A microbial sequencing discussion course built around a paper and a blog post

So – just a quick post for now.  More details to come.  But I wanted to get a little bit about this out there. For a few years I have been teaching a mid-level course at UC Davis on “DNA sequencing based studies of microbial diversity’.  The course has evolved over the years from a …

Are ‘germ-zapping’ robots useful in fighting hospital acquired infections?

Well, I confess, I am still a bit skeptical of the utility of the “germ fighting robots” of various kinds that keep getting promoted as being useful at various health care facilities. There was a story published today in our local major paper – the Sacramento Bee that discusses this topic. Germs that cause hospital-acquired infections …

Future Proofing Law symposium at #UCDavis #futureproofinglaw #AI #algorithms #robots #CRISPR

This may be of interest to some here.  I made a Storify of the Tweets from the “Future Proofing Law” symposium that was at UC Davis yesterday and the day before.  There were multiple biotech. themed sessions and presentations as well as discussions of many topics connected to microBEnet in various ways such as open …

Hen housing trade off study results released

Just a quick post here.  Multiple stories out about the Laying Hen Housing Research Project by the Coalition for Sustainable Egg Supply that maybe of interest. From: Hen housing trade offs: Food safety, workers and consumers | Food Safety News As it turns out, the food stores and restaurant chains promising to sell only cage-free eggs …

PBG270 Host-Microbiome Co-evolution Week 2: Focus on Humans

I am running a journal club this quarter at UC Davis on Host Microbiome Co-evolution (see Journal Club at #UCDavis on Co-evolution of Microbiomes and Hosts for more information). It meets Mondays 12:10-1 PM. But I thought I would post here about the course and I would welcome any comments from anywhere, even if you cannot …

Journal Club at #UCDavis on Co-evolution of Microbiomes and Hosts

Crossposting this from my Tree of Life blog: I am going to be running a journal club this quarter at UC Davis for the Population Biology Graduate Group.  The topic is Co-evoution of Microbiomes and Hosts. Meeting time is 12:10-1:00 PM if you want to participate let me know. A link to the Draft Outline …

Invasion of the Built Environment by a Microbiologist

So – I thought some people here would be interested in this.  As someone who has been involved in the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s program in “Microbiology of the Built Environment” for many years, I have been trying to get more involved with the built environment crowd.  And I have not always been exceptionally successful …

Microbiologist Job at #UCDavis on diet & microbiota

Just got emailed this: The USDA Western Human Nutrition Research Center, located on the campus of the University of California, Davis, is recruiting a microbiologist to conduct research on the effect of diet, dietary patterns or specific nutrients on the intestinal microbiota and the relationship of that microbiota to appropriate functioning of the immune system …