April 25, 2016

Just a short digest before I hop onto the plane back home at Amsterdam Airport.

Human gut microbiome

Might be DGGE; not sure (no access for me): Gastrointestinal Hormones, Intestinal Microbiota and Metabolic Homeostasis in Obese Patients: Effect of Bariatric Surgery – Alessandro Federico – In Vivo

Hypothesis: Microbes, molecular mimicry and molecules of mood and motivation – J.A. Morris – Medical Hypotheses

Review: The Intestinal Microbiome and Estrogen Receptor–Positive Female Breast Cancer – Maryann Kwa – Journal of the National Cancer Institute

Review: Pathophysiological role of host microbiota in the development of obesity – Nazarii Kobyliak – Nutrition Journal

Animal models

Fistulated dogs, food withheld for 5 days – not sure if the small gain in knowledge justifies the animal experiment here : The effects of feeding and withholding food on the canine small intestinal microbiota – A.C. Kasiraj – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Non-target impact of fungicide tetraconazole on microbial communities in soils with different agricultural management – Sławomir Sułowicz – Ecotoxicology

Air microbiome

Contribution of vegetation to the microbial composition of nearby outdoor air – Despoina S. Lymperopoulou – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Microbes in the news

Anorexia may be caused by bacterial infection, say scientists – Sarah Knapton – The Telegraph

Chromosomes Have A Lot to Talk About – Here’s How They Do it – Nandita Jayaraj – The Wire

Science, publishing, and career

Has the time come for preprints in biology? – Needhi Bhalla – bioRxiv

April 24, 2016

Effect of gluten-free diet, broad and accurate taxonomic resolution with multiple genes, ice-nucleating bacteria, indoor bacteria, fungi, and archaea.

Human oral microbiome

Changes in the Oral Moisture and the Amount of Microorganisms in Saliva and Tongue Coating after Oral Ingestion Resumption: A Pilot Study -Natsuki Kishimoto – The Open Dentistry Journal

Human gut microbiome

The influence of a short-term gluten-free diet on the human gut microbiome – Marc Jan Bonder – Genome Medicine

Gut microbiota of Type 1 diabetes patients with good glycaemic control and high physical fitness is similar to people without diabetes: an observational study – C. J. Stewart – Diabetic Medicine

The Influence of Prebiotic Arabinoxylan Oligosaccharides on Microbiota Derived Uremic Retention Solutes in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease: A Randomized Controlled Trial – Ruben Poesen – PLOS ONE

Minireview: Human microbiome versus food-borne pathogens: friend or foe – Jonathan Josephs-Spaulding – Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Opinion: Strain-level dissection of the contribution of the gut microbiome to human metabolic disease – Chenhong Zhang – Genome Medicine

Review: Impact of the gut microbiota on inflammation, obesity, and metabolic disease – Claire L. Boulangé – Genome Medicine

Review: Translational aspects of the microbiome—to be exploited – Edit Mikó – Cell Biology and Toxicology

Animal models

Statement of Retraction. Replication of Obesity and Associated Signaling Pathways Through Transfer of Microbiota From Obese-Prone Rats – Frank A Duca – Diabetes

Gene expression of Lactobacillus plantarum and the commensal microbiota in the ileum of healthy and early SIV-infected rhesus macaques – Benjamin L. Golomb – Scientific Reports

Intestinal Microbiota and Microbial Metabolites Are Changed in a Pig Model Fed a High-Fat/Low-Fiber or a Low-Fat/High-Fiber Diet – Sonja N. Heinritz – PLOS ONE

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

(also filed under New Techniques below) New insights in host-associated microbial diversity with broad and accurate taxonomic resolution – Matthew T. Agler – bioRxiv

Detection of plant growth enhancing features in psychrotolerant yeasts from Patagonia (Argentina) – María Cecilia Mestre – Journal of Basic Microbiology

Discovery and characterization of ionic liquid-tolerant thermophilic cellulases from a switchgrass-adapted microbial community – John M Gladden – Biofuels

Soil biochar amendment shapes the composition of N2O-reducing microbial communities – Johannes Hartera – Science of the Total Environment

Climate change and human activities altered the diversity and composition of soil microbial community in alpine grasslands of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau – Yong Zhang – Science of the Total Environment

Water and extremophile microbiome

Ice-nucleating bacteria control the order and dynamics of interfacial water – Ravindra Pandey – Science Advances

Unicellular cyanobacteria Synechocystis accommodate heterotrophic bacteria with varied enzymatic and metal resistance properties – Anas Abdulaziz – Journal of Basic Microbiology

Establishment of a multi-species biofilm model and metatranscriptomic analysis of biofilm and planktonic cell communities – Yuya Nakamura – Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Evidence of adaptation, niche separation and microevolution within the genus Polaromonas on Arctic and Antarctic glacial surfaces – Jan Gawor – Extremophiles

Built environment microbiology

Fungal and Bacterial Communities in Indoor Dust Follow Different Environmental Determinants – Fabian Weikl – PLOS ONE

Presence of Archaea in the Indoor Environment and Their Relationships with Housing Characteristics – Sepideh Pakpour – Microbial Ecology

Food microbiology

Enhancing the sweetness of yoghurt through metabolic remodeling of carbohydrate metabolism in Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. Bulgaricus – Kim I. Sørensen – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Microbiota of an Italian Grana like cheese during manufacture and ripening unraveled by 16S rRNA-based approaches – Valentina Alessandria – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Taxonomy, new techniques, bioinformatics

New insights in host-associated microbial diversity with broad and accurate taxonomic resolution – Matthew T. Agler – bioRxiv

Wedding higher taxonomic ranks with metabolic signatures coded in prokaryotic genomes – Gregorio Iraola – bioRxiv

Reviews: Eco-Evo-Devo: developmental symbiosis and developmental plasticity as evolutionary agents – Scott F. Gilbert – Nature Reviews Genetics

Microbes in the news

How the world’s chillest bacteria make ice. They may be responsible for creating clouds and rain – Alessandra Potenza – The Verge

How The Bacteria In Your Gut Could Be Used To Treat Mental Illness. New research finds that altering gut bacteria in mice changes the way their brains work – Carolyn Gregoire – Huffington Post

Five ‘fake’ water firms in Mombasa shut after tests confirm bacteria – Elkana Jacob – The Star Kenya

Investigators reduce sugar content of yogurt without reducing sweetness: using microbiological methods that predate the era of genetic technologies – Science Daily

How Toronto’s germs are different from those in other cities. New study reveals each community has its own unique blend of fungi and bacteria — a microbial signature – Robin Levinson King – The Star

Microbes and art

Living Art: Meet the Woman Making Sculptures With Bacteria from Her Skin, UK-based artist Mellissa Fisher – Stephanie Leke – Broadly The Vice

April 23, 2016

Pint of Science, oral microbiome dynamics, rheumatoid arthritis, mineral turnover in the rhizosphere, and the subzero microbiome.

Events

Pint of Science San Francisco Bay Area (also in other cities all over the world): 23-25 May 2016, combining beer and science

Pregnancy and birth

Microbiome and Fetus: A Relationship for Life – Janet Teodori – Journal of Prenatal & Perinatal Psychology & Health

The Tree(s) of Life: The Human Placenta and My Journey to Learn More about It – Carolyn B. Coyne – PLOS Pathogens

Human oral microbiome

Ultra-deep and quantitative saliva proteome reveals dynamics of the oral microbiome – Niklas Grassl – Genome Biology

Human vaginal microbiome

Effects of low dose estrogen therapy on the vaginal microbiomes of women with atrophic vaginitis – Jian Shen – Scientific Reports

Human gut microbiome

Plasmid metagenomics reveals multiple antibiotic resistance gene classes among the gut microbiomes of hospitalised patients – Tossawan Jitwasinkul – Journal of Global Antimicrobial Resistance

Bifidobacteria Abundance-Featured Gut Microbiota Compositional Change in Patients with Behcet’s Disease – Jun Shimizu – PLOS ONE

An expansion of rare lineage intestinal microbes characterizes rheumatoid arthritis – Jun Chen – Genome Medicine

Microbial Culturomics to Map Halophilic Bacterium in Human Gut: Genome Sequence and Description of Oceanobacillus jeddahense sp. Nov. – Khelaifia Saber – OMICS

Review: Bugging inflammation: role of the gut microbiota – Sj Shen – Clinical & Translational Immunology

Review: Modulating Composition and Metabolic Activity of the Gut Microbiota in IBD Patients – Mario Matijašić – MDPI Int J Mol Sci

Animal models

Effect of Dietary Carboxymethyllysine on glucose and insulin sensitivity, cecal fatty acids and the plasma metabolome in mice fed the Total Western Diet – Robert Edwin Ward – The FASEB Journal

Animal microbiome

The Microbiome of Animals: Implications for Conservation Biology – Simon Bahrndorff – International Journal of Genomics

Review: Herbivore dung as food for dung beetles: elementary coprology for entomologists – Peter Holter – Ecological Entomology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Plant–Microbiota Interactions as a Driver of the Mineral Turnover in the Rhizosphere – R. Alegria Terrazas – Advances in Applied Microbiology

Dynamics of endophytic bacteria in plant in vitro culture: quantification of three bacterial strains in Prunus avium in different plant organs and in vitro culture phases – Mona Quambusch – Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture (PCTOC)

Evaluating the lingering effect of livestock grazing on functional potentials of microbial communities in Tibetan grassland soils – Mengmeng Wang – Plant and Soil

Nitrogen fertilization affects bacteria utilizing plant-derived carbon in the rhizosphere of beech seedlings – Silvia Gschwendtner – Plant and Soil

Temporal dynamic of parasite-mediated linkages between the forest canopy and soil processes and the microbial community – Ana Mellado – New Phytologist

Rhizosphere priming effect on soil organic carbon decomposition under plant species differing in soil acidification and root exudation – Xiaojuan Wang – New Phytologist

Water and extremophile microbiome

Viral metabolic reprogramming in marine ecosystems – Bonnie L Hurwitz – Current Opinion in Microbiology

Review: The subzero microbiome: Microbial activity in frozen and thawing soils – Mrinalini P. Nikrad – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Gene expression profiling of microbial activities and interactions in sediments under haloclines of E. Mediterranean deep hypersaline anoxic basins – Virginia P Edgcomb – The ISME Journal

Waste and pollution microbiology

Effect of thermal pretreatment on the biogas production and microbial communities balance during anaerobic digestion of urban and industrial waste activated sludge – Hajer Ennouri – Bioresource Technology

The Arsenite Oxidation Potential of Native Microbial Communities from Arsenic-Rich Freshwaters – Stefano Fazi – Microbial Ecology

Microbial communities from different subsystems in biological heap leaching system play different roles in iron and sulfur metabolisms – Yunhua Xiao – Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Community Structure in Methanogenic Enrichments Provides Insight into Syntrophic Interactions in Hydrocarbon-Impacted Environments – S. Jane Fowler – Frontiers in Microbiology

Food microbiology

The Potential of the Incorporation of Essential Oils and Their Individual Constituents to Improve Microbial Safety in Juices: A Review – Evandro Leite de Souza – Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

The Metagenomic Pizza: a simple recipe to introduce bioinformatics to the layman – Marie-Claude Blatter – EMBnet

MOCAT2: a metagenomic assembly, annotation and profiling framework – Jens Roat Kultima – Bioinformatics

Temporal microbiome road-maps guided by perturbations – Beatriz García-Jiménez – bioRxiv

Fundamental Limits of Pooled-DNA Sequencing – A. Najafi – ArXiv

A perspective on 16S rRNA operational taxonomic unit clustering using sequence similarity – Nam-Phuong Nguyen – NPJ Biofilms

Microbial Ecology

Influence of dormancy on microbial competition under intermittent substrate supply: insights from model simulations – Konstantin Stolpovsky – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Viruses and phages

Giant viruses at the core of microscopic wars with global impacts – Adrien Villai – Current Opinion in Virology

Environmental surveillance of viruses by tangential flow filtration and metagenomic reconstruction – V Furtak – Eurosurveillance

Metabolomics

Review: Microbial metabolism of dietary components to bioactive metabolites: opportunities for new therapeutic interventions – Linda S. Zhang – Genome Medicine

Microbes in the news

Your office is a veritable petri dish of bacteria – Sarah Kaplan – The Washington Post

We’re home to trillions of cells that aren’t ours and they’re keeping us alive – Katherine Ellen Foley – Quartz

These oral bacteria are linked to an increased chance of getting pancreatic cancer – Laurie McGinley – The Washington Post

Our image duplication project on bioRxiv

As some of you already know, I have been working on a side-project on scientific misconduct, together with Arturo Casadevall ( Johns Hopkins) and Ferric Fang ( University of Washington). In this project, we screened over 20,000 papers that had been published in 40 different journals for cases of inappropriate image duplication, focusing on photographic images such as Western blots, gels, microscopy/histology, and FACS plots. It took me 2 years of almost all my free time to screen the papers and make reports on the 1 in every 25 papers that showed duplicated images or parts of images.

