Twitter chat on “Microbiology of Built Environments” AAM report Thu May 19 10-11 AM EST

There will be a Twitter chat on Thursday of relevance. Thursday May 19 10-11 AM EST Run by @ASMicrobiology. Follow this hashtag #ASMChats   Twitter chat Thu 10-11 AM EST run by @ASMicrobiology re: AAM report on Microbes & Built Environment https://t.co/UgzrheJcWM #ASMChats – Jonathan Eisen (@phylogenomics) May 17, 2016 //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js And an upcoming twitter …

FAQ on Microbiology of Built Environments from the American Academy of Microbiology

There is a report out from the American Academy of Microbiology that is based on the “Microbiology of the Built Environment” colloquium they hosted in September 2015.  The report summary is below: Built environments are the structures that humans create to shelter from the outdoors and provide spaces for living, working, playing, and getting places. …

Abstracts for MetaSUB 2016 Meeting in Shanghai, China

Urban Metagenomics International Meeting Coming Soon! We are accepting abstracts and poster proposals for the 2016 MetaSUB Consortium Meeting (Metagenomics and Metadesign of Subways and Urban Biomes) until May 30. For details, please see our EventBrite Page here. The meeting takes place at Fudan University in Shanghai, China on July 1-2. Registration for the International …

MoBE Early Career Workshop

Last week, Melissa Dsouza and Jack Gilbert at the University of Chicago hosted a Sloan sponsored MoBE Early Career Workshop. I had the pleasure of attending this well organized event and was inspired by this highly intelligent and motivated group of scientists. The future for the MoBE is bright indeed if these scientists are able to find jobs …

Videos of talks from “Microbiomes of the Built Environment: From Research to Application”

On April 11 there was a meeting in Washington DC that was part of an effort from a new study being conducted by the National Academies of Science, Medicine, and Engineering on “Microbiomes of the Built Environment”.  Videos and slides from the meeting have now been posted.  I have compiled them below. In addition, I …

Don’t Cry. Don’t Raise Your Eye. It’s Only Microbe Wasteland

These will almost certainly be of interest to the MoBE community.  There is a new paper in mSystems “Geography and Location Are the Primary Drivers of Office Microbiome Composition” by John Chase, Jennifer Fouquier, Mahnaz Zare, Derek L. Sonderegger, Rob Knight, Scott T. Kelley, Jeffrey Siegel, J. Gregory Caporaso.  I found out about the paper via …

A true must read: amazing essay by Tal Addaby “Less Disinfectant, More Rioja”

There is a wonderfully essay by Tal Abbady coming out in tomorrow’s New York Times (and available online now). A few years in Spain, and my mother’s last days, helped me see the futility of a sterilized life. Source: Less Disinfectant, More Rioja  The essay is about many things, including differences between cultures (pun intended …

Kudos to Marc Edwards, selected as one of Fortune’s World’s Greatest Leaders

This really made my day / week / month.  Marc Edwards has been selected as one of Fortune Magazine’s “World’s Greatest Leaders”. Source: Marc Edwards Here’s what they wrote about him Edwards, a MacArthur “genius” grant recipient, is one of the nation’s top experts on water contamination–and nowhere has his impact been bigger than in …

Use of Copper in Structures and the Growing Resistant Bacteria

Interesting article addressing the risks of using copper in human structures for its antimicrobial qualities.  Copper resistant bacteria could prove to be a risk for human health, as certain parts of the human immune system (notably macrophages) utilize it to dispatch potentially dangerous microbes.  While many places use copper as a safety measure against harmful …