{
  "id": 248391,
  "title": "Algae-Based Food Product Development Earns Gates Foundation Award",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/07/algae-based-food-product-development-earns-gates-foundation-award",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-08-07T03:05:17.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "GEN Biotechnology",
    "slug": "gen-biotechnology",
    "url": "https://www.genengnews.com/topics/bioprocessing/algae-based-food-product-development-earns-gates-foundation-award/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The Gates Foundation granted a $500,000 Grand Challenges award to Mingyu Qiao, PhD, a University of Connecticut researcher, for his work on developing sustainable food products using algae and other natural materials. Qiao, an assistant professor of innovation and entrepreneurship at UConn's College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources, proposed the project \"Ultra Low-Cost DHA Powder from Algae Grown on Digested Grain Spent.\" His research team specializes in eco-friendly biomanufacturing and bioprocessing technologies to create cost-effective food and nutrients. Qiao's lab recently isolated a novel strain of microalgae from brewer's waste yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) to produce docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), an essential omega-3 fatty acid crucial for fetal and infant brain and eye development. This method, using spent brewer waste, is significantly cheaper than current production methods and can be deployed in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to produce nutrients locally and create jobs. The proposed project will be developed over an 18-month initial phase, with potential for further funding to establish manufacturing sites in Africa and other regions.",
  "summary": "The Gates Foundation has awarded a $500,000 Grand Challenges grant to a University of Connecticut researcher specializing in sustainable food products using algae and other natural materials. Assistant Professor Mingyu Qiao's project, titled \"Ultra Low-Cost DHA Powder from Algae Grown on Digested Grain Spent,\" aims to create a novel strain of microalgae that can produce the essential omega-3 fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) using spent brewer waste. This method would provide a significantly lower-cost production process for DHA, which is critical for fetal and infant brain and eye development, than current methods. The project also seeks to deploy this technology in low- and middle-income countries, creating local jobs and reducing reliance on expensive pharmaceutical-grade algal DHA powders.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}