Archived Newsletter June 2014

A summary of the recent topics posted on microBE.net

As usual, our blog posts spanned a wide range of topics relevant to the microbiology of the built environment, ranging from chicken coops to space stations.

Project MERCCURI

• The 11.4 million mile swab kit

Announcements:

• IARPA getting interested in microbial biogeography, citizen microbiology, and more #microBEnet 
• Society of Architectural Historians seeking nominations for distinguished work of film or video on the history of the built environment
• Postdoctoral Funding Opportunity in Microbiology of the Built Environment

Commentary:

• Why I’m not sold on Twitter for communicating about science… 
• Understanding recent advances in the MoBE field
• IRB approval to collect samples from buildings, people, and yes, kittens!

Conference reports:

• We are not alone at ASM 2014
• Report on 2014 Sloan Conference in the Microbiology of the Built Environment
• Sloan Foundation Microbiology of the Built Environment Annual Meeting in Boulder #microBEnet 
• Photos from the Sloan MBE dinner at #ASM2014
• Report on the AAAS Microbiomes of the Built Environment Symposium, Spring 2014
• Brochure from microbiology of the built environment #AAASMoBe meeting

Recent interesting papers:

• Susceptibility of green and conventional building materials to microbial growth
• Lessons Learned from Building an Interdisciplinary Scientific Community in the Online Sphere
• MRSA in my car?!
• Paper on Microbially Induced Concrete Corrosion
•  Interesting though very incomplete story in Nature on Curiosity Rover (before launch) 
• Important paper on variation in bacterial communities on hands
• Hospital microbial ecology makes cover of Medical Science journal though figure from another paper
• House dust exposure: GI microbiome Lactobacillus enrichment and increased airway immune defense 
• Paper says: To all microbiologists everywhere – deposit your strains in public collections – I agree

Microbes and buildings in the news:

• When Law follows Science: Supreme Court unanimously confirms recent study of bacteria on cell phones 
• Continuing debate and discussion about FDA vs. the cheesemakers
• Cheeseboards on the chopping block : Survival on wood and plastic surfaces
• Possible pathogens in rainwater harvesting tanks
• Article on the Facility for Low Energy Experiments (FLEXLab)
• A built environment for which I do NOT want to know about its microbiome
• The Economist suggests high-tech indoor farms are the future; the microbes are skeptical
• News story of interest: dirty air in subdivided units in Hong Kong
• Living alternative to concrete
• The science of designing portable classrooms on Newshour (though no microbiology per se – yet)
• May is Building Safety Month in Tennessee
• $10 million to U. Alberta to launch School of Building Science & Engineering; hoping some focus on microbes
• Portland, Oregon issues boiled water alert for entire city
• New #UCDavis homes reported on by Al Jazeera re: Innovations in Building Science
• Article in @usatoday by @mmpandika on your homes odor may be making you sick

Podcasts and videos:

• Elevator Pitch videos from Sloan Microbiology of the Built Environment Meeting

Resources, methods and tools:

• A primer on detecting indoor bioaerosols
• Fabric posters
• Vocabulary and jargon in microbial ecology and some background information
• Visualizing millions of DNA sequences – in your web browser!
• A potentially useful resource: Built Environment + Public Health Clearinghouse 
• Nice resource on healthcare-associated infections from the CDC
• A potentially useful resource in Building Science: White House Open Data Initiatives 
• From Jenna Lang: What the fungi do I do with my ITS library?
• MoBE Metadata Resources
• Thank you ISIAQ for the Vocabulary of the Indoor Air Sciences #microBEnet

Social media resources:

• Building a Building Science Social Media Collection
• Crowd-sourced microbial community info transfer plus link to SIB Bioinformatics Resource portal