In the final of the All-Russian biohackathon "Fairway", which took place within the framework of the International Fisheries Forum in St. Petersburg, a team of students from KNRTU "Biotechnology Masters" won the final third prize in the track "Visionaries of the Future".

The International Fisheries Forum is a key annual event of the Russian fishing industry, where the most important issues of industry development are discussed. This year, the “Fairway” All—Russian Biohakathon was included in its program for the first time: its participants — students and postgraduates from Russian universities - worked to solve topical issues related to the extraction, processing and use of algae, the creation of new food products and biomaterials based on marine biological resources.

15 teams from all over Russia presented their projects. Among them is the KNRTU " Biotechnology Masters" team consisting of masters of the Institute of Food Production and Biotechnology Renata Akhmetzyanova (team captain; Department of Food Engineering of Small Enterprises), Ekaterina Apalkova, Sabina Minnegulova and Anastasia Batina (Department of Food Biotechnology).

The competition projects were divided into five tracks: "Mining + production", "Sustainable aquaculture", "Visionaries of the future", "Popularization of algae" and the track "Aqua-Press: a competition for youth publications about the fishing industry".

Our students launched the project "Processing carbon dioxide into astaxanthin using microalgae Haematococcus pluvialis". The development responds to the global challenge of carbon dioxide utilization and makes it possible to obtain the valuable red pigment astaxanthin, a powerful natural antioxidant, with the help of microorganisms.

— I am very proud of our talented students! I would like to note their independence and initiative: they took the preparation seriously, and worked out many issues on their own. The acquired knowledge and skills helped to apply competently and adequately defend the project," says the scientific leader of the team, acting head of the Department, Associate Professor Guzel Davletshina.

As Ilya Shestakov, head of Federal Agency for Fishery (that organized the hackathon), noted: "This year we focused on algae, a resource with great potential. It is important that the best projects will not remain on paper and will receive the assistance of partner companies. The Biohackathon gives young professionals a real opportunity to realize their ideas and take part in the development of the fisheries complex."

The KNRTU team was awarded a winner's certificate and a reward of 50,000 rubles. Congratulations to our biotechnologists and wish them further development and implementation of bold ideas!