Your Own Personal Microbial Cloud

A recent study from Meadow et al at the University of Oregon looked at the individual microbiota that humans shed into their surrounding environment. They sequenced the airborne microbes that colonized a sterile chamber once each individual entered. They found that this left a microbially distinct and detectable signature, much like a fingerprint, after 1.5-4 hours. …

Cutting-edge technology for “sniffing” microbial volatiles coming to BIMERC as part of Sloan grant renewal

Posting a note from my [gleeful] chemistry colleagues Allen Goldstein and Pawel Misztal about the new instrument that is headed our way.  BIMERC will soon receive an exceptionally unique and powerful Proton Transfer Reaction Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer (PTR-ToF-MS 8000) for instantaneous detection of a full range gas-phase organics including microbial volatile organic compounds (MVOC). There …