Functional Metagenomics: Tools and Applications

Trevor C. Charles is a Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. His general research area is bacterial molecular genetics. He has a particular interest in members of the Rhizobiales order of the Alphaproteobacteria. His research on microbial communities is directed towards functional metagenomics, which includes the design and implementation of metagenomic library screens for metabolic functions of interest. Some of the metagenome derived genes are being used to develop bacterial strains for bioproducts such as polyhydroxyalkanoate bioplastics. Dr. Charles has published over 80 peer-reviewed papers. Mark R. Liles is a Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Auburn University. As a postdoctoral scientist, Liles worked with Profs. Jo Handelsman and Robert Goodman at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on developing technology for soil metagenomic research. Ongoing research in Liles’ laboratory focuses on the use of functional metagenomics for the discovery of natural products, and the use of microorganisms for the prevention of disease in aquaculture and agriculture. He has published over 90 peer-reviewed manuscripts.Angela Sessitsch heads the Bioresources Unit of the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, Austria’s largest non-university research centre. She is an expert in plant-microbe interactions and microbiome research and ongoing research makes use of metagenomic approaches to obtain functional information of plant microbiomes. A. Sessitsch has published about 150 peer-reviewed papers.