Project title: “Enhanced biohydrogen production by genetically engineered cyanobacterial strains”

UEFISCDI record no. 38/05.10.2011

Program Name in PNII: Resurse Umane

Project type: Post-doctoral research project

Project manager: Bogdan Drugă; bogdan.druga@icbcluj.ro

Summary: Molecular hydrogen is one of the potential future energy sources as an alternative to the limited fossil fuel resources of today. Cyanobacteria are highly promising microorganisms for hydrogen production. In comparison to the traditional ways to generate hydrogen (chemical, photoelectrical), cyanobacterial hydrogen production is commercially viable. This research proposal focuses on identification of new naturally transformable cyanobacterial strains able to express highly efficient hydrogenases, in order to produce enhanced amounts of hydrogen, as an alternative to fossil fuels. The strains used in this study will be provided by The Cyanobacteria and Algae Culture Collection of the Institute of Biological Research, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. New strains isolated during this project will also be used. Various molecular biology techniques will be employed, including cyanobacterial transformation and gene knockout, which will be learned by the leader in the first stages of the project, during a visit to a renowned laboratory with long experience in this field. Eventually, the selected cyanobacterial strains will be grown in various media, and under diverse combination of light/dark, in order to establish the most proper conditions for a hydrogen production as high as possible.

Publications: Drugă, B., Welker, M., Sesărman, A., Bica, A., Coman, C., Sicora, C., Dragoş, N. (2013). Molecular characterization of microcystin-producing cyanobacteria from Romanian freshwaters. European Journal of Phycology, 48(3) – in press.