Category Archives: Events and jobs

September 16, 2016

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Hadza fecal metabolome, phyllosphere of indoor plants, decoupling function and taxonomy in the ocean, and winners of the 2016 MoBio Microbiome Awards.

Events

The Swarm Inside: Making Sense of the Microbiome – September 27, 2016 – Kavli Conversations

Human oral microbiome / proteomics

Metaproteomics of saliva identifies human protein markers specific for individuals with periodontitis and dental caries compared to orally healthy controls – Daniel Belstrøm – PeerJ

Human reproductive tract microbiome

Inflammation, Microbiota, and Prostate Cancer – Martin Puhr – European Urology Focus

Human gut microbiome / metabolome

Fecal metabolome of the Hadza hunter-gatherers: a host-microbiome integrative view – Silvia Turroni – Scientific Reports

Association of brain amyloidosis with pro-inflammatory gut bacterial taxa and peripheral inflammation markers in cognitively impaired elderly – Annamaria Cattaneo – Neurobiology of Aging

Minireview: Correlations of Host Genetics and Gut Microbiome Composition – Krystyna Dąbrowska – Frontiers in Microbiology

Animal and bioreactor experiments

Normalizing Microbiota-Induced Retinoic Acid Deficiency Stimulates Protective CD8+ T Cell-Mediated Immunity in Colorectal Cancer – Nupur Bhattacharya – Immunity

In vitro analysis of partially hydrolyzed guar gum fermentation on identified gut microbiotaIn vitro analysis of partially hydrolyzed guar gum fermentation on identified gut microbiota – Justin Carlsona – Anaerobe

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

The plant is crucial: specific composition and function of the phyllosphere microbiome of indoor ornamentals – Rocel Amor Ortega – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Water microbiome

Decoupling function and taxonomy in the global ocean microbiome – Stilianos Louca – Science

Phages and viruses

The Expanding Virosphere – Edward C. Holmes – Cell Host & Microbe

From oil spills to barley growth – oil-degrading soil bacteria and their promoting effects – Annett Mikolasch – Journal of Basic Microbiology

More microbiology

Minimal Tool Set for a Prokaryotic Circadian Clock – Nicolas Schmelling – bioRxiv

Microbes in the news

I was in the jury! 2016 MoBio Microbiome Award Winners Announced – MoBio 

Oral infection outbreak appears linked to an Anaheim dental office, officials say – LA Times

Hundreds Of Children May Have Been Exposed To Infectious Bacteria At O.C. Dentist’s Office – CBSlocal.com

Transforming the Microbiology Laboratory to Address the Triple Aim in Healthcare – Irene Dusich – Health System Management

CSU professors hope to break ground in microbiology through RNA research – Allec Brust – Collegian

Increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria hinders treatment of kidney infections– Phil Hampton – UCLA Newsroom

Bacteria Hysteria

Your water bottle has as much bacteria as your toilet – AOL

Science, publishing, and career

Universities failing to make best use of Twitter, researchers say – Chris Havergal – Times Higher Education

Science, a Deathbed Promise, and a Mother’s Gift – Jonathan Foley – The Macroscope

September 15, 2016

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A review on the human skin microbiome, review on therapeutic manipulation of microbiotas, and microbial enzymes around earthworm casts.

Jobs and events

Faculty Positions in Microbiology and Immunology – University of South Alabama College of Medicine

Human respiratory microbiome

Investigation of sinonasal microbiome spatial organization in chronic rhinosinusitis – Vijay R. Ramakrishnan – International Forum on Allergy & Rhinology

Respiratory pathogen colonization of dental plaque, the lower airways, and endotracheal tube biofilms during mechanical ventilation – Kirsty M. Sands – Journal of Critical Care

Human skin microbiome

Review, will be open access soon: Experimental metagenomics and ribosomal profiling of the human skin microbiome – Pamela Ferretti – Experimental Dermatology 

Human gut microbiome

Gut microbiome alterations in patients with stage 4 hepatitis C – AbdelRahman Mahmoud Aly – Gut Pathogens

Commentary: Thinking with your stomach? Gut feelings on microbiome modulation of brain structure and function (Commentary on Luczynski et al.) – Anthony J. Hannan – European Journal of Neuroscience

Review: Therapeutic Manipulation of the Microbiota: Past, Present and Considerations for the Future – Vincent B. Young – Clinical Microbiology and Infection

Animal experiments

Effects of different diets on intestinal microbiota and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease development – Jian-Ping Liu – World Journal of Gastroenterology

