Today we officially launched the opening of the Leverhulme center for the Holobiont. With £10 million funding from the Leverhulme trust, the center will explore how microbes interact with their hosts across the tree of life.
Based at Imperial College London the center includes an incredible range of partners such as the Wellcome Sanger Institute; the EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI); the Natural History Museum; the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew; CABI; the Rosalind Franklin Institute; the Mary Lyon Centre; ZSL London Zoo and the Tara Oceans Consortium.
The research at the center will consist of 4 main themes (challenges). Challenge 1: the holobiont tree of Life – will look at microbial-host interactions across a diversity of species and environments providing baseline data. Challenge 2: Crafting the holobiont – will explore synthetic methods to create new host-microbe interactions and improve holobiont health. Challenge 3: Holobiont rescue – will identify current emergencies that could be solved with microbial intervention. Challenge 4: Holobiont Green Revolution – will explore ways to improve crop health and yields using microbial interventions.
More information here: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/241454/imperial-partners-launch-leverhulme-centre-holobiont/