Ecosystem Services, Commercialization and Entrepreneurship (ECOSCOPE)

微生物代表了地球上看不见的大多数生物。相互关联的微生物群落通过代谢物交换网络催化对生态系统服务至关重要的物质和能量转换过程。群落代谢的概念最近成为合成生物学中一个感兴趣的话题。合成生物学的核心是建立在生物砖（BioBricks）或由符合组装标准的DNA组成的标准化部件上。合成生物学家通过将BioBricks组合成集成设备（例如，反应、途径、结构），在包括大肠杆菌在内的细胞“群”中设计生物系统。工程微生物群落扩展在生物砖的概念，包括细胞生物作为信息处理单元实现分布式遗传算法。这种联合体比单个细胞更有效地完成复杂的任务，补充介导生物质转化的酶复合物，并抵抗环境扰动，这表明生态设计原则在工程新材料和工业过程中发挥了有益的作用。生态系统服务、商业化平台和创业（ECOSCOPE）工业流CREATE培训计划将提供高素质人员（HQP）所需的技能，将从研究自然和工程生态系统中的微生物群落中获得的环境序列信息转化为商业和创业活动。ECOSCOPE将通过提高微生物生态学和合成生物学各层次（本科生、研究生和博士后）的HQP培训能力来实现其目标。这一创新项目——允许团队在创业环境中实习，持续参与国际基因工程机器（iGEM）竞赛，并专注于知识转化——将提供专业和创业培训，以增强研究技能，并使HQP能够将其创新成果商业化。ECOSCOPE培训的科学家将提高我们对微生物生态学、合成生物学的理解，并将直接为加拿大新兴的“生物经济”做出贡献。

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."