After sending our manuscript to 3 different journals and receiving 3 rejection letters, we wanted to share our results with a wider (and hopefully more positive) audience. So earlier this week, we posted our manuscript on the preprint server bioRxiv (a very easy and free process!). We have also submitted our ms to journal #4. After all, the fouth time’s a charm, right?

Here is the abstract and link to our preprint (not peer-reviewed). You can leave comments at the bottom.

The Prevalence of Inappropriate Image Duplication in Biomedical Research Publications – Elisabeth M. Bik, Arturo Casadevall, Ferric C. Fang – Preprint on bioRxiv

Inaccurate data in scientific papers can result from honest error or intentional falsification. This study attempted to determine the percentage of published papers containing inappropriate image duplication, a specific type of inaccurate data. The images from a total of 20,621 papers in 40 scientific journals from 1995-2014 were visually screened. Overall, 3.8% of published papers contained problematic figures, with at least half exhibiting features suggestive of deliberate manipulation. The prevalence of papers with problematic images rose markedly during the past decade. Additional papers written by authors of papers with problematic images had an increased likelihood of containing problematic images as well. As this analysis focused only on one type of data, it is likely that the actual prevalence of inaccurate data in the published literature is higher. The marked variation in the frequency of problematic images among journals suggest that journal practices, such as pre-publication image screening, influence the quality of the scientific literature.

Retraction Watch coverage

So far, our manuscript has been featured by a couple of news and science sites. Cat Ferguson of Retraction Watch was the first to cover our study in an article called “One in 25 papers contains inappropriately duplicated images, screen finds“. Cat writes:

Bik’s procedure to find these kinds of duplications is disarmingly simple. She pulls up all the figures in a paper and scans them. It only takes her about a minute to check all the images in a PLoS ONE paper, a little longer for a paper with more complicated figures. In some cases, Bik adjusted the contrast on the image to better spot manipulations.

Some other news sites that covered the study:

Problematic images found in 4% of biomedical papers. Giant survey suggests journals should pay more attention to detecting inappropriate duplications – Monya Baker – Nature News

Many Duplicates Unearthed – GenomeWeb

Repeat Offenders: Scanning the literature, scientists find that nearly 2 percent of papers contain duplicated and manipulated figures – Kerry Grens – The Scientist

Brain station; monkey business; duplication dilemma – Katie Moisse -Spectrum News

Peer Review Fails, Again. I don’t know if the refusal of three (3) journals to date to publish this work or that peer reviewers of the original papers missed the duplication is the sadder news about this paper. – Patrick Durusau – Another Word For It.

In German: Schummelbilder in vier Prozent aller Veröffentlichungen – Lars Fischer- Spektrum

In Dutch: Veel geknoei met foto’s – Wetenschapsfraude –  Dezelfde foto met een ander bijschrift, is dat een slordigheidje of bewuste misleiding? Het blijkt regelmatig voor te komen – Sander Voormolen – NRC

In Russian: 4% биомедицинских статей содержат некорректные иллюстрации – Scientific Russia

 

 

April 22, 2016

General microbiome

Nutrigenomics, the Microbiome, and Gene-Environment Interactions: New Directions in Cardiovascular Disease Research, Prevention, and Treatment
A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association – Jane F. Ferguson – Circulation: Cardiovascular Genetics

Human skin and eye microbiome

Commentary: Details Matter: Designing Skin Microbiome Studies – Heidi H. Kong – Journal of Investigative Dermatology

Defining the normal “core microbiome” of conjunctival microbial communities – Yusen Huang – Clinical Microbiology and Infection

Supplement with abstracts for the American Academy of Dermatology 74th Annual Meeting – Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology

Supplement with abstracts for the Society for Investigative Dermatology (SID 2016) Annual Meeting – Journal of Investigative Dermatology

Human gut microbiome

Strain-level dissection of the contribution of the gut microbiome to human metabolic disease – Chenhong Zhang – Genome Medicine

Review: Microbiome alterations in HIV infection a review – Brett Williams – Cellular Microbiology

Review? Does Gut Microbiota Affect Endothelial Functions in Chronic Kidney Disease Patients With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus? – American Journal of Kidney Diseases

Commentary: The return of microbes – Didier Raoult – Clinical Microbiology and Infection

Review: Use your antibiotics wisely. Consequences to the intestinal microbiome – Jorge Cervantes – FEMS Microbiology Letters

Review: The Microbiome, Timing, and Barrier Function in the Context of Allergic Disease – Duane R. Wesemann – Immunity

Animal and in vitro models
Cigarette Smoke Attenuates the Nasal Host Response to Streptococcus pneumoniae and Predisposes to Invasive Pneumococcal Disease in Mice – Pamela Shen – Infection and Immunity

Susceptibility to Ticks and Lyme Disease Spirochetes Is Not Affected in Mice Coinfected with Nematodes – Denny Maaz – Infection and Immunity

Adherence of probiotic bacteria to human colon epithelial cells and inhibitory effect against enteric pathogens – In vitro study – Nowak Adriana – International Journal of Dairy Technology

Microbiota-driven transcriptional changes in prefrontal cortex override genetic differences in social behavior – Mar Gacias – eLIFE

Gut Microbiota Drive Autoimmune Arthritis by Promoting Differentiation and Migration of Peyer’s Patch T Follicular Helper Cells – Fei Teng – Immunity

