Gross-Wen Technologies receives SBIR grant for selenium-rich algae study
Gross-Wen Technologies’ revolving algal biofilm cultivation system is located in the Algal Production Facility at the BioCentury Research Farm. Photo credit: Center for Crops Utilization Research
Gross-Wen Technologies (GWT) has been awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
The 8-month Phase I grant, totaling $100,000, will be used to study the potential of producing an alternative source of bioavailable selenium from microalgae biomass. The Iowa Innovation Corporation Matching Financial Assistance Program is providing a $25,000 matching grant to augment the USDA SBIR award.
“This award allows us to investigate a potentially profitable product, selenium-rich algae,” said Martin Gross, co-founder and president of GWT.
The element selenium is found naturally in many foods, but is commonly supplemented into food, feed and nutraceuticals for its numerous health benefits. However, the selenium found in many supplement sources cannot be efficiently absorbed by animals or humans.
Gross explained that when selenium is bound to biomass, in this case microalgae, it becomes bioavailable for human and animal intake. GWT will be using their patent-pending revolving algal biofilm (RAB) cultivation system to develop a process to produce microalgae biomass that is rich in selenium.
Gross said that many companies have wastewater streams high in selenium that they need to clean. GWT could potentially use the RAB system to clean their wastewater while producing selenium-rich algae at the same time.
“In our preliminary study, we demonstrated that our RAB system is capable of rapid accumulation of selenium in the algal biomass at a very high level,” said Gross. “This SBIR grant will help us determine if using our system is feasible and determine the relative value of the selenium-rich algae produced.”
GWT will be working with Manju Reddy, professor of food science and human nutrition, to evaluate the bioavailability of the selenium-rich microalgae biomass.
GWT was founded in 2013 by Gross and Zhiyou Wen, professor of food science and human nutrition. They are part of the Center for Crops Utilization Research’s and the BioCentury Research Farm’s industry incubator programs. This is GWT’s second straight year winning a Phase I SBIR grant.
Read the article at ccur.iastate.edu
