New papers on microbiology of the built environment, June 12, 2016

Microbes in the house Fungal and bacterial growth in floor dust at elevated relative humidity levels — Karen C. Dannemiller — Indoor Air ($6 to rent, $38 to own) Under sustained, elevated building moisture conditions, bacterial and fungal growth occurs. The goal of this study was to characterize microbial growth in floor dust at variable …

Fungal assemblages in bathrooms… sounds interesting but not $38 interesting.

So having gained a reputation as the toilet guy (e.g. Slate, RedOrbit, microBEnet) I felt like I just had to write about this article.  Plus it sounds really cool.   This article is by Jennifer Fouquier (also cool) who is in Scott Kelly’s lab at UC San Diego San Diego State.  The title “Rapid assemblage of …

Beneficial bacteria in urinals

Another cool example of using beneficial microbes in the indoor environment… in this case using Bacillus strains to reduced odors in pub urinals.  The company (CBIO) that markets this device called the “Clearinator” also has other neat sounding microbial-based devices such as the “Bactaerator” and the “Baccelerator”. Pretty simple really, they find bacterial strains that …