New COVID Preprint out from BioBE: Preprint Link: https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-940891/v1 We recruited 11 participants that were diagnosed with COVID-19 and studied each for 3 days in a controlled chamber with multiple independent variables. We collected more than 2500 biological samples, particulates, and CO2 in near field (1.2 m) and far field (3.5 m) per each trial. Each …
Antibiotic resistance has been assessed to rise to dangerously high levels in all parts of the world, and new resistance mechanisms are emerging and spreading globally. At the same time the number of people dying from antibiotic-resistant bacteria is increasing. The World Health Organization considers the spread of antibiotic resistance and appropriate countermeasures as one …
Interesting new article from Rob Dunn’s lab about the microbial and arthopod communities associated with chimpanzee beds. The article itself is clearly pitched within a microbiology of the built environment context… highlighting the fact that we haven’t really looked much a non-human constructed artificial environments. Pretty cool stuff! The outpouring of press on the topic …
(This is a blog post by Cinta Gomez-Silvan, the first author on this paper) Story behind the paper: A comparison of methods used to unveil the genetic and metabolic pool in the built environment. It seems pretty obvious that in the field of microbial ecology we need to understand how living microorganism interact. Nevertheless, …
The story behind: Toward the Drug Factory Microbiome: Microbial Community Variations in Antibiotic-Producing Clean Rooms (OMICS. 2018 Feb;22(2):133-144. doi: 10.1089/omi.2017.0091.) PMID: 28873001 [Preprint] It was in 2013, on my return to Cairo University after a couple of years as a visiting scientist at UCSD, that I met Amal for the first time. Amal was a fresh master’s …
So a number of years ago our lab embarked on Project MERCCURI (let’s not talk about the tortured acronym). This complex and citizen science-based collaboration (website here) has been a fascinating journey. It’s ranged from getting to watch a rocket launch in Florida, to discovering/describing a new bacterial species, to our most recent publication… the …
Just a quick post here to say that Dr. Jenna Lang, formally of the Eisen lab at UC Davis, will be on Science Friday tomorrow, 12/8/17 talking about our work examining the microbiome of the International Space Station. She expects to be on at around 12:40pm PST. The publication is here, and we’ve compiled …
Susan Lynch speaks about Chronic Inflammatory Disease and the Built Environment in this clip from MoBE 2017 in Washington D.C. If you’re interested, check out all of the other speakers from MoBE 2017 on our YouTube channel!
Captain William A. Pratt, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, invites interested MoBE community members to discuss collaborative opportunities for three troop construction projects to be initiated in the next 6 months: * Bunkhouse construction project: opportunities to discuss building design options, indoor microbial monitoring * Lighting project for an existing structure: UV light testing, …
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 …