A press release from Syracuse University (United States) reports that its researchers (from the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science,LCS) can use nanobiotechnology to accelerate photosynthetic growth of algae. Some species of algae are "oleagenic" (oil producing), and this ability makes these microorganisms, a "new generation biodiesel feedstock". Increasing productivity of algae for biodiesel processing is an important key for commercial production using this feedstock. The "nanobiotechnology method" reported by the Syracuse University researchers can be a step toward increasing algal productivity for biodiesel production. According to the Syracuse University website, the researchers utilized nanoparticles "that selectively scatter blue light, promoting algae metabolism. When the optimal combination of light and confined nanoparticle suspension configuration was used, the team was able to achieve growth enhancement of an algae sample of greater than 30 percent as compared to a control". The experiments are still at the lab scale, but it has promising commercial applications. The experiment is described as follows: A ‘miniature bioreactor that consisted of a petri dish of a strain of green algae (Chlamydomonas reinhardtii) on top of another dish containing a suspension of silver nanoparticles that served to backscatter blue light into the algae culture. Through model-guided experimentation, the team discovered that by varying the concentration and size of the nanoparticle solution they could manipulate the intensity and frequency of the light source, thereby achieving an optimal wavelength for algal growth". The complete results are published in the 2010 August 12 issue of Nature magazine.