Anastasios Melis is an American

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

who elucidated the possibility of creating hydrogen from algae. He is currently Professor of Plant & Microbial Biology in the institution and Editor-in-Chief of the Planta journal.

Hydrogen Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, an ...

power is considered one of the key ways of producing

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...

without continuing to use up

fossil fuels A fossil fuel is a hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the remains of dead plants and animals that is extracted and burned as a fuel. The main fossil fuels are coal, oil, and natural gas. Fossil fuels ...

. The added bonus of using

algae Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...

in this way is that they could consume

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide (chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is transpar ...

in the

atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gas or layers of gases that envelop a planet, and is held in place by the gravity of the planetary body. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A s ...

. In 1998 Professor Anastasios Melis discovered, after following

Hans Gaffron Dr. Hans Gaffron was born in Lima, Peru, on May 17, 1902, and was a son of the German physician Eduard Gaffron and his wife Hedwig von Gevekot. He was one of the earlier researchers trying to elucidate the mechanistic and biochemical details of ...

's work, that the deprivation of

sulfur Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...

will cause ''Chlamydomonas reinhardtii''

to switch from producing

oxygen Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as wel ...

to producing hydrogen. The enzyme,

hydrogenase A hydrogenase is an enzyme that catalyses the reversible oxidation of molecular hydrogen (H2), as shown below: Hydrogen uptake () is coupled to the reduction of electron acceptors such as oxygen, nitrate, sulfate, carbon dioxide (), and fumara ...

, he found was responsible for the reaction, which is normally a temporary emergency survival mechanism used in an oxygen-deprived environment. The enzyme stops functioning when oxygen is produced, however the deprivation of sulphur ensures continuous hydrogen production. Scientists since the 1940s have been trying to get the algae to produce hydrogen in significant quantities; he told media his breakthrough was like "striking oil". He currently leads an international effort to improve the efficiency of

photosynthesis Photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energy that, through cellular respiration, can later be released to fuel the organism's activities. Some of this chemical energy is stored i ...

by up to 300% for increased photosynthetic productivity and hydrogen production. He believes that one way for cost-competitiveness is to genetically modify the organisms to increase output. In 2001 he co-founded a company, Melis Energy, in order to exploit his discovery, hoping to get it on the market by 2005. In the autumn of 2001, under his direction, the company built a bio-reactor containing 700 litres of water and algae that produced up to 1 litre of hydrogen per hour. A siphoning system extracted the hydrogen, which is stored in its gaseous state. The company attempted to refine the process and improve its reliability, while also searching for investors so that it can increase production volume. It has since been dissolved. Beyond hydrogen, Dr. Melis pioneered the concept and currently leads the field of “Photosynthetic Bioproducts”. The latter entails a carbon-negative process, whereby natural chemicals, plant essential oils, and biopharmaceutical proteins emanate from photosynthesis, with a single microorganism acting both as photocatalyst and processor, consuming carbon dioxide, and synthesizing and releasing ready to use commodity and specialty products. These products are generated from sunlight, carbon dioxide and water. Melis is recognized for his multiple ground-breaking contributions in the fields of bioenergy, photosynthetic productivity, bio-products generation, plus the design and application of fusion constructs for high-yield protein synthesis, and pioneering work installing entire exogenous metabolic pathways in microalgae and cyanobacteria.
→ CHRONICLE OF RESEARCH in the MELIS LAB

Publications

Melis has authored more than 280 peer-reviewed Original Research Articles, Reviews, and Book Chapters.

Invited seminars and lectures

Owing to his research contributions, Melis has been invited as a speaker and has delivered more than 180 international and national invited lectures and seminars at academic, conference, government, and industry settings in (alphabetically) Brazil, Canada, Europe (multiple countries), India, Israel, Japan, Korea, Turkey, and the US (multiple states).

Patents

Anastasios Melis has issued overall ten patents, with Melis as the Principal Inventor, and former and current postdocs as co-inventors. Three of these patents were issued for his work on microbial hydrogen production: use of hydrogenase-containing photosynthetic microalgae is covered by US 6,989,252 (2006); modulation of sulfate permease for hydrogen production is covered by US 7,176,005 (2007), and improved photosynthesis efficiency in plants and algae is covered by US 7,745,696 (2010). Other patents cover the biotechnology of terpene hydrocarbons and high-capacity plant essential oils production, plus methods for the scale-up cultivation of photosynthetic microorganisms. Below is a listing of current (2019) Melis patents: 1. Hydrogen production using hydrogenase-containing oxygenic photosynthetic organisms. United States Patent 6,989,252 B2 (issued 24-Jan-2006) 2. Modulation of sulfate permease for photosynthetic hydrogen production. United States Patent 7,176,005 (issued 13-Feb-2007). 3. Suppression of Tla1 gene expression for improved solar conversion efficiency and photosynthetic productivity in plants and algae. United States Patent 7,745,696 (issued 29-June-2010) 4. Short chain volatile hydrocarbon production using genetically engineered microalgae, cyanobacteria or bacteria. United States Patent 7,947,478 (issued 24-May-2011) 5. Short chain volatile hydrocarbon production using genetically engineered microalgae, cyanobacteria or bacteria. United States Patent 8,133,708 (cyanobacteria; issued 13-Mar-2012) 6. Isoprene hydrocarbon production using genetically engineered cyanobacteria. United States Patent 8,802,407 (issued 12-August-2014) 7. Continuous diffusion-based method of cultivating photosynthetic microorganisms in a sealed photobioreactor to obtain volatile hydrocarbons. United States Patent 8,993,290 (issued 31-March-2015). 8. Diffusion-based method for obtaining volatile hydrocarbons produced by photosynthetic microorganisms in two-phase bioreactors. Australian Patent 2012245238 (issued 10 March 2016). 9. Production of beta-phellandrene using genetically engineered cyanobacteria. United States Patent 9,951,354 (issued 24-April-2018). 10. Production of β-phellandrene using genetically engineered cyanobacteria. Australian Patent 2013217130 (issued January 24, 2019).

Honours and awards

* Election to the rank of Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science - 2011 * Research Achievement Award - US Department of Energy, Hydrogen Program - 2004 * University Research Award - DaimlerChrysler Corporation - 2003 * Distinguished Teaching Award - College of Natural Resources - 1994

References

External links