Phang Siew Moi is a full professor at the Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Applied Science, UCSI University. [1] She is a leading expert in algal biotechnology and utilization, particularly converting algae into biodiesel. [2] [3] [4]
Dr. Phang Siew Moi, FASc is a distinguished professor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Postgraduate) at UCSI University. [1] She was formerly a full professor at the Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya. She was also the founding director of Institute of Ocean & Earth Science; [5] currently, Dr. Phang is an Honorary Advisor and professor emerita. [6]
She has been featured in a special edition of the Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish documentary series on Astro AEC. [7]
Dr. Phang won the Newton Prize in 2017 for her work on developing an integrated microbial fuel cell prototype using tropical algae from wastewater. She was also on Stanford University’s World’s Top 2% of Scientists for her work in 2021. [8]
Phang Siew Moi has published papers in phycology, algae biotechnology, and seaweed biotechnology. [9] Examples include:
Algae are any of a large and diverse group of photosynthetic, eukaryotic organisms. The name is an informal term for a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular microalgae, such as Chlorella, Prototheca and the diatoms, to multicellular forms, such as the giant kelp, a large brown alga which may grow up to 50 metres (160 ft) in length. Most are aquatic and lack many of the distinct cell and tissue types, such as stomata, xylem and phloem that are found in land plants. The largest and most complex marine algae are called seaweeds, while the most complex freshwater forms are the Charophyta, a division of green algae which includes, for example, Spirogyra and stoneworts. Algae that are carried by water are plankton, specifically phytoplankton.
Eutrophication is a general term describing a process in which nutrients accumulate in a body of water, resulting in an increased growth of microorganisms that may deplete the water of oxygen. When occurring naturally, eutrophication is usually caused by the natural accumulation of nutrients from dissolved phosphate minerals and dead plant matter in water. Manmade or "cultural eutrophication" is often a more rapid process in which a variety of polluting inputs including poorly treated sewage, industrial wastewater, and fertilizer runoff flows into the water. Such nutrient pollution usually results algal blooms and bacterial growth, resulting in the depletion of dissolved oxygen in water and causing substatial environmental degradation.
Phycology is the scientific study of algae. Also known as algology, phycology is a branch of life science.
Sargassum is a genus of brown macroalgae (seaweed) in the order Fucales of the Phaeophyceae class. Numerous species are distributed throughout the temperate and tropical oceans of the world, where they generally inhabit shallow water and coral reefs, and the genus is widely known for its planktonic (free-floating) species. Most species within the class Phaeophyceae are predominantly cold-water organisms that benefit from nutrients upwelling, but the genus Sargassum appears to be an exception. Any number of the normally benthic species may take on a planktonic, often pelagic existence after being removed from reefs during rough weather. Two species have become holopelagic—reproducing vegetatively and never attaching to the seafloor during their lifecycles. The Atlantic Ocean's Sargasso Sea was named after the algae, as it hosts a large amount of Sargassum.
Fucus is a genus of brown algae found in the intertidal zones of rocky seashores almost throughout the world.
Caulerpa is a genus of seaweeds in the family Caulerpaceae. They are unusual because they consist of only one cell with many nuclei, making them among the biggest single cells in the world.
Laminaria is a genus of brown seaweed in the order Laminariales (kelp), comprising 31 species native to the north Atlantic and northern Pacific Oceans. This economically important genus is characterized by long, leathery laminae and relatively large size. Some species are called Devil's apron, due to their shape, or sea colander, due to the perforations present on the lamina. Others are referred to as tangle. Laminaria form a habitat for many fish and invertebrates.
Algaculture is a form of aquaculture involving the farming of species of algae.
William Eifion Jones was a Welsh marine botanist, noted for his study of marine algae.
The history of phycology is the history of the scientific study of algae. Human interest in plants as food goes back into the origins of the species, and knowledge of algae can be traced back more than two thousand years. However, only in the last three hundred years has that knowledge evolved into a rapidly developing science.
Algae fuel, algal biofuel, or algal oil is an alternative to liquid fossil fuels that uses algae as its source of energy-rich oils. Also, algae fuels are an alternative to commonly known biofuel sources, such as corn and sugarcane. When made from seaweed (macroalgae) it can be known as seaweed fuel or seaweed oil.
Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of Rhodophyta (red), Phaeophyta (brown) and Chlorophyta (green) macroalgae. Seaweed species such as kelps provide essential nursery habitat for fisheries and other marine species and thus protect food sources; other species, such as planktonic algae, play a vital role in capturing carbon and producing at least 50% of Earth's oxygen.
Isabella Aiona Abbott was an educator, phycologist, and ethnobotanist from Hawaii. The first native Hawaiian woman to receive a PhD in science, she became a leading expert on Pacific marine algae.
Vidyavati, former Vice-Chancellor, Kakatiya University, Warangal, Telangana, India was born on 15 September 1939, in Goud community. She is President of Phycological Society of India. She was honored by Telangana State Government as Eminent Women on 8 March 2017, on the occasion of "International Women's Day" celebrations.
Emily A. Carter is the Gerhard R. Andlinger Professor in Energy and the Environment and a professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE), the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment (ACEE), and Applied and Computational Mathematics at Princeton University. She is also a member of the executive management team at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), serving as Senior Strategic Advisor and Associate Laboratory Director for Applied Materials and Sustainability Sciences.
Lily Newton was professor of botany and vice-principal at the University of Wales.
Wendy Alison Nelson is a New Zealand marine scientist and world expert in phycology. She is New Zealand's leading authority on seaweeds. Nelson is particularly interested in the biosystematics of seaweeds/macroalgae of New Zealand, with research on floristics, evolution and phylogeny, as well as ecology, and life history studies of marine algae. Recently she has worked on the systematics and biology of red algae including coralline algae, distribution and diversity of seaweeds in harbours and soft sediment habitats, and seaweeds of the Ross Sea and Balleny Islands.
Ramanathan Sowdhamini is an Indian computational biologist, bioinformatician and a professor at the department of biochemistry, biophysics and bioinformatics of the National Centre for Biological Sciences, a TIFR research facility located in Bengaluru. Known for computational studies in the field of Protein Science, Sowdhamini is also associated with the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine as a collaborator and is an elected fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences as well as the Indian National Science Academy. The Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India awarded her the National Bioscience Award for Career Development, one of the highest Indian science awards, for her contributions to biosciences in 2007.
Ulva australis, the southern sea lettuce, is a species of bright green coloured seaweed in the family Ulvaceae that can be found in waters around Australia and was first described by Swedish botanist Johan Erhard Areschoug. It is an edible green algae, although sometimes designated as a seaweed. General characteristics of Ulva australis include a smooth surface, distromatic blades, lobed fronds, and thallus color from dark green to light grass green. It can be either free floating or attached by a single holdfast. Its cells appear to be irregularly arranged, have rounded edges, and have shapes such as rectilinear, square, and pentagonal.
Julia Kubanek is a Professor in the Schools of Biological Sciences and of Chemistry & Biochemistry in the College of Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She is also the Vice President for Interdisciplinary Research for Georgia Tech. She is also Co-Director of the Aquatic Chemical Ecology Center and member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Chemical Society, the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography, the International Society of Chemical Ecology, the International Society for the Study of Harmful Algae and the American Association of Underwater Science