Texas seventh-grader boosts algae oil production by 77%

Arya Hirsave, a seventh-grader at Canyon Vista Middle School in Austin, Texas, has found a way to increase lipid production in microalgae by 77% in five days. The project, selected for the 2025 Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge, tested a sequence of vitamins and salt on four algae species. The Society for Science reports that the timed treatment allowed algae to grow first with vitamins, then stress them with salt to boost oil content.

Arya began the experiment after a science class on biomass sparked her interest in algae as a renewable fuel source. She tested Chlorella vulgaris, Chlorella pyrenoidosa, Nannochloropsis, and Tetraselmis chuii. Vitamins B and C increased growth by 6-7%, while salt stress reduced growth but raised lipid production. Combining both in a three-day vitamin phase followed by two days of salt exposure produced the 77% increase.

The method is not yet a commercial biofuel process, according to both sources. Further research is needed to test scalability. Arya, who hopes to become an astrophysicist, has participated in science fairs since third grade.