As one of the longest running of all Gordon Research Conferences, Applied and Environmental Microbiology (AEM) continues to provide a unique forum for discussing new approaches, technologies, and insights that advance our understanding and increase our exploitation of the oldest life forms on Earth. And with the advent of synthetic genomes and synthetic biology, this forum now addresses the potential and implications of some of the newest organisms in the Universe. 

The 2017 GRC-AEM will highlight diverse strategies adopted by microorganisms for coping with energy and resource excesses and limitations within a broad spectrum of natural, industrial, and clinical environments. Given the intentionally ambiguous subtitle, some sessions will embrace "Microbial Economics" as it pertains to the cost/benefit of microbes to humans, while others will consider "Economics" from the microbe's perspective and explore the diversity of lifestyles and metabolic strategies for coping with resource availability and limitation. Domestic water treatment, microbiologically influenced corrosion, and synthetic genomics for industrial, agricultural, or medical applications all provide fodder for scientific and philosophical discussion.

As with previous AEM Conferences, 2017 will provide an open forum for presenting and discussing the latest research on ecological and industrial applications of microorganisms at scales ranging from the single cell to macro-ecological systems and will embrace a diverse range of research areas, including synthetic biology, ecophysiology, metagenomics, and postgenomic technologies. The GRC-AEM is happy to align for the second time with the Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) on Applied and Environmental Microbiology. GRS-AEM 2017 will provide an ideal forum for early career researchers to exchange knowledge, approaches, and information regarding "microbial economics" in energy and resource-limited systems, where strategies and mechanisms of cooperation and competition are constrained by environmental factors.