Integrated microfluidics for screening thermo-resistant fungi**

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Directed evolution is a technique used to artificially evolve strains to discover new and useful proteins. This technique has shown how rapidly some proteins can evolve under some strong selection pressures and have provided new insights into the relationship between sequence and function. Lallemand Inc., a privately-held Canadian company in Montreal, is a global leader in the development, production of yeast, bacteria, and specialty ingredients for human and animal nutrition as well as for the pharmaceutical industry. A current bottleneck in Lallemand's workflow is the automation capabilities for high-throughput screening and selection of microbial strains. The technological tools to perform such tasks are typically automated robotics with flow cytometry, which are usually cost-prohibitive and require large footprints. An alternative is to use a technology called microfluidics. Microfluidics, also known as "lab-on-chip", has been shown as an alternative to automated robotics and flow cytometry since it brings advantages of low-cost and benchtop-type footprint. In fact, microfluidics has been shown to be an efficient tool to directly evolve and to select strains of interest. In this proposal, the Shih lab (Concordia) and Lallemand Inc. are joining forces to use microfluidic-based technology to screen and to isolate thermo-resistant mutants of Clonostachys rosea. C. rosea is a biofungicide that colonizes on leaf and root surfaces and it is known to have inhibiting effects on nematodes and suppress fungal diseases. With this collaboration, we will be able to use developed microfluidic devices from the Shih lab to screen for C. rosea mutants to obtain a wealth of information on the mechanisms of adaptation and resistance that can be used to potentially develop novel pharmaceuticals. This is the first step towards rapid strain selection and engineering and if successful, it can possibly change the way Canadians create energy, produce food, to optimize industrial processing.********