Preview: Viral Safeguard: The Enteric Virome Protects against Gut Inflammation – Stephanie M. Karst – Immunity

Animal microbiome

Fecal metagenomics for the simultaneous assessment of diet, parasites, and population genetics of an understudied primate – Amrita Srivathsan – Frontiers in Zoology

Comparative analysis of midgut bacterial communities in three aedine mosquito species from dengue-endemic and non-endemic areas of Rajasthan, India – S. S. Charan – Medical and Veterinary Entomology

Minireview: The Sponge Hologenome – Nicole S. Webster – mBio

Water and extremophile microbiome

Response of Antarctic cryoconite microbial communities to light – Elizabeth A. Bagshaw – Microbiology Ecology

Built environment microbiology
The Built Environment Is a Microbial Wasteland – Sean M. Gibbons – mSystems

Food microbiology

Assessment of the microbial diversity during an industrial-scale malting process by a polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analysis – Ruilong Li – Journal of the Institute of Brewing (gotta love that name!)

Phages, viruses, and CRISPRs

The diversity-generating benefits of a prokaryotic adaptive immune system – Stineke van Houte – Nature

Microbes in the news
Your city’s microbiome is unique – Christina Procopiou – Newsweek

Human beings – and our offices – are crawling with microbes – Joanna Verran – The Conversation

About Jonathan EisenThis microbiologist loves bugs, hates hype – and wants you to send him your cat’s poop – Rob Waters – STATnews

Close-up of a dust bunny – Holly Ganz – MicroBE.net

Looking Back, Looking Forward and Phage Hunters: A Q&A with the Student Commencement Speaker – Emily Hellewell – Brigham Young University

Do gut microbes shape our evolution? Researcher proposes that a host’s microbiota can steer its evolution in new directions – Science Daily

Pfizer, Roche Embrace The Microbiome, Leading $43M Bet On Second Genome – Luke Timmerman – Forbes

You’re Home to Trillions of Microbes That Affect Everything From Digestion to Depression – Sydney Lupkin – Vice

Pancreatic Cancer Risk Tied to Specific Mouth Bacteria – Infection Control Today

Science, publishing, and career
Due process in the Twitter age – Marcia McNutt – Science

Peer review: Troubled from the start – Alex Csiszar – Nature

Dirty room-mates make lab mice more useful. Housing lab mice with pet-shop mice gives them more human-like immune systems – Sara Reardon – Nature

UC Davis Storer Lecture series – since 1963 87% of speakers are male – Jonathan Eisen – The Tree of LIfe

April 20, 2016

Posting from SJC: The reproductive tract microbiome from heterosexual couples, olfactory epithelium changes in GF mice, and life in the twilight zone.

Jobs

Post doc positions in human microbiome research in the Lynch Lab at #UCSF – Jonathan Eisen – MicroBEnet

Human respiratory microbiome

Culture-Independent Identification of Nontuberculous Mycobacteria in Cystic Fibrosis Respiratory Samples – Lindsay J. Caverly – PLOS ONE

Human reproductive tract microbiome

Rationale and Safety Assessment of a Novel Intravaginal Drug-Delivery System with Sustained DL-Lactic Acid Release, Intended for Long-Term Protection of the Vaginal Microbiome – Hans Verstraelen – PLOS ONE

Bacterial communities in penile skin, male urethra, and vaginas of heterosexual couples with and without bacterial vaginosis – Marcela Zozaya – Microbiome

Human gut microbiome

Review: Antibiotics, obesity and the link to microbes – what are we doing to our children? – Olli Turta – BMC Medicine

Review: Microbiome mediation of infections in the cancer setting – Ying Taur – Genome Medicine

Review: Moody microbes or fecal phrenology: what do we know about the microbiota-gut-brain axis? – Paul Forsythe – BMC Medicine

Animal models

Olfactory epithelium changes in germfree mice – Adrien François – Scientific Reports

Association between Polycystic Ovary Syndrome and Gut Microbiota – Yanjie Guo – PLOS ONE

Effect of fidaxomicin versus vancomycin on susceptibility to intestinal colonization with vancomycin-resistant enterococci and Klebsiella pneumoniae in mice – Abhishek Deshpande – Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy

Intestinal microbiota and oral administration of Enterococcus faecium associated with the growth performance of new-born piglets – Y.B. Wang – Beneficial Microbes

Animal microbiome

Impact of the Chromatin Remodeling Factor CHD1 on Gut Microbiome Composition of Drosophila melanogaster – Johanna Sebald – PLOS ONE

MinireviewLower Termite Associations with Microbes: Synergy, Protection, and Interplay – Brittany F. Peterson – Frontiers in Microbiology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Volatile compounds emitted by diverse phytopathogenic microorganisms promote plant growth and flowering through cytokinin action – Ángela María Sánchez-López – Plant, Cell & Environment

Quantifying the associations between fungal endophytes and biocontrol-induced herbivory of invasive purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria L.) – Aaron S David – Mycologia

Effect of CaMSRB2-Expressing Transgenic Rice Cultivation on Soil Microbial Community – Soo-In Sohn – Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology

Water microbiome

Marine protist associations and environmental impacts across trophic levels in the twilight zone and below – VP Edgcomb – Current Opinion in Microbiology

The Arsenite Oxidation Potential of Native Microbial Communities from Arsenic-Rich Freshwaters – Stefano Fazi – Microbial Ecology

Probiotics

Review: Probiotic approach to prevent antibiotic resistance – Arthur C. Ouwehand – Annals of Medicine

Infection microbiology

Metataxonomic and Metagenomic Approaches vs. Culture-Based Techniques for Clinical Pathology – Sarah K. Hilton – Frontiers in Microbiology

More microbiology
A Generalized Spatial Measure for Resilience of Microbial Systems – Ryan S. Renslow – Frontiers in Microbiology

Community assembly and coexistence in communities of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi – Kriszta Vályi – The ISME Journal

Microbes in the news

Exploding bacteria could help in our battle against superbugs: Aussie researchers have discovered that some bacteria explode to share useful resources with others, causing the whole group to become nastier. – Signe Dean – SBS

Phylo.io: interactive viewing and comparison of large phylogenetic trees on the web – Oscar Robinson – Molecular Biology and Evolution

April 19, 2016

A review about breastmilk with a great name, skin microbiome in different populations, a mouse model for Sjögren’s, the office microbiome, Guam reef sponges, the Alaska tundra ecosystem, and taxonomic classification. Note that I will be traveling internationally in the next couple of days due to (another) tragic family situation, so posting will be irregular. But I will try my best!

