Keynote speaker Dr Phil Hugenholtz will be describing recent advances in the metagenomic analysis of the microbial communities within the termite hind-gut, following on from work published in Nature in 2007.
The stomachs of termites actually harbor a gold mine of microbes that have now been tapped as a rich source of enzymes for improving the conversion of wood or waste biomass to valuable biofuels.
A UQ Microbiology graduate, Dr Hugenholtz is currently the head of the microbial ecology group at the US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute.
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