Dear Algenesis Readers,

As COVID-19 spreads—and is now officially a global pandemic—we are taking additional safety measures to protect our employees and our community. The health and safety of our global community is our top priority, and therefore, we have made the decision to take swift action to reduce the impact of the virus.

‍Right now the best thing we can do to keep everyone safe is to stay at home (social distancing).  Since this is the best method for slowing the spread of this disease, we have stopped normal activities in our lab and workplace and have asked all of our employees to work remotely, in keeping with current public health directives and guidance.

However, algae biotechnology can actually play an important role in the fight against COVID-19, by assisting in the production of tests that screen for the virus.  As you may have read in the news, approved testing kits are in short supply here in the US.  We’ve started a program in our lab to produce the COVID-19 spike protein in algae. Algae are good at producing recombinant proteins, and by making this viral antigen in algae we can produce a key reagent that can be used to help identify people that have had the COVID-19 infection.

We are proud of our science team for being a part of the solution to this global pandemic.  From all of us at Algenesis – stay safe, stay smart, and stay home until this disease can be brought under control!


‍For the most updated information on the outbreak and public health response, visit the CDC’s coronavirus webpage.

Steve Mayfield, CEO and Founder