Paper of interest: Fungal Communities in Near Surface Air Are Similar across Northwestern Europe

This may be of interest: Fungal Communities Including Plant Pathogens in Near Surface Air Are Similar across Northwestern Europe Nicolaisen M, West JS, Sapkota R, Canning GGM, Schoen C and Justesen AF (2017) Fungal Communities Including Plant Pathogens in Near Surface Air Are Similar across Northwestern Europe. Front. Microbiol. 8:1729. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2017.01729 Information on the …

Worth a look: Communicating promise, risks, & ethics of large-scale, open space microbiome & metagenome research 

At the recent NAS MOBE meeting there was some discussion of some potential ethical concerns associated with one of the projects discussed (work of Eric Alm where he was collecting samples from urban water systems and trying to infer information about communities and residents).   OK #MOBE17 and others out there – I am getting …

Indoor microbiology paper of interest on effects of moisture & interventions

For those interested in microbiology of the built environment this paper seems definitely worth checking out: Indoor microbiota in severely moisture damaged homes and the impact of interventions. Jayaprakash B, Adams RI, Kirjavainen P, Karvonen A, Vepsäläinen A, Valkonen M, Järvi K, Sulyok M, Pekkanen J, Hyvärinen A, Täubel M. Microbiome. 2017 Oct 13; 5(1):138 Abstract …

Biology of Vector-borne Diseases Course at @uidaho June 24-29, 2018

This looks really good. Posting at the request of one of my ex-UC Davis colleagues – the amazing/brilliant Shirley Luckhart – who has recently moved to Idaho and is helping run the course. The Center for Health in the Human Ecosystem at the University of Idaho is hosting its inaugural annual “Biology of Vector-borne Diseases” six-day course. This …

Want to become a “Guardian of Microbial Diversity” support microbe collections

Collections of microbial cultures are critical tools in studying the microbial world around us. I have learned this from personal experience.  The DSMZ for example, was absolutely essential to the entire GEBA (Genomic Encyclopedia of Bacteria and Archaea) project I coordinated via the DOE-JGI.  I recommend that everyone out there find ways to support various …

Worth a read: Response to “Accuracy of microbial community diversity”

If you work on amplicon based microbial community analysis this is definitely worth a read. Source: A response to “Accuracy of microbial community diversity …” by R Edgar for QIIME users – Announcements – QIIME 2 Forum It is by Greg Caporaso in response to an article by Robert Edgar.  I don’t want to get …