OK. So money has microbes on it. Not surprising. And when people find out such information they frequently go overboard in the germophobia. See for example these stories from over the years 1999: Filthy Lucre – Paper Money As A Vector Of Disease 2010: Dirty money 1: Expect germs 2010: How Bad Are Germs on Money 2012: …
Sorry for the headline here but when I saw this news story (British scientists survey infectious bacteria by having people walk outside in socks – The Washington Post). I just could not get Mr. Rogers’ “Who are the people in your neighborhood” out of my head. But with the “people” replaced by “microbes”. Why did this …
So there is a new paper out that is incredibly interesting and has been getting lots of press coverage. The paper was in Nature: Endothelial TLR4 and the microbiome drive cerebral cavernous malformations. Sadly it is behind a paywall, so not everyone out there will have free access to it. But it is available in sci-hub …
Source: NIST Challenge — CosmosID – Exploring the Universe of Microbes This could be interesting. NIST & COSMOS ID and ABRF are conducting a metagenomic sequencing methods challenge. From their site: When using metagenomic methods to assess the content of a complex microbial sample, there are many steps in the measurement process where bias might …
Coming up in June (June 1-5) in New Orleans. ASM Microbe 2017, the Annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology. For more information see https://www.asm.org/index.php/asm-microbe-2017 The meeting should be very good. Hotel deadline is May 17. For sessions on some topics of interest see Antimicrobial Agents and Infectious Diseases Applied and Environmental Science Clinical and …
OK – full blown mushrooms are not microbes. But they are fungi. And a lot of fungi are microbial. So I am ignoring the multicellular nature of these mushrooms here – after all – nobody’s perfect. Anyway – thought this might be of interest to those thinking about fungi in the built environment. Source: UPDATE: City …
Quick post here just to alert people to this story about a drug resistant Candida auris fungus variety showing up more and more. Of relevance to the microbiology of the built environment crowd is the following quote: The fungus can be passed between people or through the environment from such things as hospital equipment, says Dr. Tom …
Last call for submissions of the ASM Agar Art Competition See American Society for Microbiology Submission Manager – Agar Art 2017 Submit a photo of your original, microbe- and agar-based art for the chance to win up to $485′ worth of prizes. Top submissions will be showcased online and in a gallery at the American Society …
It seems to me that this is calling out for some large scale comparative microbial community study: Salt from icy roads is contaminating North America’s lakes – The Washington Post Basically, there is evidence that lakes throughout North America have seen a big increase in salt levels connected to salt used to try and deal …
Job posting of possible interest Source: Recruitment Details – UC Berkeley AP Recruit DESCRIPTION Bioinformatics and Biochemist Scientist, IGI Institute – University of California, Berkeley. The IGI Institute and the Department of Earth and Planetary Science at the University of California seek applications for a full time (100%) Associate Project Scientist, Step I – III, …