The microbial world is a vast frontier of scientific and practical importance. The introduction of molecular techniques has revolutionised research. But, recent advances have only served to emphasise the enormity of the task before us.
The main objective of this project is to lay the foundation for the systematic exploration of microbial diversity in the European Union.
The improvements in sequencing technology have enormous implications. Individual research groups have not yet been able to discover one rule governing its occurrence.
With many different groups and countries carrying out research, it makes sense to pool ideas from studies of microbial diversity using next generation sequencing, from theoreticians and from other numerate scientists across Europe.
By maintaining or increasing the quality of each individual study, we can ensure that data is gathered, analysed and curated to agreed standards. The results can be shared and compared to generate new collective theoretical insights.
There are five tasks we must tackle: