Dreaming that the Clinton Global Initiative @Clintonglobal will start looking at microbes in the built enviornment

Well this is interesting. Holly Bik pointed me to the fact that the Clinton Global Initiative has a track on the Built Environment:About Us: The Built Environment | Clinton Global Initiative. Not sure exactly what they do in this track but seems like a good way to get exposure for the field of microbiology of …

Harvard Magazine covers Sloan grantee Curtis Huttenhower’s research: microbes in transportation systems

In November, 2012, Curtis Huttenhower began work (with funding from the Sloan Foundation) to examine the transmission of human-associated microbes by public transportation surfaces. An article on “Big Data” in the current issue of Harvard Magazine includes a description of Huttenhower’s work in the lead article “Why “Big Data” Is a Big Deal.” After very …

Microbial Ecology Research Tech position at BioBE Center, University of Oregon

Microbial Ecology Research Tech position (for application details go here) The Institute of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Oregon currently has an opening for a full time Research Assistant to work in the area of microbial ecology.  The successful candidate will play a key role in the Biology and Built Environment (BioBE) Center (http://biobe.uoregon.edu/), …

Bioinformatics Post-Doc Opportunity at the BioBE Center, University of Oregon

Bioinformatics/Microbial Ecology postdoctoral position (for application details go here) Jessica Green and Brendan Bohannan are currently seeking a bioinformatics postdoctoral researcher to explore fundamental questions in microbial ecology and evolution.  Applicants should have a PhD with extensive training using bioinformatics to understand the ecology and/or evolution of complex biological communities, and strong writing skills.  The ideal candidate will have …

Storify of Tweets, Background, Videos from #AAASMoBE meeting on Microbiomes of the Built Environment

Just a quick post here. The AAAS Meeting on “Microbiomes of the Built Environment” that was sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation was on Thursday. I have made a “Storification” of the Tweets, Background and Videos from the meeting. I have embedded the Storify below. It can also be accessed directly here. We will be …

Who are the microbes in your neighborhood? And some background for #AAASMoBe Symposium

Tomorrow all day there will be a meeting at AAAS HQ on “Microbiomes of the Built Environment“.  I will be speaking at the meeting, and this is one of my major research areas, so I am a bit biased, but the meeting is going to be great I think.  And it will be webcast live. …

Cutting-edge technology for “sniffing” microbial volatiles coming to BIMERC as part of Sloan grant renewal

Posting a note from my [gleeful] chemistry colleagues Allen Goldstein and Pawel Misztal about the new instrument that is headed our way.  BIMERC will soon receive an exceptionally unique and powerful Proton Transfer Reaction Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer (PTR-ToF-MS 8000) for instantaneous detection of a full range gas-phase organics including microbial volatile organic compounds (MVOC). There …

Probiotics: The Good, the Bad, The Unknown, and the Crazy

Microbiology is on a roll, it’s been an amazing couple decades of discoveries that have transformed our understanding of the roles that microbes play in human health.  And this knowledge has pushed its way into popular culture.  Every couple of days I see another popular media article about the influence of microbes on something else; …

Ooh look – an ad for a building sterilization system pretending to be news

Grr.  These types of stories really bug me: British technology set to banish germs in hospitals and homes | City & Business | Finance | Daily Express.  It is in theory a news story.  But it is pretty much an advertisement for this Odorox building sterilization system with no critical reporting. Here are some claims in …