Algae Culture at Home

From Hackteria

Experimental Flat-Panel Photobioreactor:

Grow-> extract -> distill to make biofuel:

http://www.ehow.com/how_5982439_use-algae-biodiesel-fuel.html

Algea incubator with arduino controlled CO2 pump, simple resistive heater and some led lightning

fabbing the plexi parts in the FabLab / lights on

Algae Hacking at GaudiLabs (June 2012)

Picking Algae Cells

Setup using a CD-ROM reading head for XY micro-positioning of a small glas capillary. The coil head is controlled using an arduino. The coils are directely connected to the PWM output pins.

Picking head mounted on a XY-table for macro adjustments using the two stepper motors.

Imgae of the capillary. String algae and single cell algae in size comparison. Positioning is very precise (+/- 5 um),aspiring the algae is not yet reliable.

See the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alSmZeQweVo

Discussed some theory on patch clamping cells with Ralf Weise. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patch_clamp Can we do this DIY?

We need the Chara Corallina algae with single cells as big a 2x20mm.

Let's go for algae hunting...

Algae Sample Collection

We go out with the pedalo on lake Lucern to best aproach the nice spots for collecting algae.
Took samples on various places and put them into the PET containers (got them from dumpster diving at main station).

Back home, instpecting the sample using the webcam microscope.
Suprised about the very diverse aquatic communities.

From discussions with Sachiko, the idea of culturing biofilms (communities) not only mono-cultures came up…
"A biofilm is an aggregate of microorganisms in which cells adhere to each other on a surface."
Biofilm is also referred to as slime...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biofilm