Sex-specific effects of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) on the microbiome and behavior of socially-isolated mice – Daniel J. Davis – Brain, Behavior, and Immunity

Animal microbiome

Structural differences in gut bacteria communities in developmental stages of natural populations of Lutzomyia evansi from Colombia’s Caribbean coast – Rafael José Vivero – Parasites & Vectors

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Linking Microbial Enzymatic Activities and Functional Diversity of Soil around Earthworm Burrows and Casts – Jerzy Lipiec – Frontiers in Microbiology

Air microbiome

Influence of Rain on the Abundance and Size Distribution of Bioaerosols –
Chathurika M. Rathnayake – Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions

Techniques

Preparation of a standardised faecal slurry for ex-vivo microbiota studies which reduces inter-individual donor bias – Michelle M. O’Donnell – Journal of Microbiological Methods

Application of Next Generation Sequencing Technologies in Revealing Plant-Microbe Interactions – Ramesh Kothari – Journal of Next Generation: Sequencing & Applications

Technical note: Discard the specimen collection swab directly at point of care to improve extensive automated processing in clinical microbiology laboratories – Manuela Avolio – Journal of Microbiological Methods

Comparison of a modified phenol/chloroform and commercial-kit methods for extracting DNA from horse fecal material – Ali H.D. Janabi – Journal of Microbiological Methods

Microbes in the news

Secrets of life in the soil.Diana Wall has built a career on overturning assumptions about underground ecosystems. Now she is seeking to protect this endangered world – Rachel Cernansky – Nature

Ice machine, sinks linked to Legionnaires’ cases at UW Medical Center – JoNel Aleccia – Seattle Times

Israeli product that pinpoints viruses, bacteria gets European grant – ImmunoXpert is based on the fact that viruses and bacteria stimulate different protein pathways when they infect the body – Judy Siegel-Itzkovich – Jpost.com

A spoonful of sugar helps the bacteria go down. Gel-like layers protect microbes and help them stick to your intestines – Sara Chodosh – Popsci

Bik’s non-microbiology Picks

VA Palo Alto’s spending on artwork blasted – Jacqueline Lee – The Mercury News

 

September 14, 2016

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Testing antibacterial and antismelly capacities of deodorant with a sniffer panel, uncovering trophic interactions by metagenomic sequencing of ladybugs’ gut contents.

Events

6th ASM Beneficial Microbes meeting, Days 3-4 – Tera Levin – Storify

Human armpit microbiome

Smelly armpits, bacteria, and a sniffer panel: Effective axillary malodour reduction by polyquaternium-16-containing deodorants – B. Traupe – International Journal of Cosmetic Science

Human gut microbiome

Review: Pathogenesis of acute graft-versus-host disease: from intestinal microbiota alterations to donor T cell activation – Robert Zeiser – British Journal of Haemotology

Review: Role of the gut microbiota in host appetite control: bacterial growth to animal feeding behaviour – Sergueï O. Fetissov – Nature Reviews Endocrinology

Animal microbiome

Ladybugs: Uncovering Trophic Interactions in Arthropod Predators through DNA Shotgun-Sequencing of Gut Contents – Débora P. Paula – PLOS ONE

Does adaptive radiation of a host lineage promote ecological diversity of its bacterial communities? A test using gut microbiota of Anolis lizards – Tiantian Ren – Molecular Ecology

Built Environment microbiome

Previously in preprint, now published: Microbial diversity of extreme habitats in human homes – Amy M. Savage – PeerJ

Techniques / Bioreactors

Quantitative high-throughput population dynamics in continuous-culture by automated microscopy – Jason Merritt – Scientific Reports

Microbes in the news

Genevieve Sullivan: Bacteria and Food Packaging – Darren Chow – Cornell Sun

Samantha VanWees: Bacteria, Light and Milk Processing – Isabelle Philippe – CornellSun

This should be Open Access, because it is just a list of links. But it is not unfortunately: Web Alert: Ecophysiology of anaerobes: An annotated selection of World Wide Web sites relevant to the topics in environmental microbiology – Lawrence P. Wackett

An arms race with a superbug: Study shows how pneumonia-causing bacteria invade the body – Phys.org

Coming together for microbiology: new network for scientists working in forensic medicine – Labnews UK

The possible link between bacteria and chronic disease? – Jason Tetro – PopSci

See paper in Advanced Materials featured yesterday: Delivering beneficial bacteria to the GI tract. Method that transports microbes through the stomach to the intestine may benefit human health – Anne Trafton – MIT News Office

Science, publishing, and career

Mansplaining: how not to talk to female Nasa astronauts – Laura Bates – The Guardian

 

 

September 13, 2016

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Infant gut microbiome and allergy risk, gut microbiome in mice and susceptibility to Plasmodium, microbiome of a stranded striped dolphin, cadavers in Canada, rRNA operon copy numbers.

