Our colleagues at Genome Alberta and the Public Policy Forum comment on a recent workshop and subsequent paper, stating, "Canada has the potential to lead in the area of applying genomics technologies to energy production."

Central to the paper is the fact that living things (ie bacteria) play an important role in oil-producing environments, such as the Alberta oilsands. Genomics technologies are now allowing us to "proactively mitigate negative consequences while assisting with positive outcomes, such as bioremediation."

Suncor Energy, one of the largest oilsands producers, is already using the results of this metagenomics research to ensure they can safely remediate and reclaim tailings ponds.

Read the full report.