Exploration and exploitation of microbes
The Waterloo Centre for Microbial Research (WCMR) promotes research and education in the application of microbiological principles and techniques to address environmental, industrial, economic, and human health challenges.
Through the WCMR, members with diverse research interests and varying academic backgrounds come together to engage in collaborative research in which microbes, as part of aquatic, terrestrial, engineered and host-associated environments, are explored through:
- computational analysis of sequence data
- identification of constituent species
- annotation and identification of novel molecular activities
- development of synthetic biology applications
- engineering of microbial processes for industrial applications
- participation in international sharing
- standardization of big data
- understanding the role of microbes in society.
As a group, the Waterloo Centre for Microbial Research plans to unify, catalyze, and promote multidisciplinary research which explores and exploits microbes at the University of Waterloo. The WCMR also supports partnerships between students, researchers, and external partners through networking events, collaborative projects and science communication. As of 2017, the WCMR is an official centre of the University of Waterloo.
News
UW Interdisciplinary Trailblazer Fund Round 5 - Call for Applications
University of Waterloo Office of Research has announced the competition for the UW Interdisciplinary Trailblazer Fund - Round 5, intended to support early career researchers kickstart their potentially game-changing interdisciplinary research project and better prepare them for external funding opportunities, such as New Frontiers Research Fund (NFRF) Exploration Grants.
Applications are due November 27, 2023.
Funding from the Trailblazer award may only be used for co-funding jointly supervised graduate student(s) and/or postdoctoral fellow(s) who is/are directly involved in the proposed project. Applicants are expected to have other funding resources available to cover other project expenses by the time the project commences.
For details on the call, including eligibility criteria and detailed application instructions, view the full call.
WCMR Launches ASTRAW Project for COVID-19 Screening
The Waterloo Centre for Microbial Research (WCMR) is coordinating a campus project screening for COVID using saliva. Professors Trevor Charles and Jozef Nissimov from the Department of Biology, alongside Drs. Patricia Quadros and Carly Huitema of the WCMR have been awarded $120,000 to determine the effectiveness of a new rapid test and help prevent outbreaks on campus.
WCMR Contributes to a definition of the Microbiome
The WCMR participated in a panel of international experts as part of our membership representing Canada in the international, EU funded project MicrobiomeSupport. The outcome of this workshop and subsequent online survey was to propose a widely accepted definition of 'microbiome', which was just published in the journal Microbiome.