The EcoFAB initiative was announced in 2015 as a cross-functional team of biologists, geologists, and ecologists from Berkeley Lab to provide critical new insights into ecosystem processes through the creation of controlled model ecosystems in which microorganisms and host responses can be monitored in response to additional or changing variables. This program is in close collaboration between Environmental Genomics & Systems Biology (EGSB), Joint Genome Institute (JGI) and Climate & Ecosystem Sciences (EESA) Divisions.