New papers on microbiology of the built environment, January 29, 2016

An oversight of the new papers that I found covering the intersection of humans, buildings, and microbes. Microbes in buildings Diversity of Bacterial Communities on Four Frequently Used Surfaces in a Large Brazilian Teaching Hospital – Tairacan Augusto Pereira da Fonseca – MDPI Int J Environ Res Public Health (OA) In this study, we aimed …

The White House wants feedback from “All Microbiome-Science Champions” – give it – give it now

The White House OSTP is looking for input on microbiome work – plans, funding, resources, databases, fellowships, hires, and more.  They are collecting this information, I assume, to help guide their new microbiome related initiative(s).  I hope many many people comment including lots of people thinking about the Built Environment and its connection to microbiomes. …

A Rant About Inadequate Identification and Treatment of Bacterial Infections

For those of you who have an ear tuned to the media’s noise about germ this, bacteria that, this blog post may resonate with you. I was just reading this article recently published in Nature about B. pseudomallei, a bacteria that causes meliodosis. The authors found that the bacteria is more globally distributed than previously …

Interesting new paper on green building water systems  

There is a new open access paper of possible interest to those working on water systems, green buildings, and/or microbial ecology: Survey of green building water systems reveals elevated water age and water quality concerns – Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology (RSC Publishing) DOI:10.1039/C5EW00221D By William J. Rhoads, Amy Pruden and Marc A. Edwards in Environmental …

New Probiotics and Poop Pills

I’ve been seeing a lot of media articles recently on applications of gut microbiome research in health in terms of pills and probiotics. One article talks about a start-up that is trying to create various pills filled with bacteria associated with different positive health effects. Of course, there is the question if such probiotics will thrive in …