Applications being accepted for the 1st Microbiology of the Built Environment Gordon Research Conference

This should be really really good.  This summer there is a Gordon Conference (what should be the first of many) on Microbiology of the Built Environment. The theme of this meeting is Integrating Human Health with Building Microbiomes. The Chairs are Jordan Peccia and Jessica Green and it takes place July 15-20, 2018 at the University of …

ScienceFriday on ‘What Microbes Are Hiding In Your Microbiome?’ with Jessica Green & Rob Dunn

Source: What Microbes Are Hiding In Your Microbiome? Great to see / hear this on Science Friday.  Featuring Jessica Green and Rob Dunn and a discussion of the new NAS report on microbiomes of the built environment. Produced by Katie Hiler. It is worth a listen to … Here is their summary: Ever wonder if your …

US Program Seeks Comments on Connections Between Climate Change & Human Health

There are many possible ways in which climate change could impact human health.  The U. S. Global Change Research Program has issued a new draft report on this topic and is soliciting public comments about this report (see USGCRP Climate for more information). The report is The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the United States: …

Review of Architectural Design Drives the Biogeography of Indoor Bacterial Communities

By Amanda Makowiecki 1st Year Mechanical Engineering PhD Student Miller Research Group, University of Colorado Boulder Researchers at the University of Oregon recently published a paper examining the connection between architectural design and microbial diversity in our buildings (Kembel et al. 2014). Although occupancy type was identified as the strongest predictor of microbial variation, several …

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation podcast covers microbiomes of the built environment

Quick post here.  The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has a podcast on “Pioneering Ideas” and it covers microbiomes of the built environment this week:1 RWJF Pioneering Ideas Podcast: Episode 5 | Conspiracy Theories, Microbiomes & More – Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  They also give a nice plug for microBEnet.  From their site: Microbiomes and Design (26:25) — …

When Law follows Science: Supreme Court unanimously confirms recent study of bacteria on cell phones

  Well, who would have thought.  Just yesterday a paper came out from the BioBE Center on how the microbes on cell phones reflect the microbiome of the person using the phone (Meadow JF, Altrichter AE, Green JL. (2014) Mobile phones carry the personal microbiome of their owners. PeerJ 2:e447).  In the paper they comment …