Synthetic biology is increasingly being applied to develop microbes which function outside of the well-controlled bioreactor context, in habitats including the human gut, plant root, and wastewater treatment plant. At the same time, the efficiency and robustness of natural microbial communities has inspired the rational design of multispecies consortia to achieve biotechnological goals. The session “Microbial Synthetic Biology and Consortia” will highlight advances in our ability to engineer microbes for function outside of the bioreactor, and to assemble multispecies consortia in a rational manner.

Bioengineering