Where is metagenomic analysis heading? Hopefully in directions suggested in this paper.

Just a quick post here.  I have been reading this paper: Toward molecular trait-based ecology through integration of biogeochemical, geographical and metagenomic data by Jeroen Raes et al. in Molecular Systems Biology.  This integration they try to pull off in the paper is to me where we need to move as a field (i.e., microbial …

“Germs” in cars

When people hear “microbiology of the built environment” they tend to focus on buildings.  But the built environment also includes things like trains, cars, planes, even the space station where some cool microbiology work has taken place. When looking for work on the microbiology of these environments I came across a small, non-peer reviewed study …

Want to learn what eco-evo types are doing w/ #metagenomic & #barcoding data? Go to iEVOBIO 6/21-22

Last year, iEVOBIO was a fun, interesting meeting for many reasons (not the least of which is that I was the keynote speaker).  If you want to learn more about last years meeting check out my blog post: Summary of #iEVOBIO Day 1 #evolution #phylogenetics #informatics #opensource But I note, that meeting was so, well, last …

Wanted: Sample collections for the Earth Microbiome Project EMP; help make an open Field Guide to the Microbes

A cross – posting here.  On my “Tree of Life” blog I have just written about the “Earth Microbiome Project” and its call for samples.  This may be of interest to those working on the Microbiology of the Built Environment.  For more information see: The Tree of Life: Wanted: Sample collections for the Earth Microbiome Project …

Great collection of free tools for microbiome analysis at the DACC #microBEnet

There is an excellent collection of tools and protocols for various microbiome analyses (genomics, metagenomics, rRNA) available at the Human Microbiome Project DACC site.  This includes downloadable tools, links to online web servers, and PDFs of various protocols.  Definitely worth checking out if you need some tools for sequence analysis.

Upcoming conference: DOE-JGI User Meeting: Energy, Genomes, Environment, Microbes, Trees and more …

Just got this email I thought would be useful to share (with a few edits) Still time to register for JGI “Genomics of Energy & Environment” 6th Annual User Meeting The DOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI) hosts the “Genomics of Energy & Environment” 6th Annual User Meeting (March 22-24, 2011): Here Explore the agenda of …

Norman Pace visits UC Davis

Norman R. Pace, from UC Boulder, gave a talk at UC Davis yesterday about microbial diversity.  In his talk he discussed some of his recent Sloan Foundation funded work on “microbiology of the built environment” including studies of shower heads, indoor swimming pools, water supplies, and hospitals. Pace is one of the pioneers of DNA …