This new paper might fall under the category of “things you don’t want to think about.” After reading this study by Buse et al., I now ponder what’s in my drinking water every time I fill up a glass from the tap: Buse HY, Lu J, Struewing IT, Ashbolt NJ. (2013) Eukaryotic diversity in premise …
Two new papers out from the microBEnet Undergraduate Research: Built Environment Reference Genomes project: Coil DA, Doctor JI, Lang JM, Darling AE, Eisen JA. 2013. Draft Genome Sequence of Kocuria sp. Strain UCD-OTCP (Phylum Actinobacteria). Genome Announc. 1(3):e00172-13. doi:10.1128/genomeA.00172-13. Diep AL, Lang JM, Darling AE, Eisen JA, Coil DA. 2013. Draft genome sequence of Dietzia sp. strain UCD-THP (phylum …
UPDATED AT BOTTOM – TURNS OUT NEWS STORY WAS VERY MISLEADING Wow. Just got pointed to this news story: BBC News – Closing hospital windows ‘increases infection risk’. It reports on work from Cath Noakes from the University of Leeds. The work is published in a non open-access journal “Building and Environment” which I do not …
This article, about “Moving the Office Outside” talks about the energy savings and psychological benefits of creating outdoor office spaces. Sadly microbes don’t get a mention, even though there’s an ever-growing body of work showing that indoor air is less healthy than outdoor air (both in terms of chemical composition and microbial makeup).
Nice study by Norm Pace’s group looking at microbes present in the air in New York City subway systems. They didn’t find any organisms of public health concern, and showed that the ventilation and mixing of outside air appear to work well. This work does provide an important baseline of data for evaluating the effects …
Worth checking out this workshop summary entitled “The Science and Applications of Microbial Genomics” A couple of chapters in there from Sloan-funded projects in the microbiology of the built environment. $79 for the book but the PDF is free.
We have two new papers out from our lab as part of our microBEnet supported undergraduate genome sequencing project: Lo JR, Lang JM, Darling AE, Eisen JA, Coil DA. 2013. Draft Genome Sequence of an Actinobacterium, Brachybacterium muris Strain UCD-AY4.. Genome Announc. 1(2):e00086-13. doi:10.1128/genomeA.00086-13. Bendiks ZA, Lang JM, Darling AE, Eisen JA, Coil DA. 2013. Draft Genome …
Quick post here. There is a new paper out on bacterial diversity in NICUs: PLOS ONE: Bacterial Diversity in Two Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs). Full citation: Hewitt KM, Mannino FL, Gonzalez A, Chase JH, Caporaso JG, et al. (2013) Bacterial Diversity in Two Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs). PLoS ONE 8(1): e54703. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0054703. Quick summary: they …
Definitely worth a look for those interested in water systems and in microbiology of the built environment: Microbes in Pipes: The Microbiology of the Water Distribution System, January 2013. From the American Academy of Microbiology.
After recognition of recent incidents of Legionnaires’ Disease in hospitals, more attention is being paid to Legionella spp by hotels and other travel industry members. In 1986, several European countries formed the European Working Group for Legionella Infections (EWGLI) to share knowledge about monitoring potential sources of Legionella as well as to provide technical guidelines …