Events

(repeat posting) 4th Microbiome R&D Business collaboration Forum & Probiotics Congress, October 3-4, 2016, La Jolla,San Diego, USA. Use discount code: ALLONG for a special rate of $399.

Pregnancy and birth

Neonatal gut microbiota associates with childhood multisensitized atopy and T cell differentiation – Kei E Fujimura – Nature Medicine

Press: Infant gut microbiome appears to shape allergy risk by altering immune responses – EurekAlert
Newborn gut microbiome predicts later allergy and asthma, study finds. Microbial byproducts link particular early-life gut microbes to immune dysfunction – Science Daily
Clues in microbiome of infants point to future allergies and asthma – Yvette Brazier – Medical News Today
Neonatal Gut Bacteria Might Promote Asthma. Byproducts of gut microbes in some 1-month–old babies trigger inflammation that is linked to later asthma development, researchers find. – Anna Azvolinsky – The Scientist

Human urinary tract microbiome

Urinary microbiome of kidney transplant patients reveals dysbiosis with potential for antibiotic resistance – Asha Rani – Translational Research

Human gut microbiome

Gut bacterial microbiota in psoriasis: A case control study – Doaa Masallat – African Journal of Microbiology Research

Review: Cognitive Function and the Microbiome – M.G. Gareau – International Review of Neurobiology

Review: Advances in Gut Microbiome Research and Relevance to Pediatric Diseases – Lindsey Albenberg – The Journal of Pediatrics

Animal experiments

Monitoring perinatal gut microbiota in mouse models by mass spectrometry approaches: parental genetic background and breastfeeding effects – Stefano Levi Mortera – Frontiers in Microbiology

Functional characteristics of the gut microbiome in C57BL/6 mice differentially susceptible to Plasmodium yoelii – Joshua M. Stough – Frontiers in Microbiology

Modulation of the bifidobacterial communities of the dog microbiota by zeolite – Alberto Sabbioni – Frontiers in Microbiology

Animal microbiome

The microbiome of a striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) stranded in Portugal – Filipa Godoy-Vitorino – Research in Microbiology

Book Chapter: Microbial Interactions on Coral Surfaces and Within the Coral Holobiont – Max Teplitski – The Cnidaria, Past, Present and Future

Book Chapter: Association of Coral-Microbes, and the Ecological Roles of Microbial Symbionts in Corals – Wei Sun – The Cnidaria, Past, Present and Future

Human Lice in Paleoentomology and Paleomicrobiology – Rezak Drali – ASM Microbiology Spectrum

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Resource partitioning between bacteria, fungi and protists in the detritusphere of an agricultural soil – Susanne Kramer – Frontiers in Microbiology

Composition and activity of soil microbial communities in different types of temperate forests – Marcin Chodak – Biology and Fertility of Soils

The effect of the Falcon 460 EC fungicide on soil microbial communities, enzyme activities and plant growth – Małgorzata Baćmaga – Ecotoxicology

Review: Plant microbe interactions in post genomic era: perspectives and applications – Jahangir Imam – Frontiers in Microbiology

Water microbiome

Quantification of viral and prokaryotic production rates in benthic ecosystems: a methods comparison – Eugenio Rastelli – Frontiers in Microbiology

Microbiome of death

Cadavers in Canada: Book Chapter: Changes in Soil Microbial Activity Following Cadaver Decomposition During Spring and Summer Months in Southern Ontario – Heloise A. Breton – Soil in Criminal and Environmental Forensics

Wastewater and pollution microbiology

Poster: MiDAS: A curated database for the microorganisms of activated sludge and anaerobic digesters – Simon Jon McIlroy – Water Engineering and Biofilm IWA Specialist Conference, 2016

Probiotics

Layer-by-Layer Encapsulation of Probiotics for Delivery to the Microbiome – Aaron C. Anselmo – Advanced Materials

Food microbiology

Book: Functional Nucleic Acids Detection in Food Safety: Theories and Applications – Wentao Xu – Springer

Microbial ecology

Aligning the Measurement of Microbial Diversity with Macroecological Theory – James C. Stegen – Frontiers in Microbiology

