Man-made microbial resistances in built environments

Antibiotic resistance has been assessed to rise to dangerously high levels in all parts of the world, and new resistance mechanisms are emerging and spreading globally. At the same time the number of people dying from antibiotic-resistant bacteria is increasing. The World Health Organization considers the spread of antibiotic resistance and appropriate countermeasures as one …

Development of antibiotic resistance under simulated microgravity

So just a quick post about this new paper “Evaluation of Acquired Antibiotic Resistance in Escherichia coli Exposed to Long-Term Low-Shear Modeled Microgravity and Background Antibiotic Exposure“.   Seems pretty straightforward… 1000 generations of E. coli in simulated microgravity… expose them to antibiotics and study the development of resistance.   This is in contrast to some previous …

NASEM Webinar “Microbiome, Wastewater Treatment, and Antibiotic Resistance” 9/25/18

Just got this e-mail regarding an upcoming NASEM Webinar “Microbiome, Wastewater Treatment, and Antibiotic Resistance” on 9/25/18.  Here’s the description of the event: In 2017, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine released the report, Microbiomes of the Built Environment: A Research Agenda for Indoor Microbiology, Human Health, and Buildings. The report highlights the importance …

Paper of interest: Predicting antibiotic resistance from full genome sequences 

This preprint seems like it may be of interest to folks: Precise prediction of antibiotic resistance in Escherichia coli from full genome sequences | bioRxiv Basically, the authors showed that, using a machine learning approach, they can quite accurately predict antibiotic resistance in E. coli from whole genome data. The emergence of microbial antibiotic resistance …

An informative glimpse into the drug factory microbiome: Which bugs coexist with our drugs? The story behind the paper

The story behind: Toward the Drug Factory Microbiome: Microbial Community Variations in Antibiotic-Producing Clean Rooms (OMICS. 2018 Feb;22(2):133-144. doi: 10.1089/omi.2017.0091.) PMID: 28873001 [Preprint] It was in 2013, on my return to Cairo University after a couple of years as a visiting scientist at UCSD, that I met Amal for the first time. Amal was a fresh master’s …

Postdoctoral positions in engineering the microbiome – Cornell University

The Brito Lab at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY works in the area of systems biology of the human microbiome. We are looking for talented postdocs to fill two open positions for postdoctoral researchers interested in investigating mechanistic linkages between microbes and human health outcomes. Postdoctoral candidates can have an experimental or computational background, or both. One of …

Superbugs Phone Game and Longitude Prize Competition #Resistance

This looks pretty cool Source: Superbugs | Longitude Prize From their site Destroy deadly bacteria and keep humanity’s precious antibiotics working for as long as you can in this free, fast-paced, and addictive action game. The story of this casual, real-time puzzle game comes straight from today’s headlines: The rise of superbugs, resistant bacteria which …

New paper of interest on antibiotic resistance genes in 4 CA cities but dangerous PR from UCLA

This new paper may be of interest: Source: Disparate Antibiotic Resistance Gene Quantities Revealed across 4 Major Cities in California: A Survey in Drinking Water, Air, and Soil at 24 Public Parks – ACS Omega (ACS Publications) Abstract: Widespread prevalence of multidrug and pandrug-resistant bacteria has prompted substantial concern over the global dissemination of antibiotic …

Dirty money: interesting data but unclear what implications are

OK.  So money has microbes on it.  Not surprising.  And when people find out such information they frequently go overboard in the germophobia. See for example these stories from over the years 1999: Filthy Lucre – Paper Money As A Vector Of Disease 2010: Dirty money 1: Expect germs 2010: How Bad Are Germs on Money 2012: …

Job: antibiotic resistance in 100k TB genomes

Hi All I’d just like to highlight a job we are advertising, to lead the bioinformatic (sequence+variation) analysis of 100,000 M tuberculosis genomes which we are sequencing (WGS), ~50,000 of which will be phenotyped for 12 drugs, and the remainder for some subset. Note the deadline is very soon – Monday 6th March! This project …