To date, characterization of ancient oral (dental calculus) and gut (coprolite) microbiota has been primarily accomplished through a metataxonomic approach involving targeted amplification of one or more variable regions in the 16S rRNA gene. For anyone interested in rRNA studies of microbial communities, ancient microbiomes, or analysis of samples with small amounts of DNA this …
California may be in drought, but the ideas keep flowing about different ways to conserve water in green buildings. Only recently have scientists began to truly understand how these obvious benefits to the environment may be adversely affecting human health. In a paper published in Environmental Science Water Research & Technology, researchers have aimed to …
So our first attempt at entering the world of bacterial taxonomy and the description of a new species came out today with the thrilling title of “Porphyrobacter mercurialis sp. nov., isolated from a stadium seat and emended description of the genus Porphyrobacter“. The story leading to this paper took us into a lot of new …
Here are the papers on the built environment microbiology that I found in the past weeks. For more microbiology papers, please check out my daily blog MicrobiomeDigest. Copper surfaces are associated with significantly lower concentrations of bacteria on selected surfaces within a pediatric intensive care unit – Michael G. Schmidt – American Journal of Infection …
“Every unswept corner of a home tells its own story”. By Bouyoun Kim from the New Yorker Website. Source: What the Dust in Your House Says About You – The New Yorker Nice article in the New Yorker by Emily Anthes about the Home Microbiome studies from the Wildlife of Your Homes project. It has some …
Just got this from the Mothur email list: We continue to plug away at some really nice features to incorporate into mothur for your analytical pleasure. I wanted to let you know that the next mothur workshop will run from December 16 to 18 near the Detroit airport. The workshop is being filled on a …
Apply for this innovative, multidisciplinary, and highly integrated research-based workshop aimed at enabling and educating globally distributed early career scientists involved in research associated with the microbiology of the built environment. We will provide researchers with the rare and unique opportunity to shape funding opportunities for research focused on the microbiology of the built environment, …
More good news for animal lovers! A recent study on the effects of exposure to dogs and farm animals on childhood asthma was just published in JAMA Pediatrics. The article is entitled Early Exposure to Dogs and Farm Animals and the Risk of Childhood Asthma by T. Fall, C. Lundholm, A.K. Örtqvist, K. Fall, F. Fang, Ã…. Hedhammar, O. Kämpe, E. Ingelsson, C. Almqvist. Here is the …
Last year I posted here about how amazing termite mounds are and how they often tilt towards the equator. Termites make them from saliva, poop and soil, and use them to regulate temperature and humidity and farm fungus. In addition to what must be some fascinating microbiology, we could learn a lot about how to design …
I had the pleasure of meeting with Philip Hugenholtz at the Australian Centre for Ecogenomics at the University of Queensland last week. Even the architecture of the centre is designed after phylogenetic trees! Of the many projects going on amongst the team of about 35 there, is the extensive effort in fixing the genome tree …
