Reviewer Comments - EERE

2011 Algae Platform Review – Reviewer Comments
Reviewer Comments are direct transcripts of commentary and material provided by the Platform’s
Review Panel. They have not been edited or altered by the Biomass Program.
Reviewer: 3
Project overlaps other supported Algal Biomass projects where the emphasis is on "prospecting". The
Aquatic Species Program already undertook this propecting approach some 20+ years ago.
Reviewer: 5
This appeared to be a very traditional approach to strain collection and screening (although focusing on
strains collected in Canada). Given past failures by other such projects, this approach, there seems little
reason to support this project.
Reviewer: 7
There are sound scientific reasons for this project to have a very low probablity of advancing biofuel
technology. There is no identified sound scientific reason to pursue macroalgae biofuel production in
northern climates.
Presenter Response
6.A. The time constraints and strict format for each presentation made it difficult to discuss the reasons
for the work in any detail. The value of indigenous production strains for local deployment should have
been made more explicit. 6.B. Characterization of the isolates was noted in the future work section. I
agree that it would be useful to compare productivity with some benchmark strains, and we will include
that in our future plan. 6.C. The trains isolated for the ASP were isolated from water samples primarily
from the southwest and southeast US with some sampling done in Hawaii and the northwest. The most
interesting of those strains were transferred to the University of Hawaii for curation and many if not most
of those have been lost. If the hypothesis that indigenous strains can be more competitive in local
cultivation systems is true, then it certainly follows that local sampling and strain isolation is a valid start
to a new biofuels project. Beyond that, we are beginning to see local communities push back against scale
up of non-indigenous strains (e.g. in Texas and Hawaii). The ASP demonstrated that prospecting could be
successful, but did not end the need for prospecting. 6.D. Presumably the comment refers to failure to
successfully deploy the strains isolated in past efforts. Again this goes back to the notion that only “weed”
algae can be successfully cultivated outdoors. If that were true then only heterotrophic algae can be
expected to succeed, because regular production of high lipid biomass cannot be accomplished without
long term cultivation of a production strain, whether that strain is a natural isolate or an engineered strain.
6.E. Nearly all worthwhile endeavors begin with a low probability of success. This project is a tiny
element in a very large distributed endeavor. I would expect the scale of advance to match the resources
available.
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