This last winter, Gwynne Mhuireach at the University of Oregon taught a really interesting course entitled “Human Health and the Design of the Urban Microbiome”. She posted a description of the final “design charrette” here on microBEnet awhile back. I just asked her if she’d be willing to share her course materials for others interested …
I am running a journal club this quarter at UC Davis on Host Microbiome Co-evolution (see Journal Club at #UCDavis on Co-evolution of Microbiomes and Hosts for more information). It meets Mondays 12:10-1 PM. But I thought I would post here about the course and I would welcome any comments from anywhere, even if you cannot …
Heard this story on NPR yesterday: ‘A Universe Beneath Our Feet’: Life In Beijing’s Underground : NPR. It discusses the growing trend in Beijing for people to be living in apartments / basements comlpetely underground. This is happening for multiple reasons and it clearly has some potential big consequences. It does seem like a possible …
Infectious diseases are the leading cause of death worldwide, so it is critical that we characterize exposure routes of infectious agents, including those resistant to antibiotics. The source of infectious agents is often attributed to the environment. But, few studies have explored what types of environmental exposure introduce opportunistic microbial pathogens or what actions may …
New paper out of possible interest to those studying the microbiology of the built environment: Frontiers | Beneficial effects of plant-associated microbes on indoor microbiomes and human health? | Frontiers in Plant-Microbe Interaction. The paper makes some arguments regarding possible connections between indoor plant microbiomes and human health. I am posting this here without commentary in …
Looks like a potentially interesting course… certainly topical! Information below, website here. The study of the microbiome is one of the most promising scientific and medical revolutions in recent times. It is now clear that changes in the microbiome composition (referred to as dysbiosis) are major drivers to several human diseases and public health …
(h/t to Mark Martin for posting about this on Twitter) A break from COVID-19… Microbes in Spaaaaaaaaaace. (it never gets old). This article entitled “Crewmember microbiome may influence microbial composition of ISS habitable surfaces” is a much needed addition to the literature on the ISS microbiome. Work from our lab an others has examined the …
(cross posted to the UCD Microbiome SRP blog) What do you get when you combine UC Davis alumni, tomato seeds, and citizen science? That would be Project GASP (“Germ”-ination Alumni Science Project). I didn’t come up with the name, I swear. This project, sponsored and paid for by the College of Biological Sciences at UC …
Recently, I have been reading and thinking a lot about what one needs to develop a model system for host-microbiome studies. I am particularly interested in this because I have been working with a few colleagues on developing seagrass, and specifically, Zostera marina, into such a model system. This started with a grant from the …