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Faculty of Arts and Science researcher George diCenzo has earned the 2025 J. Roger Porter Award from the in recognition of his visionary leadership in developing the Canadian Collection of Agricultural Soil Microbes (CCASM) and his transformative contributions to microbial resource stewardship.

The prestigious J. Roger Porter Award recognizes scientists who have demonstrated the value of microbial biodiversity through continuous curatorial or stewardship activities for resources used by the scientific community. 

In recent years, (Department of Biology) has emerged as a leader in Canadian microbiology. Through the $6.5 million Bio-inoculants for the promotion of nutrient use efficiency and crop resiliency in Canadian agriculture (BENEFIT) project he co-leads, he developed CCASM to address a critical problem: agriculturally relevant bacteria isolated by researchers often remained inaccessible in individual laboratory freezers, leading to duplicated efforts and lost opportunities.

Initiated in 2024, with public release planned for early 2026, CCASM already contains approximately 3,000 isolates from Canadian agricultural regions. What sets Dr. diCenzo’s approach apart is the unprecedented scope of data collected for each isolate, including whole genome sequences and functional data such as plant growth promotion potential, persistence in soil, and fitness under industrially relevant conditions. The collection will also host “cultivars” enhanced through experimental evolution for specific applications.

“Microbes have great potential to support climate-smart agriculture in Canada,” Dr. diCenzo says “Thanks to funding from Genome Canada, we have established CCASM to promote the sharing of microbial resources among Canadian researchers, which we hope will speed up the development of new commercial products for growers by allowing scientists to build upon, rather than duplicate, the work of others.”

Beyond CCASM, Dr. diCenzo is internationally recognized for his work on rhizobial genomics and taxonomy. He established gold-standard guidelines for the family Rhizobiaceae and best practices in the phylogenomics of this taxon. This fundamental work has significant implications for accurately naming isolates in culture collections, and for identifying and utilizing rhizobia in agriculture, where accurate taxonomic information is crucial for obtaining regulatory approval of new commercial products.

His work has attracted significant interest from industry, with companies expressing interest in commercializing BENEFIT project outcomes.