Steven Hallam

Steven Hallam is a Professor in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology within UBC's Faculty of Science. He leads the Hallam Lab and is affiliated with Bioinformatics and Genome Science and Technology programs, as well as the BioProducts Institute and Life Sciences Institute.

His research focuses on exploring the microbial world beyond human sensory limits—the microcosmos—working at the intersection of microbial ecology, biological engineering, and bioinformatics. Key research areas include determining microbial community structure and function across natural and engineered environments with applications in biotechnology innovation.

• Saanich Inlet serves as a model marine ecosystem for studying microbial changes along redox gradients to predict ecological responses to ocean deoxygenation
• Deep Device Mining applies high-throughput screening for enzyme discovery and pathway engineering from genomic diversity
• Metabolic Inference develops machine learning algorithms for metabolic reconstruction at individual, population, and community levels

His scientific recognition includes the Leopold Leadership Fellowship. Hallam actively supervises graduate students in Bioinformatics, Genome Science and Technology, and Microbiology and Immunology programs, with research spanning microbial ecology, synthetic biology, and computational biology applications.

The Hallam Lab operates from the Life Sciences Centre (2520 - 2350 Health Sciences Mall) and participates in innovation initiatives including the ECOSCOPE Training Program and Biofactorial High-Throughput Biology Facility, building inclusive communities of practice in microbial sciences.