A University of Connecticut project has won a $500,000 Gates Foundation grant to make a cheap, algae-grown source of omega-3 — aimed at a nutrient many mothers in low-income countries lack.
The work, led by UConn assistant professor Mingyu Qiao, targets DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), an omega-3 fatty acid important for infant brain and eye development. Deficiency is common among pregnant and lactating women in low- and middle-income countries, where fish or supplements can be scarce or costly.
The trick: brewery waste
The team grows microalgae — a natural DHA source — using spent brewer’s waste as the growth substrate, avoiding the expensive refined sugars and capital-intensive fermentation that make current algal DHA costly. Pharmaceutical-grade algal DHA runs more than $52 per kilogram; the project aims to slash that.
The goal
The project — titled “Ultra Low-Cost DHA Powder from Algae Grown on Digested Grain Spent” — is designed for local manufacturing in Africa, creating jobs while closing a nutrition gap. It runs an initial 18-month development phase, with the possibility of further funding to build African production sites. It is early-stage research, but it reflects a growing push to engineer affordable nutrition where it is needed most.