Authors
Ian Wheeldon
Publication Year
2026

Existing biofoundries typically handle microorganisms that are easy to grow, domesticate, and proliferate under laboratory conditions. To realize the promise of synthetic biology, there is a critical need for user platforms that are dedicated to a new generation of synthetic biology - one that focuses on discovering, phenotyping, and engineering new environmental isolates, microbial communities, and microbes with extreme phenotypes. With this motivation, a collaborative team from UC-Riverside (UCR), UC-Santa Barbara (UCSB), and CalPoly-Pomona (CPP) have established the BioFoundry for Extreme & Exceptional Fungi, Archaea and Bacteria (Ex-FAB). The unique edge of EXFAB lies in its focus on accommodating nature's more unusual microorganisms - what we refer to as "extreme" in that they do not conform to standard growth habits and culture conditions, and "exceptional" in that they defy our current understanding of biology. This talk will discuss how we developed new workflows to analyze and engineer deep sea organisms, anaerobic gut microbes, and filamentous fungi to reveal novel pathways, proteins, and structures that represent an untapped resource for biotechnological advances. ExFAB also establishes a first-of-its-kind user facility that operates both aerobically and anaerobically to rapidly generate microbial libraries from the environment, develop genetic tools for unusual microbes, and prototype protein/pathway/cell function even when genetic tools are unavailable. ExFAB empowers users from an array of academic and industry partners with the tools and technology needed to make new breakthroughs where extreme microbiology meets biotechnology, even if users themselves do not have the necessary expertise or an immediate intended application for their science.

Publication Type
Conference