There is a wonderful tribute to Norm Pace in the Atlantic by Ed Yong. Norm Pace truly did blow the door off the microbial world. Source: Norm Pace Blew The Door Off The Microbial World – The Atlantic Lots of good stuff in there about Pace and his career. See for example this: Pace also …
Quick post here. This is definitely worth a look for those interested in hospital acquired infections, microbial genomics, and genomic epidemiology or related topics. LivaNova plant in Germany is the likely source behind outbreak that has sickened more than 100 people since 2013. Source: DNA Links Deadly Germs, Tainted Heart Surgery Devices To German Factory …
A University of Washington study found surgeons in the nude shed ‘significantly less bacteria than those wearing scrubs’, but admitted it was not likely to ever happen. So – this DailyMail story certainly has a catchy headline: Surgeons can stop spread of germs by operating NAKED | Daily Mail Online. Alas, the story is seriously …
Next week, the Lublin University of Technology in Lublin, Poland will host the Healthy Buildings Europe conference. Over 300 scientists, engineers, and professionals will gather to present and discuss building science. The Sloan Foundation is sponsoring workshops at the meeting to bring together leaders in the field and advance the state of the science. A …
This is definitely worth a read: Source: Could the Answer to the Antibiotic-Resistance Crisis Be Found on a Toilet Seat? – The Atlantic Or a listen to since there is an audio version of the story (see below).\ The article basically discusses work by Adam Roberts to survey the world for new antibiotics. The best …
There is a news story of interest from a few weeks ago in the NY Times: Are Pets the New Probiotic? – The New York Times It discusses the concept and some of the research on how animals and their microbiomes could in some cases play a role in shaping the human immune system and human …
Microbes indoors DNA metabarcoding to assess indoor fungal communities: Electrostatic dust collectors and Illumina sequencing – Steffi Rocchi – Journal of Microbiological Methods ($39.95) Our study aimed to evaluate metabarcoding and bioinformatic analysis resulting from calibrated samples and samples collected by an electrostatic dust collector (EDC) in dwellings with no moisture problems. Thus, the fungal communities of …
Got pointed to this paper by Sofia Ahsanuddin of the MetaSub project and thought it might be of interest. Source: Exploring the under-investigated “microbial dark matter” of drinking water treatment plants : Scientific Reports Abstract: Scientists recently reported the unexpected detection of unknown or poorly studied bacterial diversity in groundwater. The ability to uncover this neglected biodiversity …
I am clearly biased since I am in this .. but I like this short video from DOE JGI on Microbial Dark Matter:
This new paper may be of interest: Source: Disparate Antibiotic Resistance Gene Quantities Revealed across 4 Major Cities in California: A Survey in Drinking Water, Air, and Soil at 24 Public Parks – ACS Omega (ACS Publications) Abstract: Widespread prevalence of multidrug and pandrug-resistant bacteria has prompted substantial concern over the global dissemination of antibiotic …