Pregnancy and birth

Review: Breastfed at Tiffany’s – Thierry Hennet – Trends in Biochemical Sciences

Human skin microbiome

Body Site Is a More Determinant Factor than Human Population Diversity in the Healthy Skin Microbiome – Guillermo I. Perez Perez – PLOS ONE

Pathogenic bacteria profile and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of ear infection at Bahir Dar Regional Health Research Laboratory Center, Ethiopia – Derese Hailu – SpringerPlus

Human oral microbiome (also see Animal models, below)

Comparison of the Oral Microbiome of Siblings Using Next-generation Sequencing: a Pilot Study – Hyo-Seol Lee – Oral Diseases

Human gastric microbiome

Characterisation of the gastrointestinal mucosa-associated microbiota: a novel technique to prevent cross-contamination during endoscopic procedures – E. R. Shanahan – Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics

Human gut microbiome

Conference Abstract: Walnut Consumption Influences the Human Gut Microbiome – Heather M Guetterman – The FASEB Journal

Conference Abstract: Anemia and Iron Status are Predictors of Gut Microbiome Composition and Metabolites in Infants and Children in Rural Kenya – Daniela Paganini – The FASEB Journal

Recurrent Clostridium difficile infection associates with distinct bile acid and microbiome profiles – J. R. Allegretti – Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics

Effects of sardine-enriched diet on metabolic control, inflammation and gut microbiota in drug-naïve patients with type 2 diabetes: a pilot randomized trial – Mariona Balfegó – Lipids in Health and Disease

Review: From gut dysbiosis to altered brain function and mental illness: mechanisms and pathways – G B Rogers – Molecular Psychiatry

Review: Reshaping the gut microbiota: Impact of low calorie sweeteners and the link to insulin resistance? – Jodi E. Nettleton – Physiology & Behavior

Book chapter, some plagiarism: Impact of Probiotics and Gut Microbiota on Host Behavior – Sarabjit Singh Kanwar – Microbes in Food and Health

Animal models of microbiome research

Mouse model: Altered Mucosal Microbiome Diversity and Disease Severity in Sjögren Syndrome – Cintia S. de Paiva – Scientific Reports

Systemic Characterization of an Obese Phenotype in the Zucker Rat Model Defining Metabolic Axes of Energy Metabolism and Host-Microbial Interactions – Jutarop Phetcharaburanin – Journal of Proteome Research

Metagenomic analysis of antibiotic-induced changes in gut microbiota in a pregnant rat model – Imran Khan – Frontiers in Pharmacology

Inflammasome signaling affects anxiety- and depressive-like behavior and gut microbiome composition – M-L Wong – Molecular Psychiatry

Animal microbiome

The reproductive tracts of two malaria vectors are populated by a core microbiome and by gender- and swarm-enriched microbial biomarkers – Nicola Segata – Scientific Reports

In four shallow and mesophotic tropical reef sponges from Guam the microbial community largely depends on host identity – Georg Steinert – PeerJ

Microbiome analysis and detection of pathogenic bacteria of Penaeus monodon from Jakarta Bay and Bali – Vincensius S.P. Oetama – Marine Pollution Bulletin

Diversity of endosymbiont bacteria associated with a non-filarial nematode group – Stela S. Lazarova – Nematology

Master thesis: Effects of Roundup (glyphosate) on gut microorganisms of farm animals – Charlotte Lynggaard Katholm – Aarhus University

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Functional composition of plant communities determines the spatial and temporal stability of soil microbial properties in a long-term plant diversity experiment – Tanja Strecker – Oikos

Bacterial communities of the cotton aphid Aphis gossypii associated with Bt cotton in northern China – Yao Zhao – Scientific Reports

Soil microbial community composition and respiration along an experimental precipitation gradient in a semiarid steppe – Cancan Zhao – Scientific Reports

Bioaerosol Deposition to Food Crops near Manure Application: Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment – Michael A. Jahne – Journal of Environmental Quality

Effects of biofumigation using Brassica juncea and Raphanus sativus in comparison to disinfection using Basamid on apple plant growth and soil microbial communities at three field sites with replant disease – Bunlong Yim – Plant and Soil

Bacterial and eukaryal diversity in soils forming from acid mine drainage precipitates under reclaimed vegetation and biological crusts – Claudia Rojas – Applied Soil Ecology

Assessment of Bacterial Communities and Predictive Functional Profiling in Soils Subjected to Short-Term Fumigation-Incubation – Lin Chen – Microbial Ecology

Archaeal communities in the sediments of different mangrove stands at Dongzhaigang, China – Wei Li – Journal of Soils and Sediments

Metagenomics reveals pervasive bacterial populations and reduced community diversity across the Alaska tundra ecosystem – Eric R. Johnston – Frontiers in Microbiology

Water microbiome

Bacterioplankton biogeography in the Atlantic Ocean: a case study of the distance-decay relationship – Mathias Milici – Frontiers in Microbiology

Proteomic Stable Isotope Probing Reveals Biosynthesis Dynamics of Slow Growing Methane Based Microbial Communities – Jeffrey Marlow – Frontiers in Microbiology

Metagenomic analysis of sediments under seaports influence in the Equatorial Atlantic Ocean – Tallita Cruz Lopes Tavares – Science of The Total Environment

Dissolution Tests and Microbial Community Analysis Using the Bottom Sediment before and after a Heavy Storm – Ikuo Tsushima – Journal of Water and Environment Technology

Carbohydrate production by microbial mats communities in tidal flat from Bahía Blanca Estuary (Argentina) – E. M. Fernández – Environmental Earth Sciences

Built environment microbiome

Geography and Location Are the Primary Drivers of Office Microbiome Composition – John Chase – mSystems

Waste and pollution microbiology

Population Dynamics of Bulking and Foaming Bacteria in a Full-scale Wastewater Treatment Plant over Five Years – Xiao-Tao Jiang – Scientific Reports

