Trevor Charles

Professor Charles is a microbiologist with expertise in bacterial molecular genetics. His research group studies pathogen surveillance using genomic methods, upcycling of food waste to biodegradable bioplastics, and plant beneficial bacteria. 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 metagenomic libraries.

Professor Charles is co-founder of the companies Metagenom Bio Life Science, Healthy Hydroponics InnoTech, and Earth Microbial, as we well as founder and executive director of the LiftOff Black Entrepreneurship Program.

Current research emphasis is on functional metagenomics, bioplastics, pathogen surveillance, antimicrobial resistance, and plant microbiome.

• Plant-microbe interactions
• Symbiotic nitrogen fixation
• Functional metagenomics
• Bacterial genome engineering
• Synthetic biology, bioplastics and bioproducts
• Microbiology
• Molecular Genetics
• Climate Extremes and Food Production
• Viruses in Aquatic Ecosystems

• 1991 Ph.D. Biology, McMaster University, Canada
• 1985 B.Sc. Microbiology, University of British Columbia, Canada

• 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

• LiftOff, Executive Director
• Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Microbiology, Microbe and Virus Interactions with Plants
• Senior Editor, Molecular Plant Microbe Interactions

• American Society for Microbiology
• Canadian Society of Microbiologists
• International Society for Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions
• International Society for Microbial Ecology

• The Water Institute, member
• Waterloo Institute for Complexity and Innovation (WICI), core member
• Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Energy (WISE), member
• Waterloo Centre for Microbial Research (Director)
• Waterloo Climate Institute, member

• Please see Dr. Trevor Charles' links on Google Scholar for a current list of his peer-reviewed articles: https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=gTkdyfsAAAAJ&hl=en

• Berry good news: Waterloo-led team tackles food insecurity through sustainable year-round berry production in Canada
• Trevor Charles wins Research Innovation and Impact Award
• Introducing LiftOff: a Black-led business accelerator and incubator for Black Entrepreneurs
• Trevor Charles awarded $250,000 through The New Frontiers in Research Fund Exploration competition
• Ontario Genomics Institute SPARK Award