Report on the Animals in the Built Environment Workshop

On October 7th and 8th 2014, we held a workshop at the University of California, Davis entitled Animals in the Built Environment. The aim of this workshop was to catalyze the study of the microbiology of built environments where animals live by bringing together experts in animal health, building science and microbiology to discuss why these systems are …

Expanding the breadth of topics covered at microBEnet

Just a quick post here.  Some may have noticed that more of the posts here at microBEnet than say, a year ago, are not focused explicitly about “microbiology of the Built Environment” (MoBE).  They are instead sometimes focused on microbiology, history of microbiology, architecture, methods in microbial ecology, bioinformatics tools, and more.  There is a reason …

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) — …

Lessons Learned from Building an Interdisciplinary Scientific Community in the Online Sphere

The Microbiology of the Built Environment Network (http://microBE.net – this website) has made it into the community page at PLoS Biology! Our article has been in the works for some time, and we’re now pleased to announce its official publication: Bik HM, Coil DA, Eisen JA (2014) microBEnet: Lessons Learned from Building an Interdisciplinary Scientific Community …

AAAS Microbiomes of the Built Environment Symposium videos available on-line

Registrants for the March AAAS Symposium are recipients today of the following message from Anette Olsen at AAAS. “I’d like to let you know that the videos of each panel is now online, but they currently remain unedited. We anticipate another two weeks before the edited versions are placed online. In the meantime, here is …

Manipulating the Unseen Microbial Ecosystem–The Future of Hospitals? (NOVA Online)

Great article from Brooke Borel writing for NOVA Online, “Manipulating the Unseen Microbial Ecosystem–The Future of Hospitals?”. This covers some of the background of microbiology in hospitals, discusses work by both the BioBE Center and microBEnet… and of course the Hospital Microbiome Project as well as the NICU study from Jill Banfield’s lab.  The article …

Hashtags for microbiology of the built environment

I asked the Twittersphere last week for suggestions for hashtags to use for Tweets about microbiology of the built environment Here are some of the answers [View the story “Hashtags for microbiology of the built environment” on Storify] UPDATE: March 25, 2018 Since Storify is disappearing soon we converted the Storify into a “Wakelet” and …

Sloan MBE grantees: Save the date, June 4-6 for the 3rd annual conference in Boulder

Just a quick “save the date” note here.  The 3rd annual Conference on the Microbiology of the Built Environment will be held at the Boulder Marriott (same as last year) on June 4-6 2014.  This conference is typically limited to Sloan grantees, their labs, and various folks from the field invited by the Sloan Foundation. …

Should you lick your baby’s dropped pacifier?

A story on the May 6th NPR program, Morning Edition, “Parents’ Saliva On Pacifiers Could Ward Off Baby’s Allergies” features a focus on the human microbiome, partental behavior and babies’ allergies. “That word “microbiome” – describing the collection of bacteria that live in and on our bodies – keeps popping up. This time, researchers say …