Editorial: Insights into microbe-microbe interactions in human microbial ecosystems: strategies to be competitive – Nuria Salazar – Frontiers in Microbiology

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

Exploiting rRNA operon copy number to investigate bacterial reproductive strategies – Benjamin R.K. Roller – Nature Microbiology

Diversity in a Polymicrobial Community Revealed by Analysis of Viromes, Endolysins and CRISPR Spacers – Michelle Davison – PLOS ONE

SnpFilt: A pipeline for reference-free assembly-based identification of SNPs in bacterial genomes – Carmen H.S. Chan – Computational Biology and Chemistry

Review: Advances in biodiversity: metagenomics and the unveiling of biological dark matter – Robert J. Robbins – Standards in Genomic Sciences

Microbes in the news

What we have in common with corals and their unexplored microbial world – Alejandra Hernandez – The Conversation

September 12, 2016

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Individual response of gut microbiota to diet (in mice), appendicitis, adaptive evolution of goose with its microbiome, fungi in rubber plantations.

Events

Storify of days 1-2 of the 6th ASM Beneficial Microbes Meeting, Sept 9-12, Seattle, WA.

Pregnancy and birth

Urinary Microbiota Associated with Preterm Birth: Results from the Conditions Affecting Neurocognitive Development and Learning in Early Childhood (CANDLE) Study – Nicholas J. Ollberding – PLOS ONE

Review: The role of the bacterial microbiota on reproductive and pregnancy health – Deborah B. Nelson – Anaerobe

Human skin microbiome

Skin microbiome prior to development of atopic dermatitis: early colonization with commensal staphylococci at 2 months is associated with a lower risk of atopic dermatitis at 1 year – Elizabeth A. Kennedy – Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology

Human respiratory microbiome (and Methods)

Note that 2 different amplification strategies were performed, so IMHO this is more reflection of primer differences than sequencing differences: Different next generation sequencing platforms produce different microbial profiles and diversity in cystic fibrosis sputum – Andrea Hahn – Journal of Microbiological Methods

Human gut microbiome

Evaluation of the microbiome in children’s appendicitis – Martin Salö – International Journal of Colorectal Disease

Review: Food: a new form of personalised (gut microbiome) medicine for chronic diseases? – Tess Pallister – Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine

Review: Linking the Microbiota, Chronic Disease, and the Immune System – Timothy W. Hand – Trends in Endocrinology & Metabolism

Animal and bioreactor experiments

From the Sonnenburg lab @Stanford: Individualized Responses of Gut Microbiota to Dietary Intervention Modeled in Humanized Mice – Samuel A. Smits – mSystems

An In Vitro Approach to Study Effects of Prebiotics and Probiotics on the Faecal Microbiota and Selected Immune Parameters Relevant to the Elderly – Yue Liu – PLOS ONE

Animal microbiome

Genome and metagenome analyses reveal adaptive evolution of the host and interaction with the gut microbiota in the goose – Guangliang Gao – Scientific Reports

Hold off on the orange oil: Characterization of Antibacterial Activities of Eastern Subterranean Termite, Reticulitermes flavipes, against Human Pathogens – Yuan Zeng – PLOS ONE

Use of MALDI-TOF MS and culturomics to identify mosquitoes and their midgut microbiota – Fatalmoudou Tandina – Parasites & Vectors

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Drought history affects grassland plant and microbial carbon turnover during and after a subsequent drought event – Lucia Fuchslueger – Journal of Ecology

Effect of organic matter enrichment on the fungal community in limestone cave sediments – ELS Marques – Genetics and Molecular Research

Contrasting elevational diversity patterns for soil bacteria between
two ecosystems divided by the treeline – Guixiang Li – Science China Life Sciences

Review: Diversity and ecology of soil fungal communities in rubber plantations – Jutamart Monkai – Fungal Biology Reviews

Illumina sequencing reveals a rhizosphere bacterial community associated with foxtail millet smut disease suppression – Yansha Han – Plant and Soil

Water and extremophile microbiome

Viruses-to-mobile genetic elements skew in the deep Atlantis II brine pool sediments – Mustafa Adel – Scientific Reports

Built environment microbiome

Review: The Microbiome of the Built Environment and Human Behavior: Implications for Emotional Health and Well-Being in Postmodern Western Societies – C.E. Stamper – International Review of Neurobiology

