NSF Award
1905393
Microalgae are essential photosynthetic plants that support the diverse ecology of nearly all aquatic food webs, play a central role in the global environment and regulating global climate, and more recently support a rapidly growing global bioeconomy. The National Center for Marine Algae and Microbiota (NCMA) is one of a small number of global culture collections focused on curating algae biodiversity, and the only one in the U.S. with a primary focus on marine microalgae. The NCMA curates over 3,000 distinct algal strains isolated from around the world representing all classes of marine microalgae currently known to science. Many of the algae in the NCMA Collection are unique to this specific collection and thus represent an irreplaceable genetic resource for the global community. For nearly four decades, the NCMA has provided this unique resource to researchers, students at all levels, educators and companies worldwide, all interested in working with microalgae to investigate fundamental questions in biology, global processes and biotechnology. As an example of the importance of the NCMA to the research community, each year, 200-300 published papers cite use of NCMA-curated microalgae strains, with many of these papers being supported by the NSF and other U.S. federal agencies. <br/><br/>This award will support demonstrable improvements to the NCMA Culture Collection, its activities, and provide added value to our various stakeholder groups. This award will allow the NCMA to 1) continue to maximize curated biodiversity of marine phytoplankton; 2) refine the procedures and formulations for cryopreservation as a long term management strategy for microalgae collections; 3) integrate imaging cytometry as part of our collection maintenance and distribution procedures to provide enhanced value related to each strain; and 4) expand a microalgae education and training portfolio. Specific deliverables from this award will be documentation of the continued provision of professionally curated microalgae cultures and culture support services to stakeholders, the accession of any newly discovered microalgae for support of present and future science, and expansion of our publically searchable informational database associated with each accessioned strain to include new scientific information. In addition, this award will support the inclusion of relatively new instrument technology, imaging flow cytometry, to allow for the easy generation of basic reports on cell abundance and condition, including embedded images, to be provided with each microalgae strain we distribute. These reports will provide stakeholders much needed information on what to expect for the strains they have ordered.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
