[Young Researchers Only]: Algae and bacterial love: Optimization of microalgae biosynthesis via controlled algal-bacterial symbiosis || Interfacial fluctuations in active phase separation - Rand ASSWAD - (PhD, BIOP) || Liheng YAO - (PostDoc, PSM)

Algae and bacterial love: Optimization of microalgae biosynthesis via controlled algal-bacterial symbiosis 

Rand ASSWAD - (PhD, BIOP)

Microalgae are promising biofactories for sustainable biofuel production, offering high yields and low environmental impact. When cultivated in microbial consortia, their productivity can be enhanced through cooperative interactions with bacteria that supply essential metabolites. However, controlling such synthetic co-cultures in continuous bioreactors remains challenging due to their nonlinear and coupled dynamics.
In this work, we present our mathematical model of an optogenetically-regulated algal–bacterial consortium and explore optimal strategies to maximize productivity. Using tools from optimal control to multi-objective optimization, we investigate how dynamic and steady-state inputs can be tuned to improve efficiency, robustness, and process performance.

Interfacial fluctuations in active phase separation

Liheng YAO - (PostDoc, PSM)

While equilibrium interfaces can be described to leading order using capillary wave theory with a positive surface tension, interfaces in active systems exhibit exotic behaviour that fall out of this framework. For example, certain active systems have long-lived bubbles in the dense phase that do not dissolve until their expulsion from the bulk liquid. In this talk I will review the various quantifications of surface tension that are equivalent in equilibrium but inequivalent in active systems. I will then discuss some implications of negative surface tensions, and their implications on phase transitions in active systems.