EC-US Working Group on Environmental Biotechnology. Ioannis Economidis, EC DG Research Anna Palmisano and Pete Burfening, USDA/CSREES July 20, 2006

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1 EC-US Working Group on Environmental Biotechnology Ioannis Economidis, EC DG Research Anna Palmisano and Pete Burfening, USDA/CSREES July 20, 2006

2 Working Group Mission To foster the collaboration of researchers in the EU and US in the field of environmental biotechnology. Special Focus: To increase scientific interchange and collaborative research between early career scientists in the US and in the EU.

3 Current Working Group Members Prof. Spiros Agathos, Belgium Dr. Michael Bramucci, US Prof. Jerome Kukor, US Dr. Barb Methe, US Dr. Ivonne Nijehuis, Germany Dr. Juan Ramos, Spain Prof. Joseph Sulfita, US Prof. Judith Wall, US Prof. Lily Young, US Prof. Gerben Zylstra, US Dr. Ioannis Economidis, EC co-chair Dr. Anna Palmisano, US co-chair

4 New EU Working Group Member Dr. Ivonne Nijenhuis UFZ Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig, Germany Expert on bioremediation of chlorinated pollutants Participant in Madrid Short Course, 2003

5 Summary of Working Group Activities Workshops: US-EC Workshops on Use of Molecular Methods in Bioremediation (Granada, Spain -1996), Genomics and Environmental Biotechnology (Rockville, US ), 10 year Celebration of Working Group Activities (Brussels, 2005) Short Courses: EC-US Short courses on environmental biotech with lab and field elements (Rutgers Univ , U. of Madrid ); Fellowships: US-EC Short Term Exchange Fellowships (1999--ongoing)

6 Workshop: A A Celebration of a Decade of Environmental Biotechnology EU-US US Exchange Activities The Workshop was held October 17, 2005 at the European Commission The WG brought together 20 young scientists who had participated in WG activities (including workshops, short courses and fellowships) and who are currently very active in the field of environmental biotechnology

7 Goals of the Workshop Identify state of the art in Environmental Biotechnology Identify knowledge gaps and scientific opportunities Accelerate exchange of information Assess impact of WG training activities Foster new collaborations among young scientists

8 Agenda for Workshop Platform talks by trainees Poster Session Discussion What is the future of Environmental Biotechnology? Where are the scientific opportunities? What training activities should the Working Group support for early career scientists over the next 10 years?

9 Action Steps from Workshop Participants recommended that the WG continue short courses, workshops and fellowships to encourage trans-atlantic collaboration. A Trainee Alumni Group was formed to promote WG activities to other young scientists. Synthetic Biology and Metabolomics were identified as areas of future opportunity in Environmental Biotechnology. A workshop on Metabolomics and Environmental Biotechnology is proposed for 2008 in Mallorca, led by a WG trainee, Dr. Balbina Nogales.

10 Proposed Activities: Short Course A short course is proposed at Rutgers University, led by Prof. Jerry Kukor, for July 2007 Follow-on on to highly successful 1998 short course at Rutgers Students, lecturers shared equally between US, EU Course will include lecture/lab/field activities with state-of of-the-art techniques (quantitative PCR, microarrays,, bioinformatics, and metagenomics)

11 Continuing US-EU Exchange of Early Career Scientists Short term, trans- Atlantic exchange fellowships Learn new skill/expertise in environmental biotech 1-6 month tenure Require leveraging of costs from host, parent institution

12 US-EU Exchange Fellows US effort led by Prof. Joe Sulfita (U of Oklahoma) and Prof. Judy Wall (University of Missouri) Began in 2000; Working Group served as selection committee 18 US fellows have been supported to date to work in 7 EU countries Support provided by US Federal Agencies (DOE, NSF, and ONR)

13 EU-US US Exchange Fellows EU effort led by Prof. Spiros Agathos (U of Louvain, BE) Began in 2002; International selection committee Nine EU fellows were selected from six Member States to spend some time in well known US labs. Support provided by the European Commission (5th Framework Programme)

14 Special Outreach to US Hurricane Victims Many scientists in the Southern Region were impacted by 2005 Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In response to recommendations from the 2005 meeting of the EC-US Biotechnology Task Force, ads have now appeared in Science, Nature, and Microbe encouraging participation in fellowships. Prof. Suflita is visiting universities in the affected the region to recruit potential participants.

15 EC-US Working Group on Biotechnology for the Environment: Vision Statement Training Training the next generation of scientific leaders in environmental biotechnology to work collaboratively across the Atlantic.