Microbes in the news

The Bacteria on Your Skin Are Safer Than These Two Chemicals the FDA Just Banned From Your Soap – Jill Richardson – Truth Digg

DNA in London Grave May Help Solve Mysteries of the Great Plague – Roff Smith – National Geographic

Bik’s Non-Microbiology Picks

This paper was discussed on Twitter this weekend because of a conflict of interest of one of the authors (Deepak Chopra) and the design and interpretation of the study:

Identification of Altered Metabolomic Profiles Following a Panchakarma-based Ayurvedic Intervention in Healthy Subjects: The Self-Directed Biological Transformation Initiative (SBTI) – Christine Tara Peterson – Scientific Reports

September 10, 2016

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Bifidobacteria and ulcerative colitis, the pollen microbiome, busting the 5-second rule, resistance genes in 23,000 microbial genomes, and a cool video of evolution of bacterial resistance.

Events

Gut health, microbiota & probiotics throughout the lifespan – Metabolic & Brain function 2016 – Sept 15-16, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

Human oral microbiome

Deep sequencing reveals microbiota dysbiosis of tongue coat in patients with liver carcinoma – Haifeng Lu – Scientific Reports

Human respiratory microbiome

Review: The microbiome in asthma – Magali Noval Rivas – Current Opinion Pediatrics

Human gut microbiome

Elucidating the gut microbiome of ulcerative colitis: bifidobacteria as novel microbial biomarkers – Sabrina Duranti – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Review: Gut Microbiota, Inflammation, and Colorectal Cancer – Caitlin A. Brennan – Annual Review of Microbiology

Review: Microbiota—myeloid cell crosstalk beyond the gut – Sayeh Gorjifard – Journal of Leukocyte Biology

Four reviews in Current Pharmaceutical Design in the category “Could the gut microbiota perhaps be involved in disease X?” – with 4 different X’s. 

Animal models

Antibiotic Treatment Induces Long-lasting Changes in the Fecal Microbiota that Protect Against Colitis – Naomi L. Ward – Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Differences In CD8αα And Cecal Microbiome Community During Proliferation And Late Cytolytic Phases Of Marek’s Disease Virus (MDV) Infection Are Associated With Genetic Resistance To Marek’s Disease – Sudeep Perumbakkam – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Bacterial microbiota associated with flower pollen is influenced by pollination type, and shows a high degree of diversity and species-specificity – Binoy Ambika Manirajan – Environmental Microbiology

Land use intensification in the humid tropics increased both alpha and beta diversity of soil bacteria – Teotonio Soares de Carvalho – Ecology

Small-scale spatial heterogeneity of ecosystem properties, microbial community composition and microbial activities in a temperate mountain forest soil – Martina Štursová – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Extremophile microbiome

Seasonal dynamics of extremely halophilic microbial communities in three Argentinian salterns – Leonardo Di Meglio – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Built environment microbiome

screen-shot-2016-09-10-at-10-44-32-am

Christin Lola / Fotolia (via Science Direct)

Longer Contact Times Increase Cross-Contamination of Enterobacter aerogenes from Surfaces to Food – Robyn C. Miranda – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Researchers debunk ‘five-second rule’: Eating food off the floor isn’t safe. Sometimes bacteria transfer in less than a second – Science Daily

Forget the ‘five-second rule’: Food dropped on the floor picks up bacteria in just ONE second – David Gardner – Daily Mail

Antimicrobial Chemicals Are Associated with Elevated Antibiotic Resistance Genes in the Indoor Dust Microbiome – Erica M. Hartmann – Environmental Science & Technology

Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Indoor Dust – Technology Networks

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

The transfer network of bacterial mobile resistome connecting animal and human microbiome – Yongfei Hu – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Catalog of Mobile Antibiotic Resistance Genes Helps Explain Transfer to Human Pathogens – Genome Web

Chinese investigators characterize the world of resistance gene exchange among bacteria – Phys.org

Phages and viruses

Bacteriophages in clinical samples can interfere with microbiological diagnostic tools – Maryury Brown-Jaque – Scientific Reports

Techniques

Absolute quantification of microbial taxon abundances – Ruben Props – The ISME Journal

Microbes in the news

Jo Handelsman of White House Office of Science and Technology to Speak Monday – University of Tennessee

WATCH: Bacteria Invade Antibiotics And Transform Into Superbugs – Angus Chen – NPR
This might be the coolest visualization of evolution ever. Watch these bacteria evolve antibiotic resistance in just 12 days – Brian Resnick – Vox

