Peter Christey, PhD, CEO and Co-Founder of GALT (General Automation Lab Technologies), on the web at (galt-inc.com), discusses his work in microbial cultivation.

Christey has over 20-years experience commercializing research instruments for a number of complex applications. Prior to his launch of GALT, Christey helmed the DNA Sequencing Business Unit and DNA forensic product line for Life Technologies.

Christey discusses his background and how his focus in microbial cultivation in a laboratory setting drove him to develop microbes for use in multiple areas. He explains proteomics applications, microbial diversity, and his company's platform—detailing how they work to get a pure isolate (a culture of living microorganisms) into culture in the lab in order to study biochemistry and physiology. They strive, primarily, to deliver pure, living isolates to researchers and product developers. Utilizing the GALT technology, entire populations of microbes can be screened efficiently and quickly for low-abundance species or perhaps strains that demonstrate selected characteristics.

Estimations have surmised that there are approximately one-trillion microbial species on our planet, but remarkably, less than one percent of the known species have actually been cultured. So many species remain unexplored and we just don't have any information on them. Christey discusses how isolates are understood, and how scientists can test them. He discusses the microbiome, and the growth media that they use in their research. And he provides extensive information on how bacteria grow, and the requirements that are necessary, including a discussion of symbiotic relationships.