MARIA Project Celebrates First Year of Algae-Based Innovations and Partnerships

MARIA Project Celebrates First Year of Algae-Based Innovations and Partnerships

Food additives, cosmetics, fertilizers - algae can be found in them all. A growing industry is emerging to unlock the limitless potential of algae to create new and improved commercial products and support industries from agriculture to blue biotechnology.

Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, with partners across the state, are working to bring together the right people with the right resources to grow this burgeoning sector in Maine. The Maine Algal Research Infrastructure and Accelerator, funded last year by the National Science Foundation, is strengthening research infrastructure, providing workforce and professional development opportunities, and facilitating a well-networked ecosystem of companies, researchers, and educational institutions to advance algae-based innovation.

In November, MARIA team members gathered at Bigelow Laboratory with several new partners for the inaugural MARIA All-Hands Workshop. The event brought together almost 30 stakeholders to celebrate the accomplishments of the past year and brainstorm priorities for the future.

"The big success of the year is that we got business, workforce development, and science entities working together and speaking the same language, which doesn't often happen," said Senior Research Scientist Mike Lomas, the project's principal investigator. "We're actually moving this ecosystem forward."

Lomas and fellow Senior Research Scientist Manoj Kamalanathan, the project's co-lead, can point to several tangible outcomes as well.

Six professionals were certified this spring in advanced algal culturing techniques by Bigelow Laboratory's National Center for Marine Algae and Microbiota, which hosts one of the world's most diverse collections of marine algae. This summer, five students from Colby College and University of New England completed independent algae research internships, reporting significant gains in their technical and communication skills. The team has also developed digital resources to recruit new partners and educate the public, including a quarterly newsletter that has already grown to 200 subscribers.

"One of our big goals is to reach more people and educate them about what algae is and what you can do with it, from the general public to people with ideas or companies," Kamalanathan said. "We're driving a lot of engagement just through basic outreach."

The centerpiece of those outreach efforts was Algae Science Day this fall. Hosted at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute in Portland, the event brought together roughly 70 researchers, entrepreneurs, and investors to learn about exciting applications of algae and hear first-hand about the experience of building a company in this new industry.

"When you bring people into the same place, that allows for cross talk that can create excitement and sustain momentum," Kamalanathan added. "Companies bring problems that scientists can solve. Investors see value in those companies. Job seekers can network for opportunities. Our hope is to create an annual event that has something for everybody."

There have also been significant advances on the science front. MARIA team members have actively submitted joint research proposals with new partners, and scientists at NCMA have developed complete metabolomes for nearly 300 microalgae species, showing their unique molecular makeup and potential. Lomas is also partnering with MDI Biological Laboratory to screen the NCMA collection for algae that may produce anti-inflammatory compounds for medical applications.

Recently, the MARIA team also awarded its first "kickstarter" grants, providing seed funding to advance early-stage research into potential algae-based solutions. Four researchers from Bigelow Laboratory and University of Maine received funding through a competitive selection process. Their varied projects will help identify and extract compounds that are valuable for human and animal health and make lab-based algae cultivation more broadly accessible.

The endeavors of the MARIA team are feeding directly into a statewide effort, in which Bigelow Laboratory is deeply involved, to position Maine as a national leader in the broader blue economy. Streamlining the process from early research through commercialization directly addresses specific goals within the Maine Innovation Economy Action Plan. Likewise, the emerging and heritage industries that stand to benefit from these algae-based innovations have been highlighted as growth opportunities by the state's Blue Economy Task Force. Bigelow Laboratory also recently partnered with the global firm Hatch Blue to launch a Blue Biotech Innovation Ecosystem, which includes an innovation studio and investor summit in spring 2026. Some of the entrepreneurs coming to Bigelow Laboratory for that are expected to leverage NCMA's collection and the relationship building the MARIA team has done.

Lomas and Kamalanathan are excited to funnel all of that energy into the next year of the MARIA project. The team is working through the input gathered during the All-Hands Workshop, which they'll compile into a white paper that distills key takeaways and lays out plans to attract more company engagement.

"We're trying to do something - getting disparate groups to talk to each other - that doesn't usually happen smoothly, so we want to make it feel like a community-level effort," Lomas said. "We're excited to see innovations, products, and services coming out that really let algae shine in the economy in a practical, meaningful way."

Photo 1: Senior Research Scientist Mike Lomas welcomes participants to the MARIA All-Hands Workshop hosted at Bigelow Laboratory on November 13, 2025.

Photo 2: Maine Algae Science Day, hosted at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute in Portland on October 23, 2025.