New undergraduate research project in the built environment (aquariums) at UC Davis

Last year as part of microBEnet’s mandate to perform outreach associated with the microbiology of the built environment we sponsored and managed an undergraduate research project.   In this we isolated organisms from the built environment and then sequenced several reference genomes.  This work is currently being prepared in a series of genome announcement publications. (see …

Just posted on Mendeley – ozone and filter interactions paper

Destaillats et al 2011. “Secondary pollutants from ozone reactions with ventilation filters and degradation of filter media additives”, Atmospheric Environment, vol. 45, no. 21, p. 3561-3568, 2011. Can be freely downloaded from LBL.gov web site as LBNL-4829E.pdf (692.59 KB) http://iepubs.lbl.gov/publications/author/22  

Warning: Dangerous microbe control by ozone on filters now on our Mendeley group site

A paper has been uploaded to the Mendeley group associated with microbe.net, Microbiology of the Built Environment (http://www.mendeley.com/groups/844031/microbiology-of-the-built-environment/). Appropriately, the title of the paper is as accurate as it is concise: “Indoor air purification and decontamination by a new highly-efficient air purification technology with filter sterilization and impact of air exchange rate on bacteria and …

New study on bacterial diversity in hospitals

Quick post here about a study that came out last month “Exploring Bacterial Diversity in Hospital Environments by GS-FLX Titanium Pyrosequencing” by Poza et al in Madrid. These authors used 454 sequencing of 16S to survey bacterial populations in the entrance hall and the ICU of a hospital in Madrid.   Not surprisingly, they found lower …

Call me a skeptic but “beneficial microorganisms” in natural pools/ponds?

Hmm – in this story in the LA Times: Natural swimming ponds – latimes.com there is a discussion of a move towards more “natural” swimming pools using less chlorine.  And there is a part of the article of which I am deeply skeptical BioNova pools, as well as those designed locally by Environmental Sculpturing, are biologically active. …

“Mechanisms by Which Ambient Humidity May Affect Viruses in Aerosols” new paper from Linsey Marr’s group

An interesting review article from Linsey Marr’s group at Virginia Tech looking at the various factors that might influence virion survival in aerosols.   Abstract below: Many airborne viruses have been shown to be sensitive to ambient humidity, yet the mechanisms responsible for this phenomenon remain elusive. We review multiple hypotheses, including water activity, surface inactivation, …

Lake Arrowhead Microbial Genomics Meeting 2012: Microbiology of the Built Environment Session

Last night was the Microbiology of the Built Environment session at the bi-annual Lake Arrowhead meeting.  This session was organized and sponsored by microBEnet.  I recorded some of the talks and will post those videos here after some editing. Here’s a summary of the speakers and the topics discussed. The first speaker was James Meadow …

Will you wear an N-95 respirator on your next flight? or in the airport?

Lots of attention to disease transmission and illness related to air travel lately. A new paper in the journal Indoor Air suggests that if passengers would wear N-95 respirators when they fly, they could significantly reduce their risk of infection. You can read the paper “Risk assessment of airborne infectious diseases in aircraft cabins” at …