Slides from #IndoorAir2011 w/ audio

I updated my slides from my talk at Indoor Air 2011 with audio. Here they are: Eisen.indoor air2011 http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=eisen-indoorair2011-110613124957-phpapp02&stripped_title=eisenindoor-air2011&userName=phylogenomics View more webinars from Jonathan Eisen We are working on getting some other presentations up here but are dealing with some sharing/copyright issues first.

Opening up one’s eyes to other fields

I spend most of my time working on biology.  I like to think I cover lots of breadth within biology and I probably do – microbes, evolution, ecology, human health, pathogens, symbioses, forensics, genomics, bioinformatics, and more.  But nothing like really looking at other fields to realize how narrowly focused one is. And that is …

Biogeography of molds in homes in the US #ERMI; relevant to #IndoorAir2011; #Standards

There is an interesting new (and open access) paper out: Geographic Distribution of Environmental Relative Moldiness Index Molds in USA Homes.  Before the Indoor Air 2011 meeting I just returned from, I would not have understood as much of what is discussed in the paper as I do now.  But I think the paper does a …

New books coming out on #metagenomics; >130 chapters; but not TMI

For those interested in microbial diversity and/or metagenomics there are two volumes that are coming out soon that are of interest: Handbook of Molecular Microbial Ecology I: Metagenomics and Complementary Approaches. Handbook of Molecular Microbial Ecology II: Metagenomics in Different Habitats Edited by Frans J. de Bruijn these two volumes are the most comprehensive coverage …

Indoor Air 2011 coming up in Austin, TX – still time to sign up #microbes …

Just got sent a link to this interview of Rich Corsi on a Fox TV station about the Upcoming Indoor Air 2011 meeting: UT: Indoor Air Conference. There is still time to sign up for the meeting.  I note – there will be sessions Wednesday and Thursday focusing on microbiology of the built environment.  We (i.e., …

Where is metagenomic analysis heading? Hopefully in directions suggested in this paper.

Just a quick post here.  I have been reading this paper: Toward molecular trait-based ecology through integration of biogeochemical, geographical and metagenomic data by Jeroen Raes et al. in Molecular Systems Biology.  This integration they try to pull off in the paper is to me where we need to move as a field (i.e., microbial …

California’s attempt to limit hospital acquired bacterial infections falters

Well, this is a disappointing story.  In 2006 and 2008 California passed some legislation with the ultimate goal of limiting hospital acquired infections.  Unfortunately, enforcement and use of the legislation has faltered, according to an article in the Sacramento Bee by Deborah Schoch: Deadly bacteria lurk inside hospital wards Not much positive to report here though …

From the ASM mBio blog mBiosphere: Strep pneumoniae survival on surfaces

The American Society for Microbiology (ASM) is really doing a great job of moving into new forms of science communication.  For example, ASM has a relatively new journal mBIO that is sort of akin to PLoS One – it is an open access and relatively rapid publication journal.  And mBIO is starting to take off. …