Worth a read: Response to “Accuracy of microbial community diversity”

If you work on amplicon based microbial community analysis this is definitely worth a read. Source: A response to “Accuracy of microbial community diversity …” by R Edgar for QIIME users – Announcements – QIIME 2 Forum It is by Greg Caporaso in response to an article by Robert Edgar.  I don’t want to get …

Worth a look: new paper on “The application of project-based learning in bioinformatics training”

  This new paper in PLOS Computational. Biology may be of interest: : The application of project-based learning in bioinformatics training by Emery LR and Morgan SL. Although many out there may already be doing projects based learning for bioinformatics, many others are not.  This paper discusses how the authors added a projects component to an existing course …

New standards recommendations on minimum information about a single amplified genome (MISAG) and a metagenome-assembled genome (MIMAG) of bacteria and archaea

Of possible interest – a new paper (on which I am a coauthor) on standards for minimum information about single cell genomes and genomes assembled from metagenomes.  See link below: Source: Minimum information about a single amplified genome (MISAG) and a metagenome-assembled genome (MIMAG) of bacteria and archaea : Nature Biotechnology : Nature Research  

Should we change the threshold for statistical significance? Many think so ..

There is a new preprint that was posted recently in the PsyArXiv that may (or even should) be of interest: Redefine statistical significance by Benjamin al. One sentence summary from the authors: We propose to change the default P-value threshold for statistical significance for claims of new discoveries from 0.05 to 0.005. First page or so: …

Full-length #16S rRNA #nanopore sequencing of dog #skin microbiota

We are a research group working on Genetics in a Vet School and closely collaborating with veterinary clinicians and dermatologists. We moved from specific pathogens, such as Leishmania, to specific commensals such as Demodex… and finally ended studying the whole: the skin microbiota on healthy dogs. Vets are always wondering why there are differences among …

Everyone should read this piece by Ed Yong: Norm Pace Blew The Door Off The Microbial World

There is a wonderful tribute to Norm Pace in the Atlantic by Ed Yong. Norm Pace truly did blow the door off the microbial world. Source: Norm Pace Blew The Door Off The Microbial World – The Atlantic Lots of good stuff in there about Pace and his career.  See for example this: Pace also …

Training course in “Preserving, storing and maintaining microorganisms”

Of potential interest: Sept. 12-14 2017. Training course in Preserving, storing and maintaining microorganisms. From the site: Presented by staff from CABI, this course will be of interest to everyone involved in the handling, distributing and storing microorganisms. The course covers all aspects of culture preservation, maintenance and culture collection management and complies with the …

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: …

Could be interesting: The Metagenomics MVP Challenge v1.0

Source: NIST Challenge — CosmosID – Exploring the Universe of Microbes This could be interesting.  NIST & COSMOS ID and ABRF are conducting a metagenomic sequencing methods challenge. From their site: When using metagenomic methods to assess the content of a complex microbial sample, there are many steps in the measurement process where bias might …