Got the following job posting over e-mail that might be of interest to folks: Postdoc in extremophile community eco-evolution A postdoctoral research position in microbial eco-evolution is available in Dr. Mark Urban’s laboratory at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, CT. The postdoc will join a NASA-funded astrobiology project to explore how immigration, rapid …
I have been trying to collect information about the new coronavirus and transmission via fomites (objects or materials such as door handles, clothing, phones, etc). Yesterday I posted to Twitter asking for input and got a large collection of useful responses. See these two tweets and the responses to them. I highlight some key responses …
Posted by request from the BioBE Center at the University of Oregon: The work of our BioBE team will be represented at five different conferences from May to August 2020. Our projects on hospital-associated infection will be presented at American Society for Microbiology Conference in Chicago, Microbiology in the Built Environment in Andover, NH, …
Registration is now open for the 2020 Gordon Research Conference on Microbiology of the Built Environment, to be held June 7 – 12, 2020 at Proctor Academy, Andover, NH (USA). Conference schedule and registration information is available on the conference website (https://www.grc.org/microbiology-of-the-built-environment-conference/2020/) with updates through the conference twitter handle (@MoBEGRC). We also have funds to …
So this last week, we ran a workshop on bacterial genomics at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Who is “we”? An amazing collaboration across several institutions. The whole thing was initiated by Dr. Parag Vaishampayan (NASA-JPL), who contacted myself (UC Davis), Dr. Elinne Becket (Cal State San Marcos), and Dr. Kenisha Johnson (Alabama A&M) about …
Skin-associated bacteria are abundant indoors. A comparison across studies shows that up to 30% of bacterial sequences detected indoors are associated with the human body (see Table 1 in this 2016 paper). I’ve been kind of skeptical that these sequences represented live organisms, however. Rather, I suspected the high proportion of sequences that were human-associated …
Another really interesting paper from Maria Dominguez-Bello and her lab and colleagues, “Home chemical and microbial transitions across urbanization”. They’ve done some fascinating work in the past on the microbiome changes across an urbanization gradient and here they expand that work to include a bunch of chemistry data. Definitely worth a read for anyone interested …
Carpets are a favored flooring type. They can be soft, cozy, and warm – and help with keeping noise levels down. Carpet can even help prevent injury. While these attributes are well recognized, what is less known is how carpet compares with other flooring types in affecting your indoor environmental exposures. To help address this …
I’m a sucker for space microbiome research, I admit. Here’s a great sounding postdoc opportunity with our collaborator Parag Vaishampayan at JPL. Job Details Job ID: 11208 We ask the biggest questions, then search the universe for answers—literally. And, with great opportunities come great responsibilities! In the Biotechnology and Planetary Protection group at JPL, we …
Job posting below: Postdoctoral Research Associate Western Human Nutrition Research Center Davis, California (Research Microbiologist) Salary Range of $67,574 to $80,993 Announcement Open: December 1, 2019 through January 31, 2020 The USDA, Agricultural Research Service, Western Human Nutrition Research Center in Davis, California, is seeking a POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATE, (Research Microbiologist) for a TWO YEAR …