The Australian Centre for Ecogenomics analyse sequence-based microbial communities with ecogenomics, an integrated, ecological framework using computational advances and new modelling approaches. Established 2010, the Centre provides a focal point for sequence-based analysis of microbial communities. Our research portfolio is 80% ‘applied’, focused on major national research priorities (e.g. microbial ecology, marine, mining, bacterial pathogen genomics) and 20% fundamental research. ACE provides a high quality, comprehensive, cost effective and fast sequencing service offering amplicon-based community profiling, metagenomics and metatranscriptomics with associated bioinformatics analysis as required.

Website

https://ecogenomic.org/

Organisation type

• University Research Centre

Number of research staff

20-100 research staff

Address

Level 5, Molecular Biosciences Bldg, University of Queensland, St Lucia QLD 4072

Strengths and capabilities

• Microbial Ecology
• Microbial Symbiosis
• Environmental and Engineered Systems Microbiology
• High throughput Sequencing Service
• Bioinformatics
• Wastewater surveillance

Facilities and major equipment

• Oxford Nanopore Technology - PromethION
• Illumina NextSeq and MiSeq sequencers
• PC2 laboratories
• HPC Infrastructure

Lead researchers

• Professor Philip Hugenholtz—Creator of Genome Taxonomy Database (GTDB)
• Professor Nicole Webster—Understanding the contribution of microbes to the health and resilience of the Great Barrier Reef
• Associate Professor Scott Beatson—Characterising the evolution of globally disseminated multidrug resistant Escherichia coli

Achievements of the centre

• Philip Hugenholtz co-founded the company Microba. The Queensland biotech has now assisted more than 10,000 Australians to assess their gut health individually or with an Australian healthcare professional.
• Genome Taxonomy Database (GTDB) is a resource for the international research community that provides a standardised microbial taxonomy based on genome phylogeny.

Key science sectors

More information about the sectors this centre is involved in:

• Environment and nature