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EESA plays role in New National Microbiome Initiative

by Maryann Villavert

Announcements Climate Sciences Department Ecology Department Geochemistry Department Geophysics Department In The Press Initiative
Bioeconomy, environment, human systems

The potential impacts of a unified microbiome initiative to understand and responsibly harness the activities of microbial communities. (Credit: Diana Swantek, Berkeley Lab)

Announced from the News Center, Berkeley Lab will participate in a new National Microbiome Initiative which was launched on May 13 by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

This Initiative brings together scientists from more than 100 universities, companies, research institutions, and federal agencies. The goal is to investigate fundamental principles that govern microbiomes across ecosystems, and develop new tools to study microbiomes.

Berkeley Lab is well positioned to contribute to the national effort thanks to Microbes to Biomes (M2B), a Lab-wide initiative designed to understand, predict, and harness critical microbiomes for energy, food, environment, and health.

Eoin Brodie

Eoin Brodie

Lead Scientist of M2B, Eoin Brodie (of EESA’s Climate & Ecosystem Sciences Division) says that the Initiative “… is very much in line with our interdisciplinary vision for Microbes-to-Biomes” which includes scientists with backgrounds in biology, environmental sciences, genomics, systems biology, computation, advanced imaging, material sciences, and engineering. Brodie is also the corresponding author of an editorial published on May 13, in the journal mBio that calls for a predictive understanding of Earth’s microbiomes to address some of the most significant challenges of the 21st century.

Other EESA scientists contributing to the M2B initiative include Peter Nico, Romy Chakraborty, Javier Ceja Navarro, Bill Riley, Zhao Hao, Shi Wang, Rob Walker and Patricia Fox.

Go to the Berkeley Lab News Center to read the full News Center release, “Berkeley Lab Participates in New National Microbiome Initiative.”