Ecosystem Services, Commercialization and Entrepreneurship (ECOSCOPE)

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Microorganisms represent the invisible majority of living things on Earth. Interconnected microbial communities catalyze matter and energy conversion processes essential to ecosystem services through networks of metabolite exchange. The concept of community metabolism has recently emerged as a topic of interest in synthetic biology. At its core, synthetic biology is built upon BioBricks or standardized parts composed of DNA that conform to an assembly standard. Synthetic biologists engineer biological systems in cellular "chasses" including E. coli by combining BioBricks into integrated devices (e.g., reactions, pathways, structures). Engineered microbial communities expand upon the BioBricks concept to include cellular organisms as information processing units implementing a distributed genetic algorithm. Such consortia perform complex tasks more effectively than single cells, to complement enzyme complexes mediating biomass conversion and to resist environmental perturbation, suggesting a beneficial role for ecological design principles in engineering new materials and industrial processes. The Ecosystem Services, Commercialization Platforms and Entrepreneurship (ECOSCOPE) industrial stream CREATE training program will provide highly qualified personnel (HQP) with the skills needed to translate environmental sequence information derived from studying microbial communities in natural and engineered ecosystems into commercial and entrepreneurial activities. ECOSCOPE will accomplish its objectives by increasing capacity for HQP training in microbial ecology and synthetic biology at all levels - undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral. This innovative program - allowing for team internships in start-up environments, sustained participation in the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition and focus on knowledge translation - will provide professional and entrepreneurial training to augment research skills and empower HQP to commercialize their innovations. Scientists trained by ECOSCOPE will improve our understanding of microbial ecology, synthetic biology, and will contribute directly to an emerging Canadian "bioeconomy."