These researchers would like you to mail them your gut bacteria – Katherine Lindemann – Research Gate Blog

Hepatitis A Outbreak Linked to Strawberries at Smoothie Chain – Daniel Victor – New York Times

Bacteria Hysteria

M&S becomes first supermarket to offer anti-bacterial shopping bags to banish bugs such as E. coli –  Katie Morley – The Telegraph

Bik’s non-microbiology Picks

Microbiome analysis, please! Giraffes aren’t just giraffes. Turns out there are four species – Rachel Feltman – Washington Post

Flatworm parasite named after Barack Obama: Is that a compliment? – Rowena Lindsay Christian Science Monitor

 

September 8, 2016

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Geese in wintering areas, Hirschsprung’s disease, and extreme metagenomics.

Jobs and Events

Assistant Professor in Microbiome Research – University of Maryland Baltimore County

Virtual Conference: Microbiology & Immunology 2016 interactive online conference, latest Research on Microscopic Organisms and How They Impact the Human Body – September 7-8, 2016

EPA Webinar and Discussion: What Have We Learned about the Microbiomes of Indoor Environments? – Brent Stephens – September 22, 2016

SMi’s 6th annual Pharmaceutical Microbiology conference – January 18-19, London, UK

Human gut microbiome

screen-shot-2016-09-08-at-7-35-07-amCharacterization of Intestinal Microbiomes of Hirschsprung’s Disease Patients with or without Enterocolitis Using Illumina-MiSeq High-Throughput Sequencing – Yuqing Li – PLOS ONE

Preview: Harnessing Genes and Diet to Fine-Tune the Gut Microbial Fitness – Patrice D. Cani – Cell Metabolism

Animal microbiome

Geese: Characterising the interspecific variations and convergence of gut microbiota in Anseriformes herbivores at wintering areas – Yuzhan Yang – Scientific Report

Water and extremophile microbiome

Extreme metagenomics using nanopore DNA sequencing: a field report from Svalbard, 78 N – Arwyn Edwards – bioRxiv

Bacterial community succession in a high altitude sub-arctic glacier foreland is a three-stage process – Sina Kazemi – Molecular Ecology

Communities that thrive in extreme conditions captured from a freshwater lake – Etienne Low-Décarie – Biology Letters

Review: Substratum-Associated Microbiota – Paula C. Furey – Water Environment Research

Food microbiology

Mungo bean sprout microbiome and changes associated with culture based enrichment protocols used in detection of Gram-negative foodborne pathogens – Heike Margot – Microbiome

Bioinformatics and metagenomes

De novo extraction of microbial strains from metagenomes reveals intra-species niche partitioning – Christopher Quince – bioRxiv

Microbes in the news

Captive Komodo Dragons Share Their Teeming Microbiome with Their Environment, Just Like Us – Naomi Shavin – Smithsonian Magazine

OSTP call to action on saving soil – Jonathan Eisen – MicroBEnet

IIT-Bombay team finds bacteria responsible for neonatal deaths – Priyanka Sahoo – The Indian Express

Scientists discover link between bacteria and supposedly non-infectious diseases – BBSRC

Life on Mars? Martian Meteorites, Martian Microbes – Julie Taylor – uBiome blog

New website (with a link to my blog, so it’s all good): The Microbiome, sponsored by Era7 Bioinformatics Inc.

Science integrity

Macchiarini scandal is a valuable lesson for the Karolinska Institute – Nature

September 7, 2016

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Events

International Human Microbiome Consortium, November 9-11, 2016, Houston Texas.

Human gut microbiome

Review: The Role of the Microbiota in Shaping Infectious Immunity – Timothy W. Hand – Trends in Immunology

Animal microbiome

Effects of host genetics and environment on egg-associated microbiotas in brown trout (Salmo trutta) – Laetitia G. E. Wilkins – Molecular Ecology

Food microbiology

Multiplex 16S rRNA-derived geno-biochip for detection of 16 bacterial pathogens from contaminated foods – Hwa Hui Shin – Biotechnology Journal

More microbiology

Acute induction of anomalous and amyloidogenic blood clotting by molecular amplification of highly substoichiometric levels of bacterial lipopolysaccharide – Etheresia Pretorius – Journal of the Royal Society Interface

Extrapolated interpretation? Bacteria lurking in blood could be culprit in countless diseases – Debora MacKenzie – New Scientist

Microbes in the news

FDA Bans Antiseptics: One Small Step for Bacteria and Humankind – Anne Estes – Mostly Microbes

