New paper of interest on how premature infant gut microbiome shapes the microbiome of NICUs

There is a new paper of interest from Jill Banfield’s lab.  I found out about it via Twitter: Study on the NICU microbiome out now in @MicrobiomeJ – The developing premature infant gut microbiome is a major factor shaping the microbiome of neonatal intensive care unit rooms. https://t.co/GEtMkLxwUy @bmbrook @MattagenOlmics @mcgrath_bio @dahanome — The Banfield …

Journal Club: Factors Influencing Early Life Gut Microbial Communities

A new paper by Levin, A. et al was published open access in Scientific Reports entitled, “Joint effects of pregnancy, sociocultural, and environmental factors on early life gut microbiome structure and diversity.” The paper confirmed a lot of what we already now about what factors influence infant gut microbiomes (ex. breastfeeding, mode of delivery, pets, …

New paper on bacterial diversity in NICUs

Quick post here.  There is a new paper out on bacterial diversity in NICUs: PLOS ONE: Bacterial Diversity in Two Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs). Full citation: Hewitt KM, Mannino FL, Gonzalez A, Chase JH, Caporaso JG, et al. (2013) Bacterial Diversity in Two Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs). PLoS ONE 8(1): e54703. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0054703. Quick summary: they …

New Sloan-funded program in microbiology of built environment: Jill Banfield, ICU microbiome and infant gut microbiome

The second new project to receive funding from the Sloan foundation is a project entitled “Analysis of the ICU room environment as a source of microorganisms colonizing the GI tract of premature infants”.  This project is being managed by Jill Banfield at UC Berkeley, along with her Co-PIs; Michael Morowitz (University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine) …