As UBC begins consultation on its 2030 Climate Action Plan, Moritz Koch, a new postdoctoral fellow in the LSI, is working to propel a bacteria-based biodegradable alternative to petroleum-based plastics to market. During his PhD at Tübingen University in Germany, Dr. Koch developed a “living plastic ball,” out of cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae. These microscopic organisms are found in all types of water, and even form the surface crust on desert rocks and sand. “I became a cell engineer,” says Koch describing how he came to coax the bacteria to boost production of polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), a CO2-neutral material generated through photosynthesis, that many cyanos use for storage.
