US-Egypt Workshop: Microbial Ecology, Cairo, Egypt, May 2001

Michigan State University, East Lansing MI

Investigators

Abstract

0095302 Dazzo Description: This award is for support of a US-Egypt Workshop on Microbial Ecology to be held in Cairo, Egypt, May 2001. The US organizers are Dr. Frank Dazzo and Dr. James Tiedje, Center for Microbial Ecology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan. The Egyptian co-organizer is Dr. Sherif Eissa, President of the National Research Center in Cairo. The purposes of the workshop are to discuss jointly selected important topics in the area of microbial ecology and to identify specific areas where research collaboration will be mutually beneficial. Individual workshop sessions will be dedicated to microbial diversity in natural and managed systems, biosafe microbial inoculants for agriculture, microbial remediation of pollutants, and microbial ecology of extremophiles. The proceedings will highlight areas recommended for collaborative research. Scope: This award will support a US-Egypt workshop in an area that is increasing in importance both in the United States and in Egypt. The understanding of the diversity of microorganisms is becoming more important as it is widely recognized that less than 0.1% of the microbial diversity on Earth has been discovered. Moreover, how these unknown organisms exist, or coexist, in widely diverse and, in some cases, extreme environments is unknown. An understanding of the metabolic and physiological processes, as well as the genetic plasticity and ecological requirements which allow these organisms to survive in extreme and ever-changing environments is essential for many reasons in both industrially developed nations and less industrialized countries. The workshop participants will identify potential cooperative research and joint projects between American and Egyptian scientists. US participants come from several academic institutions and include several junior scientists. The Egyptian participants will represent academia, government, and the private sector. The Egyptian coorganizer is the president of the primary government research organization in that country. This proposal meets the INT objective of supporting US-foreign scientific collaboration in areas of mutual benefit. Funding for this project is provided by the Division of International Programs, through the US-Egypt Joint Fund program.