Chemist Matt Moranville watches another scientist’s experiment on algae at General Atomics in San Diego. The goal is to separate the oil from algae and produce a clean biofuel. Several dozen companies are racing to try to figure how best to extract it. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)
Algae swirls around in chunks in Professor Steve Kay’s lab at UC San Diego. Kay and many other scientists in the San Diego area are leading the push for biofuel research. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)
Biologist Betty Xie runs algae through an aeration growth process at General Atomics in San Diego. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)
Bubble column tubes screen algae at General Atomics. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)
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Dave Hazlebeck, biofuels program manager at General Atomics, holds two vials of the algae oil produced in his lab. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)
Steve Kay, dean of biological sciences at UC San Diego, grows algae in a culture dish. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)