Quantification of microbial load in diesel storage tanks using culture- and qPCR-based approaches – Pedro M. Martin-Sanchez – International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation

Bacterial communities in oil contaminated soils: Biogeography and co-occurrence patterns – Shuo Jiao – Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Methanogen Population of an Oil Production Skimmer Pit and the Effects of Environmental Factors and Substrate Availability on Methanogenesis and Corrosion Rates – Okoro Chuma Conlette – Microbial Ecology

Phages and viruses

Parasite diversity drives rapid host dynamics and evolution of resistance in a bacteria-phage system – Alex Betts – Evolution

Research highlight: More of the world’s a phage – Naomi Attar – Nature Reviews Microbiology

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

Fast and sensitive taxonomic classification for metagenomics with Kaiju – Peter Menzel – Nature Communications

META-pipe – Pipeline Annotation, Analysis and Visualization of Marine Metagenomic Sequence Data – Espen Mikal Robertsen – ArXiv

Fast and sensitive mapping of nanopore sequencing reads with GraphMap – Ivan Sović – Nature Communications

Single-Cell (Meta-)Genomics of a Dimorphic Candidatus Thiomargarita nelsonii Reveals Genomic Plasticity – Beverly E. Flood – Frontiers in Microbiology

Editorial: A tale of two tardigrades – Thomas A. Richards – PNAS

Review: A guide through a family of phylogenetic dissimilarity measures among sites – Sandrine Pavoine – Oikos

Review: Compositional analysis: a valid approach to analyze microbiome high throughput sequencing data – Gregory B Gloor – Canadian Journal of Microbiology

More microbiology

Accessing Nature’s diversity through metabolic engineering and synthetic biology – Jason R. King – F1000 Research

Utilization and control of ecological interactions in polymicrobial infections and community-based microbial cell factories – Vinoth Wigneswaran – F1000 Research

Microbes in the news

Your Invisible Neighbors: Each City Has Unique Microbes – Katherine Du – NPR

Can the bacteria on your skin reveal where you are from? Floors, walls and people in different cities have distinct microbial ‘signatures’ – Abigail Beall – Daily Mail

6 surprising facts about sugar-laden, virus-fighting breast milk – Megan Thielking – STAT News

Gut microbiota development driven by specific enzyme in breast milk – Yvette Brazier – Medical News Today

Mothers’ milk and the infant gut microbiota: An ancient symbiosis – Science Daily

Microbiome-Brain Research to Get $2.8M Boost from NIDA, NCCIH – Genome Web

Earth Day: New insights into coral health hidden in reefs’ microbiomes – National Science Foundation

Downwind safety on the farm. Manure application research aims to improve food safety – American Society of Agronomy

Heartburn Meds Alter the Gut. Acid blockers reduce the diversity of bacteria in the intestines—and that could lead to trouble – Melinda Wenner Moyer – Scientific American

Bacteria that ‘breathes’ iron: Microbes that might change our search for life in space – Dawn Papple – Inquisitr

Microbes and art
This artist uses bacteria as paint: Paint by Microbes – Steph Yin – PopSci

Science, publishing, and career

From #realtimechem to #whywedoresearch: Who are the Tweeting scientists? – Andrew Marsh – Piirus

Tips for Using Social Media to Promote Your Research – Emma Hedington – NPJ Biofilms and Microbiomes

About Joseph MercolaKnown Quack Forced to Refund Customers for Lying About Effects of Tanning Beds – Bryan Menegus – Gizmodo

Bik’s Picks

Meet the woman who makes fake fingers for Japan’s reformed gangsters – Justin McCurry – The Guardian

April 18, 2016

Tongue coating and halitosis, mucosa and Crohn’s, biography in American forests diazotrophs, and microbes on parchment documents.

Events

Submit your microbial artwork and win the ISMEJ cover competition! – The ISME Journal

Human oral microbiome

Tongue Coating and the Salivary Microbial Communities Vary in Children with Halitosis – Wen Re – Scientific Reports

Human respiratory microbiome

Clinical impact of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus on bacterial pneumonia: cultivation and 16S ribosomal RNA gene analysis of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid – Toshinori Kawanami – BMC Infectious Diseases

Human gut microbiome

Mucosa-attached bacterial community in Crohn’s Disease coheres with the Clinical Disease Activity Index – Holger Schäffler – Environmental Microbiology Reports

Animal microbiome

Impact of gut microbiota on the fly’s germ line – Michael Elgart – Nature Communications

Caribbean corals house shared and host-specific microbial symbionts over time and space – Nathaniel D. Chu – Environmental Microbiology Reports

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Biogeographic Patterns of Soil Diazotrophic Communities across Six Forests in the North America – Qichao Tu – Molecular Ecology

Unique Organic Matter and Microbial Properties in the Rhizosphere of a Wetland Soil – Daniel I. Kaplan – Environ. Sci. Technol.

Water microbiology

Characterization of microbial associations with methanotrophic archaea and sulfate-reducing bacteria through statistical comparison of nested Magneto-FISH enrichments – Elizabeth Trembath-Reichert – PeerJ

Air microbiology

Assessment of microbial communities in PM1 and PM10 of Urumqi during winter – Huange Gou – Environmental Pollution

Waste and pollution microbiology

Geochemical and temporal influences on the enrichment of acidophilic iron-oxidizing bacterial communities – Yizhi Sheng – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

ReviewInsights into microbial diversity in wastewater treatment systems: How far have we come? – Isabel Ferrera – Biotechnology Advances

Built environment microbiology

Evaluation of a Parchment Document, the 13th Century Incorporation Charter for the City of Krakow, Poland, for Microbial Hazards – Tomasz Lech – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Extraction of Aerosol-Deposited Yersinia pestis from Indoor Surfaces To Determine Bacterial Environmental Decay – Ian M. Gut- Applied and Environmental Microbiology

More microbiology

Mechanisms of Bacterial (Serratia marcescens) Attachment to, Migration along, and Killing of Fungal Hyphae – Tal Hover – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Principles for designing synthetic microbial communities – Nathan I Johns – Current Opinion in Microbiology

