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Physiology and Rates in Microbial Oceanography

SCOR Working Group 170

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Our Mission

Welcome to the official website of PRIMO. Our overarching goal is to develop a community and framework for co-designing novel physiological metrics that may act as ‘currency converters’ to link ‘omics datasets and biogeochemical models. Through literature reviews and discussions among interdisciplinary researchers, this group aims to a) explore new approaches combining 'omics and cellular modelling to learn about microbial physiology; and b) provide recommendations for the development of a suite of physiological rate assays that are low-cost, easy to use, and high throughput. When implemented at a global scale, these novel assays and approaches will improve the parametrization of ocean scale models used to predict the impact of global change on microbes and biogeochemical cycles.

Adult Students

Mentorship Program

We are excited to launch a mentorship program funded by the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) working group ‘Physiology and Rates In Microbial Oceanography (PRIMO). The overarching goal of PRIMO is to develop a community and framework for co-designing physiological metrics as currency converters to link ‘omics datasets and biogeochemical models. 

Terms of Reference (ToR)

ToR1

Review current physiological metrics, identify the key gaps in our understanding of marine microbial metabolism as revealed by ‘omics that are candidates for the co-design of new physiological assays, and rank these candidate assays according to their likely success for development and their biogeochemical importance.

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ToR2

Identify the physiological metrics of marine microbial metabolism best suited to convert between the currencies of ‘omics datasets and models, from cellular (fine scale) to BGC (coarse scale) models, using the WGs combined expertise in ‘omics, physiology and modeling, and the knowledge gained from ToR 1.

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ToR3

Determine the pathways to implementation with respect to assay development (learning the design process from systems biology, ecotoxicology, and biomedical sciences), and in doing so develop a framework and toolset for discovering proxies of marine microbial physiological processes that can bridge ‘omics and models.

ToR4

As a proof of concept, identify a flagship physiological metric to develop, using the roadmap designed in ToR 3, and assess whether this can be made high throughput and integrated with new observational platforms to stimulate the co-measurement of marine microbe ‘omics, physiology, and the BGC processes.

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