Citizen Science Project on the Tomato Seed Microbiome

(cross posted to the UCD Microbiome SRP blog) What do you get when you combine UC Davis alumni, tomato seeds, and citizen science?   That would be Project GASP (“Germ”-ination Alumni Science Project).  I didn’t come up with the name, I swear.   This project, sponsored and paid for by the College of Biological Sciences at UC …

Fungi and bacteria and lice, oh my! These are some of Rob Dunn’s favorite things. 

Source: Opinion | Discovering the Great Indoors Definitely worth checking out this opinion piece in the NY Times bye Rob Dunn on “Discovering the Great Indoors”. It has a bit about Van Leeuwenhoek, and bits about fungi and lice and bacteria and tardigrades and foldscope and more.  Rob Dunn is really one of the great …

Help wanted w/ compiling information on “Citizen Microbiology” projects #CitizenMicrobiology

I am compiling information on past, present and future “Citizen Microbiology” projects. Basically I am looking for examples of projects that could fit VERY BROADLY into the concept of citizen or participatory science and involve microbes. Examples include: Participatory Research Classes such as SeaPhages https://seaphages.org Tiny Earth https://tinyearth.wisc.edu Human Microbiome Sample Crowdsourcing The American Gut Project http://americangut.org …

Eclipse brings out a cool citizen microbiology project

When I first saw the headline on this I groaned a little, thinking this was some completely bogus type of project.  But actually, upon reading about it in more detail it sounds like a really good public engagement project involving the eclipse, students, space, and microbes. The article: Most-watched eclipse in history could answer the …

Great article by Maryn McKenna on the hunt for new antibiotics w/ crowdsourcing help

This is definitely worth a read: Source: Could the Answer to the Antibiotic-Resistance Crisis Be Found on a Toilet Seat? – The Atlantic Or a listen to since there is an audio version of the story (see below).\ The article basically discusses work by Adam Roberts to survey the world for new antibiotics.  The best …

Recruiting editors : Citizen Science in Microbiology!

Federico Lauro, Chris Mason and I (and a few others by now) are looking for editors for a Frontiers Special Topic on Citizen Science in Microbiology. It is important to us that we assemble a diverse panel of editors before we start inviting submissions! We are especially interested in making sure that women and people …

Your help is wanted in this #CitizenMicrobiology project: “BashTheBug – Help us fight antibiotic resistance!”

Just found out about this new Citizen Microbiology project via Andrew Su on Twitter who retweeted a post of Jennifer Gardy’s A neat citizen science project launched today as part of the big TB sequencing consortium -help spot drug resistance https://t.co/rFHsrmdBJk — Jennifer Gardy (@jennifergardy) April 7, 2017 Source: BashTheBug – Help us fight antibiotic resistance! …

A new #citizenmicrobiology project from @YourWild_Life looking for gutter samples #GutterCheck

Here is a great chance to participate in a microbiology of the built environment citizen science project on gutters. “Examining this water…I found floating therein divers earthy particles, and some green streaks, spirally wound serpent-wise…and I judge that some of these little creatures were above a thousand times smaller than the smallest ones I have ever …