How bad for you is a boring diet? – Tim Spector – BBC

Flowers critical link to bacteria transmission in wild bees – Science Daily

Doughnut in a cage holds the key to bacteria’s survival – Science Daily

Fungi contribute to delayed healing of chronic wounds – EurekAlert

Microbe tenants help – and hinder – your immune system – Dyani Lewis – Cosmos Magazine

Microbes and money

Monsanto Collaborates with Second Genome to Use Microbiome Technology Platform to Accelerate Protein Discovery – Business Wire

BioMed X Announces the Start of New Research Team on Oral Biofilm Disruption through Continued Collaboration with Johnson & Johnson Innovation – PharmaVoice

BioMed X to collaborate with Johnson & Johnson on oral biofilm research – Drug Target Review

Science, publishing, and career

Why women leave academia and why universities should be worried – Curt Rice – The Guardian

 

 

September 6, 2016

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Tongue diagnostics and bacterial communities, microbiome and ALS, flowers and bees sharing microbes, and CRISPR assembly.

Events

4th World Congress on Targeting Microbiota is organized at Institut Pasteur, Paris, France – October 17-19, 2016

How the Indoor Microbiome Influence Health, with Jack A. Gilbert – October 27, 2016 at British International School of Chicago – Lincoln Park in Chicago

Human oral microbiome

Bacillus as a potential diagnostic marker for yellow tongue coating – Juan Ye – Scientific Reports

Human skin microbiome

Redefining the Chronic-Wound Microbiome: Fungal Communities Are Prevalent, Dynamic, and Associated with Delayed Healing – Lindsay Kalan – mBio

Human respiratory tract microbiome

Review: Development of the respiratory tract microbiota in cystic fibrosis – Emma M. de Koff – Current Opinion in Pulmonary Medicine

Human urinary tract microbiome

Commentary: “Urinary tract infection” and the microbiome – Thomas E. Finucane – The American Journal of Medicine

Human gut microbiome

Pitfalls in Inferring Human Microbial Dynamics from Temporal Metagenomics Data – Hong-Tai Cao – bioRxiv

Evaluation of the microbial diversity in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis using high-throughput sequencing – Xin Fang – Frontiers in Microbiology

Review: Beyond 16S rRNA community profiling: intra-species diversity in the gut microbiota – Kirsten M. Ellegaard – Frontiers in Microbiology

Review: Epigenetic mechanisms in microbial members of the human microbiota: current knowledge and perspectives – Natacha Cureau – Future Medicine

Microbiology and immunology

Perspective: Autoimmunity and the microbiome: T-cell receptor mimicry of “self” and microbial antigens mediates self tolerance in holobionts – Robert Root-Bernstein – BioEssays

Animal models of microbiome research

Ketogenic diet modifies the gut microbiota in a murine model of autism spectrum disorder – Christopher Newell – Molecular Autism

Animal microbiome

Disentangling a holobiont – recent advances and perspectives in Nasonia wasps – Jessica Dittmer – Frontiers in Microbiology

Review: The terrestrial isopod microbiome: An all-in-one toolbox for animal-microbe interactions of ecological relevance – Didier Bouchon – Frontiers in Microbiology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Microbial communities in passive remediation systems at three abandoned coal mine sites in the United Kingdom – Carmen Falagán – Proceedings IMWA 2016, Freiberg

Primary Succession of Nitrogen Cycling Microbial Communities Along the Deglaciated Forelands of Tianshan Mountain, China – Jun Zeng – Frontiers in Microbiology

Flowers and Wild Megachilid Bees Share Microbes – Quinn S. McFrederick – Microbial Ecology

Triclosan Resistome from Metagenome Reveals Diverse Enoyl Acyl Carrier Protein Reductases and Selective Enrichment of Triclosan Resistance Genes – Raees Khan – Scientific Reports

Water and extremophile microbiome

Oligotrophic Lagoons of the South Pacific Ocean Are Home to a Surprising Number of Novel Eukaryotic Microorganisms – Eunsoo Kim – Environmental Microbiology

Upstream freshwater and terrestrial sources are differentially reflected in the bacterial community structure along a small Arctic river and its estuary – Aviaja L. Hauptmann – Frontiers in Microbiology

Built environment microbiology

Review: Emerging Investigators Series: Sewer surveillance for monitoring antibiotic use and prevalence of antibiotic resistance: urban sewer epidemiology – Nicole Fahrenfeld – Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology

