Grants and Contributions:
Title:
Using microalgae as a platform to produce L-arginine-rich proteins
Agreement Number:
967231
Agreement Value:
$25,000.00
Agreement Date:
Mar 24, 2021 - Sep 30, 2022
Description:
L-arginine possesses numerous health benefits in humans, and it is an essential amino acid in cats and dogs and required at a high level in pet food. This amino acid has also been used in food as a flavoring agent and pharmaceutical industries for medical/clinical applications and health benefits. L-arginine can be produced by bacterial fermentation through various bioengineering technologies and also chemical synthesis. In pet industry, a synthetic source of L-arginine has been used for many years; however, the synthetic L-arginine is costly and has a bad taste. Microalgae is an underexploited crop for production of nutrients and bioactive compounds. NRC has established a microalgae library and identified strains have identified a few species/strains containing high contents of L-arginine. The goal of this project is to produce L-arginine in microalgae by testing the scalability of the selected strains and to prepare for a metabolic engineering approach by collecting genome-wide gene expression information during the arginine-producing growth conditions.
Organization:
National Research Council Canada
Expected Results:
In the short term, anticipated outcomes will be strengthened collaborations across industry, academia, and government to support research excellence. In the medium term, anticipated outcomes will be the development of new and potentially disruptive technologies with collaborators.
Location:
Vancouver, British Columbia, CA V6T 1Z3
Reference Number:
172-2020-2021-Q4-967231
Agreement Type:
Grant
Report Type:
Grants and Contributions
Recipient Business Number:
108161779
Recipient Type:
Academia
Recipient's Legal Name:
The University of British Columbia
Federal Riding Name:
Vancouver Quadra
Federal Riding Number:
59039
Program:
Collaborative Science, Technology and Innovation Program – Ideation Fund
Program Purpose:
The Ideation Fund is intended to encourage, test and validate transformative research ideas generated by teams of NRC scientific personnel and external collaborators with complementary capabilities, acting as a demonstration phase for a continually-evolving suite of research and development (R&D) deliverables at the NRC. The fund supports exploratory research through two mechanisms: the New Beginnings Initiative and the Small Teams Initiative.
NAICS Code:
541710 - R&D in the physical, engineering and life sciences