Microbial Ecology Workshop

The Microbial Ecology in the Environment and Human Health Workshop is an ongoing workshop that receives funding from Rackham via its Rackham Interdisciplinary Workshops program.

The goal of the Microbial Ecology workshop is to support students and faculty interested in conducting interdisciplinary research in microbial ecology. Microorganisms account for up to 50% of the biomass on our planet. These mostly single-celled organisms cause the most devastating diseases yet we cannot live without them as symbionts. Microbes are responsible for many of the ecosystem services on which sustainability of human systems depend such as maintaining waste quality, nutrient recycling, carbon sequestration, and toxin degradation. Molecular techniques, advances in the ecology of complex systems, and the new sciences of genomics, metagenomics, proteomics, and transcriptomics are leading to a revolution in our understanding of microbial diversity and function. Due to these developments microbial ecology is crossing a major threshold such that the rate of progress in understanding fundamental processes and their application to critical societal problems is now increasing at an extraordinary pace.

Microbial Ecology Workshop participants include students and faculty from across campus working in or interested in the microbial ecology. Microbial Ecology Workshop activities include planning and conducting symposia and workshops, small working groups, meetings with University of Michigan faculty and visitors, and mentorship type activities. If you have questions about the Microbial Ecology workshop or would like to join, contact faculty sponsor Betsy Foxman (bfoxman@umich.edu).