Here is a quick post to show off a new figure based on some analysis of data from our kittybiome Kickstarter to sequence gut microbiome samples from cats. Modeled on similar participatory research projects for humans where participants submit fecal samples for bacterial characterization, we are characterizing the gut microbiome of domestic cats with a …
Microbial ecology has benefited enormously from the development of high throughput sequencing technologies, driving the discovery of massive diversity in environments from the ocean to the human body. Where sequencing of less than one hundred 16S rRNA genes from several samples used to be common place with cloning and Sanger sequencing, we can now generate tens …
Three weeks ago I stood in front of the 60 attendees of the STAMPS course and asked, “How many of you are currently working with shotgun metagenomes?” Ten to fifteen people raised their hands. In contrast, almost all had their hands in the air when I asked how many were expecting to work with shotgun …
OK this looks like it will be really really interesting. Laurie Garrett sent me a link to this announcment about a meeting of the Empiricist League in New York: What are the 15,000 microscopic lifeforms that live on the subway? How disgusting are the contaminants in the Gowanus Canal? Can we use technology to stop …
A new paper in Frontiers in Microbiology reports the effect of plants on microbes in the environment. It’s about a plant in a box, so if you like cheesy 80’s music, you could play the song Living in a Box from the band with the same title. Here is the study: Microbiome interplay: plants alter microbial …
This week’s papers are about microbes found on hospital doorknobs, spacecraft assembly cleanrooms, a painting by Leonardo da Vinci, in waste water, and in creosote-treated wood composting. I could not find a song about the specific painting featured here, but Panic at the Disco had a song about another famous painting by LdV: The Ballad of Mona …
Perhaps you’ve heard about Dr. Premsyl Bercik’s recent publication in Nature Communications about the link between the gut microbiome and mental disorders such as depression and anxiety disorder. In his study, he induced early life stress in conventional mice and in germ-free mice by separating new born pups from their mother for several hours a …
Some of you may know that we ran a Kitty Kickstarter back in May to start a participatory research project inspired by the American Gut Project only for cats. When you sign up, kittybiome will sequence the gut microbiome of your cat and provide you with the results, so you can see how your cat compares with …
Several new papers about microbes and the built environment came out or came up in my searches this weekend, so time for another installment. Since one of the papers is about prison workers, you could play Johnny Cash’s Folsom Prison Blues while reading this post. Open Access: Coccidioides Exposure and Coccidioidomycosis among Prison Employees, California, United States – …
What’s new in the built environment microbiology literature? Here is my selection of the new papers from the past 2 weeks. And, since one of them is about the microbiome of gyms, I thought “Pump It” by the Black Eyed Peas would fit nicely with this post. And I apologize that only two of these …