Research Product

This article brings forth recommendations from a workshop sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Science to Achieve Results (STAR) and Environmental Monitoring and Assessment (EMAP) Programs and by the Council of State Governments, held during May 2002 in Kansas City, Kansas. The workshop assembled microbial ecologists and environmental scientists to review available molecular biological methods, consider approaches arising from genomics level technologies, and determine the research and science needed to bring existing molecular biological approaches, and emerging technologies arising from genomic research with microorganisms, to environmental monitoring and water quality assessments. Research to develop genomics and proteomics technologies for environmental science is a very new area that holds great potential for improving environmental water quality assessments. The workshop participants noted that microbial ecologists are already using molecular biological methods well suited for monitoring and water quality assessments and anticipate that genomics-enabled technologies could be made available within a decade.