The Environmental Microbial Genomics Group in the Laboratoire Ampère at the Ecole Centrale de Lyon (Université de Lyon; "University of Lyons") examines a range of research topics from fundamental mechanisms of microbial adaptation (Archaea (see film here), Bacteria, Fungi) such as horizontal gene transfer, nitrogen cycle and de novo gene synthesis to environmental perturbations due to anthropogenic activities such as nickel mining and environmental pollution. Important society based questions are also addressed such as the fate of transgenes from transgenic plants, drug discovery, impact of anthropogenic extreme environments, fate of REACH chemicals, the bioremediation of contaminated soils and water (environmental bioengineering) and the importance of climate change. Other scientific questions include the microbial ecology of diverse environments such as the human digestive tract, human skin and mercury-impacted Arctic snow (see video).
A central technological approach employed to answer different questions relies on combining the use of 'omic methods and next generation sequencing (both 2nd and 3rd generation) with classical environmental microbiology. Metagenomic techniques access total microbial genomes in environments in order to avoid biases associated with culture-dependent approaches. Production and screening of clone libraries, use of phylogenetic microarrays and functional gene quantification with Real-time PCR and DNA and RNA (cDNA) sequencing (an Illumina MiSeq and an Oxford Nanopore sequencer) are commonly used methods. A range od bioinformatics and modeling approaches are used including microbial ecology networks.
This group also benefits from close ties with electrical engineers for the exploration of the effect of lightning on gene transfer, possible lightning related soil bioremediation techniques, and the production of electricity from microbial fuel cells.
This range of research can be alternatively referred to as microbial ecology, environmental microbiology (click for intro in French ) and ecological engineering. |
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