Prof. Lauersen was appointed to the Editorial Board of the journal Planta, where he will handle manuscripts relating to algal biotechnology.

The SSB Lab hosted BESE Dean’s Distinguished Lecture entitled "From genetics parts to synthetic genomes" by Prof. Patrick Yizhi Cai from the University of Manchester.

Amna Abdulshakoor Abdullah, Master student in the SSB Lab, successfully defended her Bioengineering MSc thesis entitled "Heterologous expression of two ice binding proteins fro the chloroplast genome of a high-density cultivation enabled Chlamydomonas reinhardtii strain".

SSB Lab student Fatimah Abualsaud successfully defended today her Bioengineering MSc thesis entitled "Engineering volatile isoprene production from the polyextremophilic red microalga Cyanidioschyzon merolae".

A bioprospecting project led by Prof. Lauersen that involves testing the potential of microalgae native to the central Red Sea region for biotechnology applications, is featured in the KAUST INSIGHT magazine.

Professor Lauersen gave a Zoom seminar for the Davis College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at the Institute for Genomics for Crop Abiotic Stress Tolerance at Texas Tech University.

Prof. Kyle Lauersen gave an invited talk at Stanford's Carnegie Institution for Science, following an invitation from Dr. Adrien Burlacot.

Prof. Kyle Lauersen was honored to be invited to give a talk at Apeel Sciences in Santa Barbara (California) today. Apeel is a food biotech company that developed a method to prolongue the shelf life of fruits and vegetables by applying a "second peel" composed entirely of purified monoglycerides and diglycerides.

The SSB lab visitors Dr. Jeffrey Moseley and Prof. Peter Lammers both gave a BioE seminar talk this week. Jeffrey discussed his academic journey in his talk entitled "There and Back Again: Algae Biology and Biotechnology in Industry and Academia", while Peter presented his work on extemophilic microalgae in his seminar "Metabolic engineering with Microalgae: exploiting the versatility of polyextremophiles".

This week, the SSB group welcomed three academic collaborators to KAUST, including Dr. Jeffrey Moseley from UC Berkeley, and Dr. Mark Seger and Prof. Peter Lammers from the Arizona Center for Algae Technology and Innovation at Arizona State University.

SSB Lab research was presented by MSc students Fatimah Abdualsaud and Amna Abdullah, and by visiting highschool student Yazan Alflayyeh at the KAUST Research Open Week (KROW) poster session.

Prof Kyle Lauersen participated in the second EBRC Global Forum for Engineering Biology: Review of Synthetic Biology/Bioeconomy National Strategies (EBRC Global Forum 2.0), which was held on 20/21 February 2023 in Singapore in partnership with the Singapore Consortium for Synthetic Biology (SINERGY).

Professor Kyle Lauersen joins Julia Van Etten for her podcast series Tiny Living Beings in an episode entitled "Genetic engineering of algae".

Prof Kyle Lauersen joined other experts in the field of algae culture for an international workshop co-organized by FAO, UN and DAB-MEWA to discuss the future of algae-based aquaculture and innovation.

A recent research article of SSB group member Dr Sebastian Overmans and Professor Kyle Lauersen that was published in Green Chemistry is showcased in the KAUST Discovery magazine.

High school student and MEWA intern Yazan Alflayyeh visited the SSB lab for a research stay to conduct analytical laboratory work in collaboration with Sergio Gutierrez and Dr Sebastian Overmans.

SSB Lab PhD students Malak Abdallah, Razan Yahya, and Sergio Gutierrrez were selected as recipients of the 2022 BESE Dean's award.

Professor Olaf Kruse from Bielefeld University, Kyle's former PhD supervisor, visited the SSB Lab and gave a seminar entitled: "Bioengineering microalgae for their application as green cell factories".

Professor Kyle Lauersen attended this year's Saudi Agriculture Business Forum to hear about current agriculture projects in KSA connect with researchers and stakeholders in this field.

Professor Claudia Vickers visited the SSB Lab and gave a Bioengineering Seminar entitled: "Eden Brew and synthetic biology for metabolic engineering in microbial organisms".