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 …

Paper of possible interest: KatharoSeq Enables High-Throughput Microbiome Analysis from Low-Biomass Samples

This may be of interest to people out there.  Source: KatharoSeq Enables High-Throughput Microbiome Analysis from Low-Biomass Samples | mSystems Abstract: Microbiome analyses of low-biomass samples are challenging because of contamination and inefficiencies, leading many investigators to employ low-throughput methods with minimal controls. We developed a new automated protocol, KatharoSeq (from the Greek katharos [clean]), …

Strain-resolved analysis of hospital rooms & infants reveals overlap between human & room microbiome 

Of potential interest – new paper from the Banfield Lab – thanks to Elisabeth Bik for pointing me to this on Twitter.   Preterm infants exhibit different microbiome colonization patterns relative to full-term infants, and it is speculated that the hospital room environment may contribute to infant microbiome development. Here, we present a genome-resolved metagenomic …

New papers on Microbiology of the Built Environment, September 25, 2016

Microbes and buildings The Microbiome of Green Design: Sustainable building practices may have unforeseen consequences for microbial communities and human health – Carolyn Beans – BioScience ($40 for 1 day) Just as our bodies teem with microbial life, so, too, do the homes, offices, schools, and other indoor spaces where we spend the majority of our …

“Bacteria found in infants has also been found in pipes of Maryland hospital”

Just a short post about a news story recently where they have traced Pseudomonas found in NICU infants to the pipes in the building.  It’s still in the early stages of the investigation… but it makes me wonder why routine surveillance isn’t more common.  I feel like we often hear stories about finding Legionella, Pseudomonas, …