title: Automated nutrient screening system enables high-throughput optimisation of microalgae production conditions.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Microalgae provide an excellent platform for the production of high-value-products and are increasingly being recognised as a promising production system for biomass, animal feeds and renewable fuels.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Here, we describe an automated screen, to enable high-throughput optimisation of 12 nutrients for microalgae production. Its miniaturised 1,728 multiwell format allows multiple microalgae strains to be simultaneously screened using a two-step process. Step 1 optimises the primary elements nitrogen and phosphorous. Step 2 uses Box-Behnken analysis to define the highest growth rates within the large multidimensional space tested (Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, B, Se, V, Si) at three levels (-1, 0, 1). The highest specific growth rates and maximum OD750 values provide a measure for continuous and batch culture.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The screen identified the main nutrient effects on growth, pairwise nutrient interactions (for example, Ca-Mg) and the best production conditions of the sampled statistical space providing the basis for a targeted full factorial screen to assist with optimisation of algae production.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4072 Australia.|Faculty of Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, 40450 Selangor Malaysia.
authors.forename: Khairul Adzfa
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Radzun
authors.affiliation: Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4072 Australia.
authors.forename: Juliane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wolf
authors.affiliation: Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4072 Australia.
authors.forename: Gisela
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jakob
authors.affiliation: Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4072 Australia.
authors.forename: Eugene
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4072 Australia.
authors.forename: Evan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Stephens
authors.affiliation: Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4072 Australia.
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ross
authors.affiliation: Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4072 Australia.
authors.forename: Ben
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hankamer
keywords: Algae; Biomass; Growth; High-throughput; Nutrient; Screening