Standards for Microbiome Measurements Workshop: Register by Feb 5th

(Update:  This is probably at the NIST campus in MD… though it doesn’t actually say on their website) NIST is hosting an interesting sounding workshop on “Standards for Microbiome Measurements“.  The workshop will be held on April 4-5th 2016 (presumably on the NIST campus in Boulder, CO).  Information about the workshop below: Purpose: This NIST-NIAID workshop will seek …

Storify wrap up of #PSB16 Session on Computational Microbiology #microbiomes

I made a Storify summary of the Tweets from a workshop at the Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing that I attended on Tuesday on Computational Microbiology (with a big focus on microbiomes). [<a href="//storify.com/phylogenomics/psb16-session-on-microbiomes” target=”_blank”>View the story “#PSB16 session on computational microbiome #microbiomes ” on Storify]

Research on Plant Microbes May Help with Global Food Security

A recent news article discusses the impact of plant/soil microbiome research on agriculture, specifically helping feed a projected 9 million people in 2050. Novozymes and other corporations are working with researchers and farmers to make microbial products that help promote and optimize plant growth in various ways (for instance, drought tolerance). The idea sounds a bit like …

Another important paper: microbiome studies “strongly influenced by sample processing & PCR primers”

Another paper on how sample processing (and in this case PCR primer choice) can influence microbiome studies.  And another one that is definitely worth looking at: 16S rRNA gene-based profiling of the human infant gut microbiota is strongly influenced by sample processing and PCR primer choice. Microbiome 2015, 3:26 doi:10.1186/s40168-015-0087-4 by Alan W. Walker, Jennifer C. Martin, …

What microbes do when you change the water in an aquarium

A new paper from Van Bonn et al studies the effect of a water change on the bacterial community of an aquarium. Unfortunately, only the abstract is available openly, but it seems pretty cool: The bacterial community composition and structure of water from an established teleost fish system was examined before, during and after a major water change …

The White House wants input on the future of microbiome research (by June 15)

Well this is very promising. The Science and Technology Policy Office of the White House has posted a Request for Information on “Microbiome Research”. Summary: Advanced sequencing technologies have illuminated vast networks of microorganisms that drive essential functions in all environments on Earth. The study of these communities of microorganisms, or microbiomes, is nascent, and …

Microbiota and urban grey space

Appropriate song to play while reading this post: “Fade to Grey” by Visage A new paper in the Journal of Physiological Anthropology touches upon some interesting viewpoints. The paper is called Dysbiotic drift: mental health, environmental grey space, and microbiota, and was written by Alan C Logan. And it’s Open Access, which we all appreciate! The article, which is rather …

Call for Papers! Microbiome special issue on the Microbiology of the Built Environment

Just a quick plug: Jack Gilbert and I are guest-editing a special issue in Microbiome dedicated to Microbiology of the Built Environment. We are now accepting original research, methods, and software article submissions to be considered for the special issue (planned for publication in late 2015). We are looking specifically for work that involves multiple aspects of the …

Birth: The intersection of biology and buildings

As the oldest daughter of 3rd generation HVAC/plumbing/electrical small business owners, I held my share of flashlights on service calls and even wrapped ductwork one summer. I loved fiddling and building with the different tools, left-over bits of copper tubing, and other miscellaneous tidbits from jobs.  But my heart was more into asking questions about living …