Trevor C. Charles

Professor

Trevor Charles carries out research in bacterial genetics and is an expert on analyzing genetic material recovered directly from environmental samples, also known as functional metagenomics.

In 2015, Prof. Charles was honoured with an Ontario Genomics Institute SPARK Award for an innovative project that uses waste methane to create renewable bioplastics.

Contact information
Office: B1 377C
Phone: 519-888-4567, ext. 35606
Email: tcharles@uwaterloo.ca

Expertise

Plant-microbe interactions
Symbiotic nitrogen fixation
Functional metagenomics
Bacterial genome engineering
Synthetic biology, bioplastics and bioproducts

Research

Professor Charles is a microbiologist with expertise in bacterial molecular genetics. His research group studies the mechanisms of gene regulatory circuits that control the interactions of Rhizobiales bacteria such as Sinorhizobium meliloti with their eukaryal hosts.

The group also develops methods for functional metagenomics using alternate surrogate hosts, and employs these methods to isolate novel genes with interesting functions from microbial community genomic libraries.

Current research emphasis is on functional metagenomics, bioplastics and bacterial genome engineering.

Teaching

Professor Charles teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses. Course offerings have included

BIOL 240 - Fundamentals of Microbiology
BIOL 349 - Synthetic Biology Design Project
BIOL 431 - Bacterial Molecular Genetics
BIOL 475 - Topics in Applied Microbiology
BIOL 608 - Advanced Molecular Genetics

Highlighted Publications

Please see Dr. Trevor Charles' links on Google Scholar for a current list of his peer-reviewed articles.

Awards and Distinctions

2015 Fellowship of Association of Biotechnology and Pharmacy (India)
2015 International Award of the Ninth DBN Science and Technology Awards (China)
2012 Outstanding Performance Award
2000-2010 President, Canadian Society of Microbiologists
1991 NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship

University of Waterloo Affiliations

Centre for Bioengineering and Biotechnology (Associate Director)
The Water Institute, member
Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Energy (WISE), member
Waterloo Centre for Microbial Research (Director)

Professional Associations and Service

Journal Editorship
- Associate Editor, BMC Microbiology
- Editorial Board, Frontiers in Microbiology
Professional Associations
- American Society for Microbiology
- Canadian Society of Microbiologists
- International Society for Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions
- International Society for Microbial Ecology