Allied Minds, an investment company, has invested in the work of Rose Ann
Cattolico, University of Washington biology professor, who has studied the
physiology of algae for more than 30 years and sees it as a source of fuel
for transportation. Allied Minds has formed a startup company called AXI.
"People don't realize how many types of algae there are ? from single cells
to large kelp ? and each one develops differently," Cattolico said. "What
we're trying to do is choose the best of the best, the ones that produce the
right lipids for a particular type of fuel."

AXI won't be in the business of making fuel. Instead, it will work with
biofuel producers to develop strains of algae that produce just the right
lipids, or oils, for the fuel that the producer wants to make. The methods
will not employ genetic modification, Cattolico said.

"It's not like creating a widget. It's a dynamic process that will change
all the time," she said.

Some algae make lipids. One type of algae might produce oil appropriate for
a motor vehicle. Another might be useful for home heating oil. Yet another
might produce lipids just right for powering an airliner across the Pacific
Ocean. Some strains could produce oil useful for other products, such as the
omega 3 fatty acids that make fish oil dietary supplements so popular.

Algae grow rapidly and do not require the use of productive farmland. Algae
also can use various nutritional sources, including wastewater, Cattolico
said.

A variety of factors made this an opportune time to form AXI, said Erick
Rabins, the company's interim manager and vice president of Allied Minds,
based in Quincy, Mass. Escalating costs for oil (from about $27 a barrel to
more than $100 in five years), rising demand for alternative fuels, the
effects of climate change, and growing concern about using foods such as
corn and soybeans as fuel stock are making fuel from algae a much more
attractive option.

But that won't necessarily translate into rapid development of algae-based
fuels, Rabins said. Entire infrastructures, from specialized growing
facilities to processing plants, will have to be created, and that will come
only after potential producers see the value and make the investment. He
speculated that it could take 10 to 25 years before algae-based biofuel is
readily available to the public, though specialty uses could appear sooner.


"The most optimistic assessment that I've heard is that it could be six to
eight years before there's something that's useable, but the tools and
techniques to make it possible are being created right now," he said.
Details of the agreement between Allied Minds and UW TechTransfer to
commercialize Cattolico's synthesis methods were not disclosed. The company
was drawn to her work, Rabins said, because she has spent so many years
making detailed analyses of many different strains of algae, in essence
creating a reference database.

"What we need is a Manhattan Project for fuel. If we can get a Manhattan
Project for fuel, it won't take 25 years," Cattolico said.

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