Microbial Community Engineering

Microorganisms have evolved and adapted to inhabit numerous distinct ecological niches on our planet reflecting their comprehensive metabolic diversity. The Microbial Community Engineering (MCE) course aims to systematically understand the metabolic diversity and microbial ecology of mixed culture biotechnologies to efficiently harness naturally occurring microbial communities for industrial purposes.

During the course, we will evaluate diverse microbial ecosystems in the environment from the perspective of ecological selection principles to understand how microbial communities assemble, interact, and shape the environments that they inhabit. Biotechnologies such as wastewater treatment, bioremediation, and biological production of chemicals and bioenergy will be the focus of this course. We conclude with an analysis of techniques to identify (and quantify) microbial community members, measure microbial activity, and analyse community interactions.

Exploring microbial communities relies strongly on interdisciplinary knowledge. The course is designed for students to define knowledge from different disciplines and analyse their links to explore microbial communities. After taking this course students will be able to synthesize ecological principles for the enrichment, design, and integrated exploration of microbial communities.

In this course, students will

1. Evaluate the role of redox & thermodynamics, transport phenomena in biofilms, and intracellular storage polymers as factors that shape natural microbial communities.

2. Evaluate microbial and metabolic diversity in major biogeochemical cycles in nature.

3. Identify the ecological selection principles to steer naturally assembled microbial communities towards achieving desired functions in bioprocesses.

4. Discuss appropriate techniques for analysing microbial community members and their interactions in bioprocesses.

5. Evaluate an enrichment culture to study industry-relevant microorganisms & bioprocesses.