Food microbiology

High-throughput identification of the microbial biodiversity of cocoa bean fermentation by MALDI-TOF MS – S. Miescher Schwenninger – Letters in Applied Microbiology

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

Assemble CRISPRs from metagenomic sequencing data – Jikai Lei – Bioinformatics

Contig annotation tool CAT robustly classifies assembled metagenomic contigs and long sequences – Diego D. Cambuy – bioRxiv

Techniques

High throughput sequencing of multiple amplicons for barcoding and integrative taxonomy – Perrine Cruaud – bioRxiv

Microbes in the news

Podcast (12 min) with Stephen Pointing: Protecting the Earth’s Microbiome – Jesse Mulligan – Radio NZ

Biochemists’ discovery could lead to vaccine against ‘flesh-eating’ bacteria – Science Daily

Enzyme from oral bacteria could be potential therapy for celiac disease – News Medical

Bik’s Non-Microbiology Picks

Bizarre ant colony discovered in an abandoned Polish nuclear weapons bunker – Annalee Newitz – ArsTechnica

September 3, 2016

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The gut microbiome of the American cockroach is as resilient as its host, two papers on polar microbes and climate changes, two JAMA papers about transcription-based tests to distinguish viral from bacterial infections in children, and sampling Jeremy Bentham’s preserved body.

Events

7th edition of the International Course in Microbial Ecology – Publishing Dos and Don’ts for Microbial Ecologists – October 2016, Catania, Italy

Human vaginal microbiome

Alterations of the vaginal microbiota in the third trimester of pregnancy and pPROM –
C. Genovese – Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci

Human gut microbiome

Review: The gut microbiota: A treasure for human health – Daotong Li – Biotechnology Advances

Editorial: The Human Gutome: Journey of Microbes and Health – Dimiter Dimitrov – Frontiers in Genetics

Animal microbiome

The core gut microbiome of the American cockroach, Periplaneta americana, is stable and resilient to dietary shifts – Kara A. Tinker – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Microbiome changes through ontogeny of a tick pathogen vector – Christine P. Zolnik – Molecular Ecology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Long-lasting effects of land use history on soil fungal communities in second-growth tropical rain forests – Benedicte Bachelot – Ecological applications

Solanum lycopersicum (tomato) hosts robust phyllosphere and rhizosphere bacterial communities when grown in soil amended with various organic and synthetic fertilizers – Sarah M. Allarda – Science of the Total Environment

Microbially Mediated Plant Salt Tolerance and Microbiome-based Solutions for Saline Agriculture – Yuan Qin – Biotechnology Advances

Extremophile microbiome

Polar Marine Microorganisms and Climate Change – C. Verde – Advances in Microbial Physiology

Antarctic microbial communities are functionally redundant, adapted and resistant to short term temperature perturbations – S.Z. de Scally – Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Metabolomics and other techniques

The future of NMR-based metabolomics – John L Markley – Current Opinion in Biotechnology

Microfluidics in microbiology: putting a magnifying glass on microbes – Sanya Siddiqui – Integrative Biology

Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-of-Flight Mass-Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) Based Microbial Identifications: Challenges and Scopes for Microbial Ecologists– Praveen Rahi – Frontiers in Microbiology

More microbiology

Diagnostic Test Accuracy of a 2-Transcript Host RNA Signature for Discriminating Bacterial vs Viral Infection in Febrile Children – Jethro A. Herberg – JAMA

Association of RNA Biosignatures With Bacterial Infections in Febrile Infants Aged 60 Days or Younger – Prashant Mahajan – JAMA

Microbes in the news

The Good Gut: Discussing the stomach’s world of disease-fighting microbes – Paul Costello – Stanford Medicine

San Francisco has a crazy plan to fight pee stink with bacteria-eating enzymes – Urine trouble – Rachel Becker – The Verge

MSU researchers noted for approach to studying bacteria and viruses that live in human gut – Evelyn Boswell – MSU News Service

Yum! Digesting ASM resources for food microbiology – Julie Wolf – American Society for Microbiology

Have you ever wondered what sorts of bacteria and fungi are lurking on Jeremy Bentham? Dr Adam Roberts, thanks to UCL Collections, visited Jeremy Bentham to see if he could find any interesting bacteria. – University College of London

I Contain Multitudes by Ed Yong review – we are possessed by bacteria – Tim Radford – The Guardian

Gaming for Gut Research – American Gut researchers developed Colony B, an app that is both a fun game and a way “citizen scientists” can contribute to microbiome data analysis – UC San Diego Health Sciences News