immense potential because they don’t compete with food crops for land or fresh water,” said Zhi-Yan (Rock) Du, an associate professor in CTAHR<\/abbr>\u2019s Department of Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering (MBBE<\/abbr>) and the study\u2019s lead author. “Our research focuses on how we can ‘reprogram’ these organisms to produce more of these valuable materials efficiently.”<\/p>\n

Tweaking internal chemistry<\/h2>\n

Despite their potential, producing microalgal products at a scale that can compete with petroleum has been difficult. The UH<\/abbr> team, including graduate students led by Ty Shitanaka (co-principal investigator with MBBE<\/abbr> professor Samir Kumar Khanal), examined how new genetic tools such as CRISPR\/Cas9 can optimize the “metabolic superhighways” within the algae.<\/p>\n

By tweaking the internal chemistry of the cells, researchers can drive the algae to accumulate higher concentrations of oil and specific health-boosting compounds without slowing down their growth, a common problem in earlier bioengineering attempts.<\/p>\n

A sustainable vision for Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span><\/h2>\n

\"microalgae\"<\/p>\n

For Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>, the state’s year-round sunshine and coastal access provide an ideal environment for algae cultivation.<\/p>\n

“This has the potential to help Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> create a more resilient, energy-independent economy,” said Khanal. “By integrating microalgae production with wastewater treatment or agricultural byproduct recycling, we can create a system that is both environmentally friendly and economically viable.”<\/p>\n

The study also emphasizes the importance of “synthetic biology,” which allows scientists to design biological parts that don’t exist in nature, further pushing the boundaries of what microalgae can produce.<\/p>\n

The research was a collaborative effort involving Professor Krzysztof Zienkiewicz from the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toru\u0144, Poland. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation and the USDA<\/abbr> National Institute of Food and Agriculture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The research highlighted how leading-edge synthetic biology and metabolic engineering are clearing the way for microalgae production locally.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":227794,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[212,1363,1010,158,672,73,9],"class_list":["post-227792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-college-of-tropical-agriculture-and-human-resilience","tag-manoa-research","tag-molecular-biosciences-and-bioengineering","tag-publication","tag-renewable-energy","tag-sustainability","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/microalgae-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227792"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":227810,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227792\/revisions\/227810"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}