Man-made microbial resistances in built environments

Antibiotic resistance has been assessed to rise to dangerously high levels in all parts of the world, and new resistance mechanisms are emerging and spreading globally. At the same time the number of people dying from antibiotic-resistant bacteria is increasing. The World Health Organization considers the spread of antibiotic resistance and appropriate countermeasures as one …

Closed access review of the MoBE field

Very torn about this.  On the one hand “Microbiology of the Built Environment” by Jack Gilbert and Brent Stephens is a great summary of the current status of the field.   On the other hand, it’s behind a paywall and I can’t access the article from my house where I am currently working.   In the interests …

Podcast-Professor Jordan Peccia – Yale University – Building Microbiomes Research to Practice

“A hot topic in the research community is the microbiome of the built environment. This week on IAQ Radio we welcome one of the leading researchers in this area, Dr. Jordan Peccia. His principle areas of research include: (i) human exposure to bacterial and viral pathogens emitted during the land application of sewage sludge, (ii) …

Podcast-Mark Hernandez, PhD, PE – Microbiology of the Normal and Water Damaged Buildings

Episode 425 focuses on the microbiology of the normal and water damaged built environment. With respect to environmental investigations, Hernandez’s aerobiology characterization work has focused on large scale disasters including bioaerosols generated by major metropolitan floods.

Two new papers exploring the characteristics of infant microbial exposures

Early-life microbial exposure has been recognized to have a crucial role in immune development. Exposure in the actual infant breathing zone (BZ), influenced by the resuspension of floor dust, however, is little explored. Two recently published papers tackle this issue by assessing infant exposure to biological particulate matter (fluorescent biological aerosol particles, FBAPs) and microbial …

Preparing for the crewed Mars journey: Microbiota dynamics in the confined Mars500 habitat during simulated Mars flight and landing

Human exploration of planet Mars has a long history with number of robotic missions surveying the Martian surface and environment, including  the Viking program (1975), the Mars Exploration Rover Mission (2003), the Phoenix lander (2008), and the Mars Science Laboratory (2012). For the future human space exploration, crewed Mars mission is considered as one of …

Sloan Foundation-funded workshops at Healthy Buildings Europe 2017

Next week, the Lublin University of Technology in Lublin, Poland will host the Healthy Buildings Europe conference. Over 300 scientists, engineers, and professionals will gather to present and discuss building science. The Sloan Foundation is sponsoring workshops at the meeting to bring together leaders in the field and advance the state of the science. A …

MoBE 2017 Registration and Poster Abstract Submission

Attendee Registration Attendee registration opens March 1st. Please join us at the Microbiology of the Built Environment (2017) Symposium. Registration is open to MoBE researchers, stakeholders and community members. Invited keynotes, speakers, plenary session chairs, panel discussion moderators and panelists are pre-registered by the MoBE 2017 organizing committee. Registration will be open from March 1st through …

What kind of DNA lingers on ATM keypads? Your food, your skin microbes…and (maybe) parasites

Amidst the November/December holiday chaos, myself and co-authors were proud to witness the publication of a neat new paper focused on ATM keypads in New York City. Yes, just like all other surfaces in the Built Environment, those ATM keypads are harboring lots of microbes and bits of orphaned DNA! This ATM keypad study was work that …