Postdoc Opportunity for Computational Microbial Ecologist in Seattle

  The Gibbons group at the Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) is seeking a computationally-oriented Postdoctoral Fellow with interests in microbial ecology, evolution, and human health. The successful applicant will work with an interdisciplinary team of microbiologists, systems biologists, bioinformaticians, and clinical researchers to:  Integrate and analyze multi-omic data from Arivale as part of the …

Worth a look: Filter forensics: microbiota recovery from residential HVAC filters

This is worth a look: Filter forensics: microbiota recovery from residential HVAC filters | Microbiome | Full Text From the paper Background Establishing reliable methods for assessing the microbiome within the built environment is critical for understanding the impact of biological exposures on human health. High-throughput DNA sequencing of dust samples provides valuable insights into …

Networks shed new light on microbiota literature

Thanks to rapid and relatively inexpensive techniques, anything that can be swabbed, scooped and sequenced is fair game for bacterial community analyses. And, microbiome-mania aside, we are still discovering incredible things about the invisible microbial world everyday. Fellow microBEnet author David Coil has suggested that it is timely to collate the wealth of information that …

ESBL/BioBE welcomes new Associate Director of Outreach

ESBL and BioBE are thrilled to announce that Mark Fretz has joined the team as the new Associate Director of Outreach, based out of the Portland location at the University of Oregon.  Mark brings a unique combination of experience in architecture and public health service, and will help further our goal of promoting health in …

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation renews BioBE funding!

Dr. Van Den Wymelenberg, Biology and the Built Environment Center PI and Co-Director, is excited to announce that the Center has secured another two years of funding from The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and their Microbiology of the Built Environment (MoBE) program.  Van Den Wymelenberg stated, “we are honored to have been awarded a final …

Microbial biodiversity assessment of the European Space Agency’s ExoMars 2016 mission

Determining if life exists or ever existed beyond Earth is one of the most interesting scientific questions. Reports on numerous habitable planets have increased the speculations about potential extra-terrestrial life. However, these theoretically life-supporting planets are far beyond human’s reach – except Mars. In order to explore if there ever was life on Mars, the …

Save the date: Dec 12-13 workshop on infectious diseases in the urban built environment

On December 12-13, the National Academies’ Forum on Microbial Threats, in collaboration with the Board on Life Sciences, will host a 1.5-day workshop examining “Urbanization and Slums: New Transmission Pathways of Infectious Diseases in the Built Environment.” This workshop was developed with input from the experts and staff that produced the National Academy of Sciences …

#MoBE17 Day 1-2 Summary

The first evening of the #MoBE17 meeting was a reception, with a fabulous keynote talk by Ed Yong mainly focused on Science Communication. Ed had a number of tips for interacting with journalists and thinking about how we present stories instead of facts. The quote of the evening was surely “you cannot replace a feeling …

Worth a look: City-scale distribution & dispersal routes of mycobiome in residences.

Quick post here — prepping for #MoBE17 meeting and found this new paper.  It seems like it is worth a look: City-scale distribution and dispersal routes of mycobiome in residences: Microbiome. 2017 Oct 4;5(1):131. doi: 10.1186/s40168-017-0346-7. Abstract BACKGROUND: Pathogenic and allergenic bacteria and fungi within the indoors can bring detrimental health effects on the occupants. We …