History of algae

Algae as a research topic has been that has ridden the research funding roller coaster. Historically, the most extensive algae research was the Aquatic Species Program (ASP) which spanned nearly two decades. Over those two decades it stretched out the $25 million dollars of funding it had and helped lay much of the foundation for using algae as a source of biofuels. After the ASP came to a close algae became a topic studied by few researchers. Fast forward to 2010 and there has been over $180 million dollars that has been injected into algae research this year alone. The flood of funding from the private sector and funding agencies are a major commitment to developing algae as a source for biofuels.

Timelines

Using the MIT Simile Timeline, I thought it would be a useful tool to document the development of algae research and the algae industry. These tools have been setup for community improvement.

History of algae research

This timeline covers basic research accomplishments from isolating the first unialgal cultures to the sequencing of the first algae genome. You can add important milestones too!

History of algae industry

The algae industry found its origins in providing higher value products such as nutritional supplements in the 1960's. Today, algae being looked at for biofuel, jet fuel, nutraceuticals, a source of protein,carbon dioxide consumption, and wastewater remediation. This timeline can be improved by adding industry relevant items.