Microbiology of the Built Environment Mendeley group curated by #microBEnet

As we’ve posted in the past, Mendeley is a great community resource and one that we’re using to create a reference collection of papers relating to the microbiology of the built environment. One of the really useful things about a reference manager like Mendeley is the ability to have tags associated with articles such as …

“NIST Finds That Ethanol-Loving Bacteria Accelerate Cracking of Pipeline Steels”

When people hear “microbiology of the built environment” they tend to think first of buildings.   But the built environment includes so much more, ranging from transportation (cars/planes/space shuttles) to swimming pools to highway bridges. The National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) has a test facility where they study biofuels.   They recently presented some results …

New study concerning “Indoor mold poses key asthma risk for babies”

The association between moisture/dampness and negative health indicators (e.g. asthma) is quite well documented.   This is usually pinned on an unspecified “mold” although in reality the causative agent(s) is unknown.   For an excellent and detailed review of this topic see here.   A new study came out this week that looked in particular at the …

Biofilm-forming bacteria get ride on final space shuttle trip (on purpose)

The last flight of the Shuttle Atlantis is scheduled for early July and there’ll be some cool microbes aboard.  Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus are both biofilm-forming bacteria with serious health consequences, particularly in hospitals.  The researchers involved in this project are interested in the effects of microgravity on biofilm formation, and have some preliminary …

Is your pillow trying to kill you as well? More excessive media hype about indoor microbes.

“How your pillow is the perfect breeding ground for gruesome array of pests and diseases”. This headline from the Daily Mail in the UK was one of many yesterday relating to a study presented at the Healthcare Associated Infections 2011 conference in London on Tuesday.  As usual, the study didn’t make any actual associations between …

Viruses aid in the construction of more efficient solar cells.

Like the cement-producing bacteria, this falls under the category of “using microbes to construct the built environment.”  Projects like these have no bearing on the natural microbial ecology of structures, but still go to show that the relationship between humans, microbes,and the built environment is complex and can take many forms. In this work, researchers …