Effective interdisciplinary research is critical to the future of innovative scientific enquiry and its application to urgent practical problems. SCELSE has assembled a multidisciplinary team of world-class researchers from diverse but complementary fields, uniquely providing a coherent research environment that fosters interdisciplinary teamwork.  

SCELSE's three multidisciplinary research clusters work together to unravel the science of microbial biofilm communities, the understanding of which has relevance for all ecosystems and habitats. The top-down (Meta-'omics & Microbiomes) and bottom-up (Biofilm Biology) clusters are guided by the output of the Environmental Engineering cluster, which in turn, contributes postanalysis input into these groups. All clusters are supported by the Integrative Analysis Unit for analysis and interpretation of large data sets arising from the centre’s high throughput sequencing and metabolomics core facilities, experimental design, analysis and statistics.

This iterative approach revolves around comprehensive data collection and in-depth mechanistic analyses of microbial biofilm communities. The outcomes of these are used to develop diagnostic and predictive tools for validation of the new biological understanding.