Microbes and art

Bacteria Rule Everything Around Me – Geoff Manaugh – BLDG blog

‘Financial Growth’ reveals just how much coins and money can communicate, transfer and exchange – Heidi Hinder

Microbes in the news

In Dutch, with quotes from me: Ineens zit je wel en wee in je darm – Sander Voormolen – NRC

The Endurance of Microbiology: An Interview with Mike Jetten, Mark Martin, Ute Römling, and Victor Torres – Trends in Microbiology

‘We have never been this close’: The campaign to eradicate polio takes a giant step forward – Helen Branswell – STAT News

Antarctica research published – Mike Henson – Thrash Lab

Q&A with Councilor Eva Harris on battle against Zika – American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

Creating a biobank of the Flagstaff community: Me and my microbiota – Tom Carpenter – AZ Daily Sun

The Human Body’s Complicated Relationship With Fungi – Bret Stetka – WCQS

Queens University student discovers a virus strain – News Observer

Researchers chew over the differences in mouth bacteria in horses – HorseTalk

Newly discovered microbe keeps teeth healthy: Bacteria may offer a new way to prevent cavities – Society for Science

Next job for the microbiome: Tagging criminals – Andrew Porterfield – Genetic Literacy Project

Great Barrier Reef: the scale of bleaching has the most sober scientists worried – James Woodford – The Guardian

Viruses Find Love In A Boiling Place – Inside Science

UB establishes Center for Microbiome Research – University at Buffalo

Cow’s milk has vital prebiotic for a healthy baby’s microbiome – New Scientist

Mainstreaming the Microbiome – Susan K Finston – Biotech blog

Study: Jet Hand Dryers Blast Bacteria Around Bathrooms with Terrifying Force – Ed Jones – Modern Readers

April 17, 2016

General microbiome

Review: The effects of antibiotics on the microbiome throughout development and alternative approaches for therapeutic modulation – Amy Langdon – Genome Medicine

Human oral microbiome

The predictive value of microbiological findings on teeth, internal and external implant portions in clinical decision making – Luigi Canullo – Clinical Oral Implants Research

Human respiratory microbiome

Airway Microbiota in Severe Asthma and Relationship to Asthma Severity and Phenotypes – Qingling Zhang – PLOS ONE

Effects of a honeybee lactic acid bacterial microbiome on human nasal symptoms, commensals, and biomarkers – Anders Mårtensson – International Forum of Allergy & Rhinology

Human gut microbiome

Consistent Prebiotic Effect on Gut Microbiota With Altered FODMAP Intake in Patients with Crohn’s Disease: A Randomised, Controlled Cross-Over Trial of Well-Defined Diets – Emma P Halmos – Clinical and Translational Gastroenterology

Review: Role of the microbiome in non-gastrointestinal cancers – Meirav Pevsner-Fischer – World Journal of Clinical Oncology

Animal models

Thymol and Carvacrol Affect Hybrid Tilapia through the Combination of Direct Stimulation and an Intestinal Microbiota-Mediated Effect: Insights from a Germ-Free Zebrafish Model – Chao Ra – The Journal of Nutrition

Animal microbiome

Microbial diversity in the digestive tract of two different breeds of sheep – J.-L. Douglas – Journal of Applied Microbiology

The Microbiome of the Uropygial Secretion in Hoopoes Is Shaped Along the Nesting Phase – Ángela Martínez-García – Microbial Ecology

The microbiome associated with equine periodontitis and oral health – Rebekah Kennedy – Veterinary Research

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Diversity and Composition of the Leaf Mycobiome of Beech (Fagus sylvatica) Are Affected by Local Habitat Conditions and Leaf Biochemistry – Martin Unterseher – PLOS ONE

Unearthing microbial diversity of Taxus rhizosphere via MiSeq high-throughput amplicon sequencing and isolate characterization – Da Cheng Hao – Scientific Reports

High Diversity Revealed in Leaf-Associated Protists (Rhizaria: Cercozoa) of Brassicaceae – Sebastian Ploch – Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology

Temporal and spatial assessment of microbial communities in commercial silages from bunker silos– J. Kraut-Cohen – Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

Water and extremophile microbiome

Aquatic fungi: targeting the forgotten in microbial ecology – Hans-Peter Grossart – Current Opinion in MIcrobiology

Mineralogy and Microbial Diversity of the Microbialites in the Hypersaline Storr’s Lake, the Bahamas – Varun G. Paul – Astrobiology

Microbial–meiofaunal interrelationships in coastal sediments of the Red Sea – Hamed A. El-Serehy – Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences

Waste and pollution microbiology

Biological Activity of Autochthonic Bacterial Community in Oil-Contaminated Soil – Agnieszka Wolińska – Water Air Soil Pollution

Bioinformatics

Visualization of Metabolic Interaction Networks in Microbial Communities Using VisANT 5.0 – Brian R. Granger – PLOS Computational Biology

More microbiology

Antimicrobial activity of extracts from macroalgae Ulva lactuca against clinically important Staphylococci is impacted by lunar phase of macroalgae harvest – A.M. Deveau – Letters in Applied Microbiology

Harnessing the Power of Defensive Microbes: Evolutionary Implications in Nature and Disease Control – Suzanne A. Ford – PLOS Pathogens

Microbes in the news

The Wood Wide Web. A new study shows that trees of different species can exchange large amounts of carbon via the fungal internet that connects their roots. – Ed Yong – The Atlantic

Antibiotics may have lasting impact on the immune system of children – MedicalXpress

Drugs for your gut bugs are on the horizon – Elizabeth Preston – STAT News

A Gut Feeling. See profilee Hans Clevers discuss his work with stem cells and cancer in the small intestine – The Scientist

Qiime2 will revolutionize microbiome bioinformatics – Greg Caporaso – American Gut

Bik’s Picks

Pepper-sprayed students outraged as UC Davis tried to scrub incident from web – Anita Chabria – The Guardian

April 14, 2016

Events

Translational Microbiome Conference, April 20-21, Boston MA

Guggenheim Securities Microbiome Day, April 21, New York. I cannot find a website for the conference, but got several links to press releases from companies that will participate, such as Enterome and Evelo Biosciences

General microbiome

Intricacies of assessing the human microbiome in epidemiological studies – Courtney K. Robinson – Annals of Epidemiology

