Microbial ecology and major societal challenges

Knowledge of marine ecosystems and how they function enables us to identify microbial metabolisms and functional traits. Taking into account the human impact on ecosystems enables us to identify potential targets for improving our activities to lessen their effect, or tools for exploiting microbial resources. The MEB team will make available to society the knowledge acquired at the fundamental level, in order to propose improvements or new solutions to major societal issues. These solutions will, of course, involve not only scientific questioning, but also appropriate technological developments.

The issues of waste recovery (municipal, agricultural, aquaculture, etc.) using marine microorganisms can be coupled with issues of bioenergy production (hydrogen, methane, microalgae, etc.). Understanding and improving bioprocesses will be possible thanks to our knowledge of microorganisms, their metabolisms and associated viral controls, via omics approaches, and thanks to the team's automated and instrumented pilot installations, enabling analytical monitoring of reactors under controlled conditions. This research will be developed in close collaboration with developing countries, in particular within the framework of LMI Biotech H2, and with industrial partners.

Our expertise in biomarkers of human activity and our knowledge of microbial dynamics and activities in urbanized areas and/or areas used by humans will provide decision-making tools for environmental management. For example, the management of port activities using indicators will enable risk management by prioritizing actions according to their impact. Similarly, the development of indicators to understand the elements governing the microbial system within mangroves will provide additional information for water quality monitoring.