We recently submitted a paper to biorxiv on the estimation of average genome size from shotgun metagenomics data and it’s application to the human microbiome (http://biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2014/09/11/009001.full.pdf). It is currently undergoing peer review. This study was motivated by the troubling observation that many universal single-copy genes appear to vary significantly across metagenomes. How can this be? …
Over dinner the other night, a friend brought up ongoing public health efforts to get people to stop washing raw chicken because it spreads Campylobacter onto kitchen surfaces. I have to confess that I have been washing, drying and salting a raw chicken nearly once a week for years, following Judy Roger’s (Zuni Cafe) fabulous recipe …
We recently published a paper (http://mbio.asm.org/content/5/4/e01564-14) reporting that plants grown indoors have different leaf-surface (phyllosphere) bacterial communities than those grown outdoors. We found that Romaine lettuce grown in environmental chambers contains 10- to 100-fold lower numbers of bacteria than age-matched, field-grown lettuce. The bacterial diversity on laboratory-grown lettuce plants was also significantly lower and contained …
Researchers in Egypt did a fascinating study recently on probiotics for fish. They tested the effect of three different types of Psuedomonas fluorescens on two pathogens that affect tilapia in the Nile (P. angulliseptica and S. faecium). Their aim was to find a more eco-friendly way of controlling the pathogens in aquaculture compared to chemical antimicrobials. The probiotic was indeed …
I just stumbled across a NY Times article about a children’s book by Nicola Davies by the title Tiny Creatures: The World of Microbes. The article and the quotes from the book make me both excited and optimistic for how microbes are portrayed. A huge problem I have found in talking to non-microbiologists about microbiology is …
Well, I guess I do not really know what to think about this article by Jane Brody in the New York Times: Don’t Catch What Ails Your House Why do I not know what to think about this? Well I guess here are some of the things I am pondering: 1. The article gives the impression …
Abstracts are now being accepted for Healthy Buildings Europe 2015. The call for abstracts for Healthy Buildings America will come out in October. Note that there will be a Sloan-funded symposium on the microbiology of the built environment at both conferences. Details on abstract submission below, from the conference website. Please find hereby an invitation …
Think hotel rooms are gross? An elegant study led by Jack Gilbert, published Thursday in Science Reports, suggests that our resident microbes could help ease our minds on this issue, as they very quickly populate hotel rooms (and houses, more on that below) to make our hotels microbiologically identical to our homes within 24 hours. …
I recently had the opportunity to attend the Explorations in Data Analyses for Metagenomic Advances in Microbial Ecology (EDAMAME) Workshop held at the Kellogg Biological Station in Michigan by Ashley Shade, Tracy Teal and Josh Herr. I wrote a post on the Seagrass Microbiome website about what I found to be my favorite and/or most …
Well, just saw this: Gadget Lust: Keeping the Germs (and the Hypochondria) at Bay. I know this article is partly an attempt to be funny (which I think it succeeded at) but even so, the level of germophobia is pretty astonishing. Actually, though I cringe at germophobia many of the things discussed in this article are perhaps …