Photons to fuel

The Isle of Wight is an unusual place to look for answers to major environmental problems. But then, the Isle of Wight is an unusual place. The first dinosaur fossils were found there and it was the home of the British space programme. But who would have thought that the key to making sustainable biofuels could be found in the intestines of a microscopic organism that is eating away at the foundations of the island's piers — the unlikely named gribble?

The pesky gribble is one of the most important research targets of the newly formed

, a 'virtual institution' spread around the country at major bioscience facilities. The

(BBSRC) has awarded the centre its largest ever bioenergy grant, £27m over five years. This, said Prof Douglas Kell, chief executive of the BBSRC, is because there is a definite — although maddeningly uncertain — deadline for biofuels research. 'One day, fossil fuels will run out,' he said. 'We can say that with certainty. All we'll have is what we can derive from sunlight. There are a lot of steps from photons to fuel, but it's something we have to look into.'