I guess I would call myself a microbe beginner. I recently joined Dr. Eisen’s lab and I am getting up to speed on studying, sampling, and understanding microbial communities, especially in the built environment. Now I think about microbes ALL OF THE TIME. On every surface, in the air, on every inch of my body. …
We’ve just added a new link on our resources page — a whole lot of lectures by Keith Redway of the University of Westminister. The list includes the following: Recombinant DNA Technology & GM (3BIO7M4, 3BIO7X1) Laboratory Management & Safety (3GAM405) Medical Microbiology (3MED666) History of Microbiology Medically important bacteria Transfer of antibiotic resistance – …
Just got an e-mail about a new postdoc opportunity at NC State – contact details are listed below for anyone interested in applying: DATE: Position available immediately (November, 2013). SALARY: Commensurate with training and experience. APPOINTMENT: 100% research RESPONSIBILITIES: To conduct research on the relationships between cockroach and bed bug infestations and the microbial communities in infested homes. This …
Indoor Air and Climate Change URL: http://www.epa.gov/ncer/rfa/2014/2014_star_indoor_air.html Open Date: 10/23/2013 – Close Date: 01/23/2014 Here are some of the important details: Summary: EPA announces an extramural funding competition designed to support research that improves understanding of how climate change affects human health through indoor air quality as adapted by building designs and uses. Proposals should …
We’ve recently received an award from the Sloan Foundation to examine the mycobiota from paired house dust and infant fecal samples collected in the first year of life. The main purpose of the study is to examine how the immediate environment (house dust) may shape the gut mycobiota of infants and affect immune activation and …
As a yoga devotee and general fitness fanatic, I often use communal exercise equipment when I’m traveling or unexpectedly drop into a class after work. I’ve been wondering lately about scientific studies specifically looking at surfaces such as yoga mats, but after a quick literature search it seems that knowledge is thin in this area. …
On Fresh Air w/ Terry Gross yesterday there was a discussion of a book about air travel: Flying High And Low In ‘Full Upright And Locked Position’ | KQED Public Media for Northern CA. And one of the topics that came up was the germ / microbe content of different parts of a plane. Not sure …
In their just published paper in Environmental Science & Technology, “Tetracycline Resistance and Class 1 Integron Genes Associated with Indoor and Outdoor Aerosols,” Alison L. Ling, Norman R. Pace, Mark T. Hernandez, and Timothy M. LaPara have found that genes escape the indoor environment and can be found 2 km away. The abstract can be …
After some off-line dialogue related to my “Should you lick your baby’s dropped pacifier?” blog post, I have decided to post a separate comment regarding the hygiene hypothesis, mentioned in the introduction, and the plasticizer hypothesis, emphasized by some off-line correspondents. What is clear is that in the modern, human-occupied indoor environment, there are microbes …
If you want to watch an entertaining video introduction to why the microbiology of the built environment is really important to you (and all of us), you must watch this video — Meet your microbes. The other day, I asked Jonathan Eisen why his Ted Talk was not linked on the microbe.net web site and …