Pregnancy and birth

Secretory IgA in the Coordination of Establishment and Maintenance of the Microbiota – Oliver Pabst – Trends in Immunology

Human skin microbiome

The microbiological signature of human cutaneous leishmaniasis lesions exhibits restricted bacterial diversity compared to healthy skin – Vanessa R Salgado – Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz

Human respiratory microbiome

Conference abstract: Analysis of the Sputum Microbiome in the Severe Asthma – Rihuang Qiu – Chest Journal

Human gut microbiome

(also contains animal experiments): Helminth infection promotes colonization resistance via type 2 immunity – Deepshika Ramanan – Science

Assessing the Colonic Microbiota in Children: Effects of Sample Site and Bowel Preparation – Shaw, Alexander G. – Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology & Nutrition

Editorial: further evidence that proton pump inhibitors may impact on the gut microbiota – A. W. Walker – Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics

Couple of papers from the Didier Raoult lab in New Microbes and New Infections (half of the next issue of that journal is by people from his group)
Isolation of a new species Peptoniphilus phoceensis from the human gut – Gaël Mourembou
Romboutsia timonensis, a new Species isolated from human Gut – Davide Ricaboni
« Bariatricus massiliensis », as a new bacterial species from the human gut microbiota – Simon Bessis

Review: Adaptation of Candida albicans to commensalism in the gut – Daniel Prieto – Future Microbiology

Review: Potential Role of the Microbiome in Barrett’s Esophagus and Esophageal Adenocarcinoma – Erik J. Snider – Digestive Diseases and Sciences

Review: Gut barrier structure, mucosal immunity and intestinal microbiota in the pathogenesis and treatment of HIV infection – Camilla Tincati – AIDS Research and Therapy

Review: Gut microbiota, inflammation and colorectal cancer – Jun Sun – Genes & Diseases

Review: Age-mediated changes in the gastrointestinal tract – Hamid A. Merchant – International Journal of Pharmaceutics

Review: Current Understanding of Dysbiosis in Disease in Human and Animal Models – DeGruttola, Arianna K. – Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Animal models

Resilience of the intestinal microbiota following pathogenic bacterial infection is independent of innate immunity mediated by NOD1 or NOD2 – Susan J. Robertson – Microbes and Infection

Changes of Mouse Gut Microbiota Diversity and Composition by Modulating Dietary Protein and Carbohydrate Contents: A Pilot Study – Eunjung Kim – Preventive Nutrition and Food Science

Chemopreventive Metabolites Are Correlated with a Change in Intestinal Microbiota Measured in A-T Mice and Decreased Carcinogenesis – Amrita K. Cheema – PLOS ONE

Animal microbiome

Analysis of the rumen bacteria and methanogenic archaea of yak (Bos grunniens) steers grazing on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau – Dan Xue – Livestock Science

Evolution of the nasopharyngeal microbiota of beef cattle from weaning to 40 days after arrival at a feedlot – Edouard Timsit – Veterinary Microbiology

The gut microbiome and degradation enzyme activity of wild freshwater fishes influenced by their trophic levels – Han Liu – Scientific Reports

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Multiple effects of a commercial Roundup® formulation on the soil filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans at low doses: evidence of an unexpected impact on energetic metabolism – Valérie Nicolas – Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Environmental Filtering Process Has More Important Roles than Dispersal Limitation in Shaping Large-Scale Prokaryotic Beta Diversity Patterns of Grassland Soils – Peng Cao – Microbial Ecology

Rhizosphere of Avicennia marina (Forsk.) Vierh. as a landmark for polythene degrading bacteria – Mohd. Shahnawaz – Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Wastewater microbiology

Mussel biofiltration effects on attached bacteria and unicellular eukaryotes in fish-rearing seawater – Eleni Voudanta – PeerJ

Characterization of microbial communities in wetland mesocosms receiving caffeine-enriched wastewater – Dongqing Zhang – Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Food microbiology

Bacterial community analysis of Tatsoi cultivated by hydroponics – Ok K. Koo – Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part B

Heterofermentative lactic acid bacteria dominate in Korean commercial kimchi – Hee-Young Kim – Food Science and Biotechnology

Spatial Distribution of the Metabolically Active Microbiota within Italian PDO Ewes’ Milk Cheeses – Ilaria De Pasquale – PLOS ONE

Effect of postharvest practices on the culturable filamentous fungi and yeast microbiota associated with the pear carpoplane – Quinton Volschenk – Postharvest Biology and Technology

Review: Control of ochratoxin A-producing fungi in grape berry by microbial antagonists: A review – Hongyin Zhang – Trends in Food Science & Technology

More microbiology

Implementing an Antibiotic Stewardship Program: Guidelines by the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America – Tamar F. Barlam – Clinical Infectious Diseases

Zero-inflated negative binomial mixed model: an application to two microbial organisms important in oesophagitis – R. Fang – Epidemiology and Infection
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?

Density-Dependent Differentiation of Bacteria in Spatially Structured Open Systems – Jan Ribbe – Biophysical Journal

Opinion: Harnessing the Power of Defensive Microbes: Evolutionary Implications in Nature and Disease Control – Suzanne A. Ford – PLOS Pathogens

Review: Directed evolution and synthetic biology applications to microbial systems – Marcelo C Bassalo – Current Opinion in Biotechnology

Microbes in the news

Gut bacteria could help prevent cancer – Science Daily

AmpliPhi Bio’s bacteriophage cocktail shows encouraging infection-fighting prowess in cystic fibrosis isolates; shares up 13% – Seeking Alpha

What do you want to know about your microbiome? uBiome opens poll on which of 6 top projects should win $100K in research help – Beth Mole – Ars Technica

Worm Infection Counters Inflammatory Bowel Disease by Drastically Changing Gut Microbiome – PR Newswire

The Microbiome: What Is It and How Does It Affect You? – Marsha Nunley – PR web

Science, publishing, and career

Why our peer review system is a toothless watchdog – Ivan Oransky and Adam Marcus – STAT News

Don’t dismiss science fairs. Make them better – Patrick Skerrett – STAT News

Dutch push for a quantum leap in open access – Martin Enserink – Science