From: mha23x@gmail.com   
      
   Uniting Diverse Sciences to Tackle the Microbiome   
       
   The Kavli Microbiome Ideas Challenge will provide $1 million in grants for   
   innovative tools to investigate how microbes live in complex communities.   
       
   BACTERIA AND OTHER MICROBES interact in diverse populations everywhere from   
   the human gut to the oceans. Scientists are eager to understand these   
   communities, called microbiomes, in the hopes of benefiting human health,   
   feeding the planet and protecting    
   the environment.   
   SPOTLIGHT INDEX   
   Why scientists need to think about the "bigger picture" of microbial   
   communities   
   Physics, chemistry and the microbiome   
   Gaps in our knowledge   
   "Wish list" for a microbiome scientist's toolbox   
   New collaborative opportunities; possible benefits and outcomes in coming years   
   .   
   Governments, within and beyond the United States, have picked up on the   
   microbiome excitement, too. In May, the White House Office of Science and   
   Technology Policy announced the National Microbiome Initiative, a   
   collaboration between several federal    
   agencies, universities and private foundations. Its goals are to support   
   microbiome research, get the public involved in the project, and develop new   
   technologies to study microbe communities.   
   Those new technologies are critical. Right now, there is a dearth of tools to   
   help us learn about microbes in groups. Scientists can use DNA sequencing to   
   identify the microbes in a community, but lack the techniques to go much   
   beyond that census. The    
   Kavli Foundation’s $1-million Microbiome Ideas Challenge, launched in   
   support of the national initiative, will provide funds for scientists to start   
   inventing the new tools they need.   
   It’s not just a job for scientists who study microbes. That’s why The   
   Kavli Foundation has asked the American Society for Microbiology, in   
   conjunction with the American Chemical Society and American Physical Society,   
   to select the most promising,    
   interdisciplinary groups working on tools that could help microbiome research.   
   The Foundation will announce the winners, who will receive funding to take   
   their ideas further, later this year.   
       
   Kavli Ideas Challenge   
   The Microbiome Ideas Challenge   
   Recent discoveries have revealed that the vast majority of life on our planet   
   is microbial; however, still lacking is an understanding of how microbes   
   function and the role that specific microbes play in regulating host   
   physiology and health. The Kavli    
   Microbiome Ideas Challenge aims to spur the development of new tools and   
   methods that catalyze discovery in understanding microbial function. The call   
   for submissions is open. Deadline: December 2nd, 2016 at 11:59 PM CST.   
       
   The Kavli Foundation spoke to three of the six scientists on the Scientific   
   Advisory Board for the Kavli Microbiome Ideas Challenge, each representing a   
   different scientific discipline. In the roundtable, they discussed the   
   importance of the microbiome,    
   the necessity for collaboration across different fields of science and where   
   they hope the science is leading.   
   The participants were:   
   TIM DONOHUE – Director of the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, Donohue   
   s a Professor of Bacteriology and the UW Foundation Chairman Fetzer-Bascom   
   Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison   
   JULIE BITEEN – Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of   
   Michigan, Biteen is also affiliated with the university's Biophysics, Applied   
   Physics, and Chemical Biology programs.   
   TERRY HWA – Co-director of the Quantitative Biology PhD Specialization at   
   the University of California, San Diego, where he is a Presidential Chair   
   Professor in the Department of Physics. He also holds a joint appointment as   
   Professor in the Division    
   of Biological Sciences and is a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the   
   University of Hong Kong.   
   The following is an edited transcript of their roundtable discussion. The   
   participants have been provided the opportunity to amend or edit their remarks.   
   THE KAVLI FOUNDATION: The study of microbes is hardly new, but most scientists   
   study one type at a time, growing in the lab. What kinds of things are they   
   missing by not looking at the bigger picture of a microbiome?   
   Tim Donohue, Director of the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center; Professor   
   of Bacteriology andthe UW Foundation Chairman Fetzer-Bascom Professor at the   
   University of Wisconsin-Madison. (Credit: Matt Wisniewski, Wisconsin Energy   
   Institute) Tim Donohue,    
   Director of the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center; Professor of   
   Bacteriology and the UW Foundation Chairman Fetzer-Bascom Professor at the   
   University of Wisconsin-Madison. (Credit: Matt Wisniewski, Wisconsin Energy   
   Institute) .   
   TIM DONOHUE: They’re missing out on all the interactions that happen in the   
   group—just like a family interaction is very different from an individual   
   sitting alone in his or her bedroom. They’re also missing out on how those   
   interactions determine    
   where these organisms can live, and what other microbes can live in the same   
   neighborhood, whether it’s the soil or the oceans or an animal or a human   
   body.   
   JULIE BITEEN: One of the big gaps is that we tend to study bacteria that we   
   know how to handle in the lab. For example, we’re a lot better at studying   
   bacteria that grow in air compared to bacteria that need a special environment   
   because they can’t    
   live in oxygen. And we know a lot more about bacteria that we can actually   
   grow in a test tube rather than bacteria with more specialized needs. Most   
   bacteria, in fact, don’t grow well in the lab. We need tools to study   
   microbes in the wild, where they    
   do live in groups.   
   TERRY HWA: I think the new study of the microbiome will show us two new   
   aspects of microbial life: One is about the phenomena that only emerge when   
   microbes are together in a group; another is about the phenomena that only   
   make sense in the context of a    
   group. It is like a team sport. You do not understand the role of the   
   quarterback in a football team until you see them working with receivers. For   
   example, in waste-water treatment plants and oil refineries, there are groups   
   of microbes that work    
   together in an assembly line, each eating the waste products of the preceding   
   one, leading to the final processing of waste into something like methane that   
   is released into the environment.   
      
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