Jobs and Grants
Assistant Research Professor in Microbiome Bioinformatics – University of Oklahoma – Apply by January 31

Assistant Professor of Horticulture (Plant Microbiome Research) – University of Kentucky

Michael Davidson and Roger Tsien Commemorative Travel Awards – Apply by January 31 – Open to masters/PhD students and postdocs traveling to an academic conference in 2017 who can demonstrate that fluorescent proteins have/will have an impact on their research

American Public Health Laboratories (APHL)-CDC Fellowships
Infectious Diseases – Due February 17
Bioinformatics – Due February 28
Antimicrobial Resistance – Due February 28

General microbiome
*Opinion: Host–microbiota interactions: epigenomic regulation – Vivienne Woo – Current Opinion in Immunology

Human gut microbiome
Discovery of Reactive Microbiota-Derived Metabolites that Inhibit Host Proteases – Chun-Jun Guo – Cell

A case of pyometrocolpos with Bifidobacterium species – Maanasa M. Bhaskar – Anaerobe

*Review: Gut microbiota: A player in aging and a target for anti-aging intervention – Alexander M. Vaiserman – Ageing Research Reviews

Microbiome remodeling via the montmorillonite adsorption-excretion axis prevents obesity-related metabolic disorders – Pengfei Xu – EBioMedicine

Animal experiments
The Bactericidal Lectin RegIIIβ Prolongs Gut Colonization and Enteropathy in the Streptomycin Mouse Model for Salmonella Diarrhea – Tsuyoshi Miki – Cell Host and Microbe

Composition of Gut Microbiota in the Gibel Carp (Carassius auratus gibelio) Varies with Host Development – Xinghao Li – Microbial Ecology

Effects of gut microbiota on the microRNA and mRNA expression in the hippocampus of mice – Jian-jun Chen – Behavioural Brain Research

Plant, root, and soil microbiome
From Microhabitat of Floral Nectar Up to Biogeographic Scale: Novel Insights on Neutral and Niche Bacterial Assemblies – Yana Aizenberg-Gershtein – Environmental Microbiology

Microbial changes linked to the accelerated degradation of the herbicide atrazine in a range of temperate soils – R.L. Yale – Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Microbial siderophores and root exudates enhanced goethite dissolution and Fe/As uptake by As-hyperaccumulator Pteris vittata – Xue Liu – Environmental Pollution

Water and extremophile microbiome
Influence of silver nanoparticles on benthic oxygen consumption of microbial communities in freshwater sediments determined by microelectrodes – Lingzhan Miao – Environmental Pollution

Built environment
Heterogenic response of prokaryotes toward silver nanoparticles and ions is facilitated by phenotypes and attachment of silver aggregates to cell surfaces – Yuting Guo – Cytometry

Phages and viruses
The use of bacteriophages to biocontrol oral biofilms – Szymon P. Szafrański – Journal of Biotechnology

Bioinformatics
A portable system for metagenomic analyses using nanopore-based sequencer and laptop computers can realize rapid on-site determination of bacterial compositions – Satomi Mitsuhashi – bioRxiv

A fast and robust protocol for metataxonomic analysis using RNAseq data – Jeremy W. Cox – Microbiome

Microbes in the news
Scientists have caught viruses talking to each other—and that could be the key to a new age of anti-viral drugs – Akshat Rathi – Quartz

Bacteria powered battery built on sheet of paper – Tim Sandle – Digital Journal

Molecule shows ability to thwart pathogens’ genetic resistance to antibiotic – Oregon State University
The original paper is here: Peptide-conjugated phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomer (PPMO) restores carbapenem susceptibility to NDM-1-positive pathogens in vitro and in vivo – Erin K. Sully – Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy

Andrew Wakefield appearance at Trump inaugural ball triggers social media backlash – Casey Ross – STAT News

Science, publishing, and career
Gates Foundation research can’t be published in top journals – Richard Van Noorden – Nature

Non-microbiology picks
Could a Neuroscientist Understand a Microprocessor? – Eric Jonas – PLoS Computational Biology
Interesting to consider since there are parallels in microbiome analyses!