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 …
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 …
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 …
Recently, I have been reading and thinking a lot about what one needs to develop a model system for host-microbiome studies. I am particularly interested in this because I have been working with a few colleagues on developing seagrass, and specifically, Zostera marina, into such a model system. This started with a grant from the …
So this was a very interesting paper to be involved in. On the one hand all our lab really did was to facilitate some genome sequencing and help with the assemblies, validation of those assemblies, and some genomics work. Standard fare for the lab. But… these were over 100 Legionella pneumophila isolates collected from either …
This is a pre-print that just came out from several UC Davis colleagues. I actually think the title is a bit misleading because these recommendations are a lot broader than just human fecal metagenomes. Definitely worth a read! Abstract below: Background Shotgun metagenomes are often assembled prior to annotation of genes which biases the functional …
~15 years after the first project was funded, the Sloan “Microbiology of the Built Environment” program has pretty much wrapped up. Here at microBEnet, we wanted to take a deeper look at the impact of the program on the published literature in the field. There were over 300 publications from the program through the end …
Human space exploration beyond Earth and Moon is a declared goal of NASA, ESA, Roscosmos and other space-faring agencies, with human Mars mission envisioned in the near future. One of the major challenges of the mission is protecting the human crew from illness and infection caused by harmful biological contaminants. To evaluate these challenges in …
This looks like it should be good. American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Symposium on the Chemistry in Indoor Environments Sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation #aaascie #indoorchem September 19, 2019 AAAS Headquarters 1200 New York Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20005 Chemistry in Indoor Environments Symposium | American Association for the …
Assistant Professor – Microbial Ecology and Evolution – 1902892 The Department of Biology at the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) invites applications for a tenure-stream appointment in Microbial Ecology and Evolution, at the rank of Assistant Professor, commencing July 1, 2020, or shortly thereafter. Applicants must have a Ph.D. in Biology or closely related …