UCC is an internationally competitive, research-led university that plays a key role in the development of Ireland’s knowledge-based economy. It is ranked in the top 2% of Universities worldwide (QS World University Rankings). UCC participates via the Environmental Microbial Genomics (EMG) group, based in the School of Microbiology; whose mission is to perform leading-edge research in the discipline of Microbiology and to train graduates for productive and rewarding scientific careers. The EMG group at UCC is focused on gaining a fuller under standing of how microbes survive, grow and interact in marine and terrestrial ecosystems; an approach which is fundamental to their exploitation for biotechnological applications.

UCC will lead WP1 “Microbiome Diversity-sustainable sourcing of microbes and small molecules”. In WP1 they will make existing deep sea sponge metagenomic libraries together with bacteria isolated from these sponges available to the consortium. They will be involved in assessing the microbial and functional diversity of metagenomic DNA libraries isolated from salmon, thereby establishing links between the biodiversity of the salmon microbiome and the potential natural product diversity. UCC will also employ novel cultivation approaches to mimic the natural salmon microbiome, thereby targeting culturable members from this microbiome. In doing so they will be attempting to identify microbes or microbial consortia and their metabolites that protect salmon from fish pathogens. UCC will also be involved in generating extracts from strains and consortia which display interesting bioactivities for screening by consortium members. In WP2 UCC will be involved in selecting microbial consortia and microbial strains in aquaculture model systems and in constructing synthetic microbiomes for improved host protection and growth. UCC will also be involved in the dissemination and communication activities in WP7.