Notes from the JGI 2019 User Meeting
Amanda Hurley, a postdoctoral fellow in Jo Handelsman’s lab at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, began her talk with a reminder that pathogens damage 16% of the global crop yield. That number is expected to rise due to climate change. “We need something that tips the scales back in our favor,” she said.
That something is a crowdsourcing program called Tiny Earth, a discovery-based introductory microbiology class focused on identifying novel antimicrobial agents in the soil that could have agricultural benefits. “We truly believe we’ll be successful in achieving this goal,” Hurley said. Tiny Earth was developed by Jo Handelsman, Director of the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery. Launched in 2018, it already involves students in hundreds of classrooms around the country and in other parts of the world. They collect soil, grow colonies, isolate the bacteria, and test for antibiotic activity.
In a pilot project, Tiny Earth partnered with the JGI to sequence isolates from Wisconsin samples. The collaboration with the JGI, along with the establishment of a chemistry hub for analyses, allows the full network of 10,000 students to benefit from the synergy of chemistry and genomics beyond access to a constantly-updated database. “I really think this is an example of where we’re stronger together,” Hurley said.
Watch Hurley’s talk from the 2019 Genomics of Energy & Environment Meeting at https://bit.ly/JGI2019Hurley. Learn more about the latest JGI Annual Meeting by downloading a copy here of the JGI Primer – Spring 2019 edition.