Program Structure

Module 1: Why Artificial Microbial Consortia?

• Monoculture limits: burden, toxicity, pathway length, and robustness issues.
• AMC advantages: modularity, resilience, substrate flexibility, and improved yields.
• Types of consortia: synthetic vs enriched; stable vs dynamic; co-culture formats.
• Key metrics: yield, titer, productivity, stability, and reproducibility.

Module 2: Consortia Design Principles (Division of Labor)

• Pathway splitting: upstream/downstream modules and intermediate handoff.
• Cross-feeding and syntrophy: nutrient, electron, and metabolite exchange.
• Compartmentalization: separating incompatible reactions or toxic steps.
• Design rules: limiting intermediates, balancing flux, minimizing competition.

Module 3: Selecting Strains, Chassis & Compatibility

• Chassis selection: growth rate, tolerance, secretion, and genetic tractability.
• Compatibility checks: pH, temperature, oxygen demand, media requirements.
• Community interactions: competition, mutualism, commensalism (practical view).
• Experimental planning: inoculation ratios and co-culture setup basics.

Module 4: Engineering & Control Strategies

• Genetic tools overview: promoters, sensors, pathway tuning (intro-level).
• Population control: nutrient limitation, auxotrophies, kill-switch concepts (overview).
• Communication: quorum sensing and inducible control concepts.
• Biocontainment and safety considerations (high-level).

Module 5: Stability, Dynamics & Troubleshooting

• Population drift and dominance: why one strain takes over.
• Cheaters and burden: loss of function over time.
• Stabilization methods: periodic resets, selective pressure, spatial separation.
• Diagnostics: plating/qPCR concepts, metabolite tracking, and simple modeling.

Module 6: Bioprocess Integration (From Flask to Bioreactor)

• Bioreactor basics: batch, fed-batch, continuous; co-culture implications.
• Key controls: pH, DO, agitation, feed strategy, and foam management.
• Sampling plans: biomass, strain ratio, substrate/product, byproducts.
• Scale-up risks: oxygen transfer, mixing, gradients, and reproducibility.

Module 7: Monitoring, Analytics & Modeling (Workflow View)

• How to measure consortium composition: markers and quantification concepts.
• Metabolite analytics: HPLC/GC concepts; pathway bottleneck identification.
• Omics overview: using transcriptomics/metabolomics to guide redesign (intro).
• Simple models: growth/flux balance concepts for design decisions.

Module 8: Applications & Scale-Up Pathways

• Industrial chemicals and biopolymers: modular production concepts.
• Biofuels and waste-to-value: mixed substrates and robustness advantages.
• Environmental applications: wastewater, bioremediation, nutrient removal.
• Translation: QA/QC, contamination control, documentation, and regulatory awareness.

Final Project

• Pick a target product or process (chemical, enzyme, waste-to-value, remediation).
• Design the consortium: strains, roles, exchange metabolites, control strategy.
• Define process setup: reactor mode, feeds, monitoring plan, KPIs (Y/T/P).
• Deliverables: AMC design dossier + workflow diagram + risk/stability checklist + KPI table.