Trevor Charles

Trevor Charles
Professor
Location: B1 377C
Phone: 519-888-4567 x35606

Biography

Professor Charles is a microbiologist with expertise in bacterial molecular genetics. His research group studies pathogen surveillance using genomic methods, upcycling of food waste to biodegradable bioplastics, and plant beneficial bacteria. The group also develops methods for functional metagenomics using alternate surrogate hosts, and employs these methods to isolate novel genes with interesting functions from microbial community metagenomic libraries.

Professor Charles is co-founder of the companies Metagenom Bio Life Science, Healthy Hydroponics InnoTech, and Earth Microbial, as we well as founder and executive director of the LiftOff Black Entrepreneurship Program.

Current research emphasis is on functional metagenomics, bioplastics, pathogen surveillance, antimicrobial resistance, and plant microbiome.

Research Interests

  • Plant-microbe interactions

  • Symbiotic nitrogen fixation

  • Functional metagenomics

  • Bacterial genome engineering

  • Synthetic biology, bioplastics and bioproducts

  • Microbiology

  • Molecular Genetics

  • Climate Extremes and Food Production

  • Viruses in Aquatic Ecosystems

Education

  • 1991 Ph.D. Biology, McMaster University, Canada

  • 1985 B.Sc. Microbiology, University of British Columbia, Canada

Awards

  • 2015 Fellowship of Association of Biotechnology and Pharmacy (India)

  • 2015 International Award of the Ninth DBN Science and Technology Awards (China)

  • 2012 Outstanding Performance Award

  • 2000-2010 President, Canadian Society of Microbiologists

  • 1991 NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship

Service

  • LiftOff, Executive Director

  • Specialty Chief Editor, Frontiers in Microbiology, Microbe and Virus Interactions with Plants

  • Senior Editor, Molecular Plant Microbe Interactions

Professional Associations

  • American Society for Microbiology

  • Canadian Society of Microbiologists

  • International Society for Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions

  • International Society for Microbial Ecology

Affiliations and Volunteer Work

  • The Water Institute, member

  • À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ Institute for Complexity and Innovation (WICI), core member

  • À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ Institute for Sustainable Energy (WISE), member

  • À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ Centre for Microbial Research (Director)

  • À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ Climate Institute, member

Teaching*

  • BIOL 431 - Bacterial Molecular Genetics
    • Taught in 2021, 2023, 2024, 2025
  • BIOL 475 - Current Topics in Microbiology
    • Taught in 2022, 2024, 2025
  • BIOL 608 - Advanced Bacterial Genetics
    • Taught in 2021
  • CHE 500 - Special Topics in Chemical Engineering
    • Taught in 2020, 2021

* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.

Selected/Recent Publications

  • Please see Dr. Trevor Charles' links on Google Scholar for a current list of his peer-reviewed articles:

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