Science and Society Session

Patrick Rüdelsheim
PERSEUS, Zwijnaarde, BE

Biosafety: all for one; one for all

“Biosafety” may be defined as the condition of being protected against harm potentially effected by biological entities or parts thereof. More detailed evaluation of specific biosafety cases illustrate that depending on the situation the emphasis might be very different. E.g. when performing research on a pathogen, the harmful effect on human health is usually well known and the focus is on fine-tuning of protective measures in relation to the intended activity. On the other hand, the approach for environmental release of genetically modified plants imposes precautionary measures in order to deal with uncertainty and to enable the gradual accumulation of familiarity. The picture is further complicated by broadening the scope of biosafety to biosecurity, which can refer to the improper use of biological agents as well as to threats to agriculture and food supply.

Part of the complication arises from tacitly assuming that all parties recognize and strive for the same protection goals. While nobody questions the need to prevent harm to human health, other protection goals may be less obvious and require explicit definition in order to be operational. E.g. stating that no harm to biodiversity should occur might be a valid policy, the translation in operational terms poses scientific challenges. The debate on the introduction of genetically modified organisms illustrates that without fixed protection goals, it is impossible to identify the hazards of the material and analyse the risks of an activity.

Biography

The role of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in the risk assessment of GMOs

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and derived food/feed products are subject to risk assessment and regulatory approval before they can enter the market in the European Union (EU). The EFSA independently assesses any possible risks that GMOs may pose to human and animal health and the environment, and provides scientific advice to risk managers. EFSA's scientific advice is elaborated by its GMO Panel with the support of working groups and EFSA's GMO Unit staff scientists, and in collaboration with EU Member States. It focuses on the risk assessment of applications for market authorization of GM plants, the elaboration of guidance documents, and support to risk managers in post market environmental monitoring. Other areas of work include new plant breeding techniques and guidance on risk assessment of GM animals. An overview of the regulatory framework, the scientific principles underlying the risk assessment and the recent work of the GMO Panel and GMO unit will be provided.

biography to follow

Food and biofuels from large-scale algae mass cultures: Opportunities and challenges

Microalgae present several advantages over plants as sources of biofuels and food. They can be cultivated on arid land unsuitable for agriculture, do not require pesticides, have less dependency on seasonal variations, can accumulate high amounts of proteins, oils or sugars, and synthesize at the same time valuable molecules such as vitamins, pigments and polyunsaturated fatty acids.

It is clear that microalgae as biofuel sources have a huge potential; at the same time many companies, particularly in the US, started too early based on the false assumption that algae can provide 100 times as much biomass per hectare than traditional crops. In reality, productivity of algal cultures is not much higher than that of C4 crops, and industrial exploitation is limited: sustainable cultivation of selected strains at hundreds of hectares scale and the negative energy balance of the process are major barriers. The potential is huge, but at present microalgae biomass is too expensive to compete with food crop sources and fossil fuels.

Large-scale commercial production of microalgae is mostly carried out in open ponds, but most of the start-ups in the algae biofuel sector focus on photobioreactors (PBR) that provide a more controlled environment and limit the risk of contamination, allowing more species to be cultivated. Unfortunately, these advantages rarely compensate for the higher cost of PBR, although new low-cost designs are emerging, such as the Green Wall Panel (GWP).

To obtain a positive energy return, the inputs for algae cultivation must be drastically reduced. But some inputs are difficult to decrease without negatively impacting the performances of the culture. For this reason a new stand-alone GWP has been designed by our group that uses part of the photons impinging on the culture for photovoltaic (PV) generation of electric energy. The amount of energy that can be generated by the PV-GWP in a summer day is more than sufficient to cover all the needs of the culture, including harvesting.

In spite of the inherent potential of microalgae as a renewable fuel source, no company seems to possess yet a mature technology able to compete with fossil fuels. However, like crude oil, algae production also generates by-products such as protein that also need to be considered. It is clear that the industry is growing, and it seems today that full commercialization is a question of when, not if.

Biography

Mario R. Tredici is full professor of Microbiology at the University of Florence (Italy), where he coordinates researches on photobioreactor development and microalgae mass cultivation at the Department of Agrifood and Environmental Sciences. He has been consultant for the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute and the International Energy Agency, member of the Biodiversity and Environment Expert Group of the ESFRI (European Strategy Forum for Research Infrastructures), technical advisor of the International Network on Biofixation of CO₂ and Greenhouse Gas Abatement with Microalgae and member of the Technical Advisory Panel of the Algae Biofuels Challenge (Carbon Trust - UK). He is member of the Board of the International Society of Applied Phycology (ISAP) in which he acted as President from 2002 to 2005. He is member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Aurora Algae (USA) and is in the board of Fotosintetica & Microbiologica Srl, a spin-off company of the University of Florence that he founded in 2004 with his collaborators. Currently he collaborates with ENEL SpA and Eni SpA (Italy) on renewable fuel production and CO₂ biofixation through microalgae and is the scientific coordinator of the European FP7th project BIOFAT (Biofuel From Algae Technologies). In June 2009 Prof. Tredici has been elected President of the EABA (European Algae Biomass Association). He is at present chair of the ESBF (European Sustainable Biofuel Forum). Prof. Tredici is member of the Accademia dei Georgofili of Florence.