“Researchers succeed in predicting the spread of microbes in spacecraft”
The study of how aerosols disperse and settle is an important part of the microbiology of the built environment and there are several groups working on the topic. However, this story was the first...
View ArticleAntibiotic Effectiveness in Space Project
It’s becoming increasingly well-established that microbes behave differently in microgravity than on Earth… that’s one of the justifications for our own Project MERCCURI. Some previous work has...
View ArticleAltered gene expression by Candida albicans in space
Sometimes blogging on microBEnet feels a bit like a MadLib. There are certain recurring themes that fit the model well. For example: __________ (microbe) was recently found to do _______________...
View ArticleNot-So-Clean Rooms
In researching previous studies conducted on microbes in space for Project MERCURRI, I ran across an interesting microbiology diversity study done on European Spacecraft-Associated (ESA) clean rooms in...
View ArticleMicrobiome of the classroom: Teaching? Not really. Learning? Yes, definitely.
On March 7, 2014, Ben Johnson wrote an all-encompassing blog post about the microbiome of the classroom’s built environment. (Dr. Jonathan Eisen also mentions Johnson’s article in a blog post a day...
View ArticleAntimicrobial coating on a commercial polymer…IN SPACE
This study by C. Balagna et al from 2012 looks at the application of their product on spacecraft. They covered a commercial polymer generally used in aerospace with an antimicrobial made of silver and...
View ArticleAAAS Microbiomes of the Built Environment Symposium videos available on-line
Registrants for the March AAAS Symposium are recipients today of the following message from Anette Olsen at AAAS. “I’d like to let you know that the videos of each panel is now online, but they...
View ArticleInteresting though very incomplete story in Nature on Curiosity Rover (before...
Just pointed to this story: Microbial stowaways to Mars identified : Nature News & Comment by Darlene Cavalier, our collaborator on the “Space Microbes” Project MERCCURI. The article reports on a...
View ArticleThe 11.4 million mile swab kit
I’m proud to announce that the sample collection for the building science component of Project MERCCURI is complete! In early May, Koichi Wakata from JAXA (Japan’s space exploration agency) collected...
View ArticleNice series of papers on microbial ecology and space travel
Well, here is another benefit of automated Google Scholar searches. I think it is unlikely I would have found these new papers without such searches but these are fascinating and directly relevant to...
View ArticleMars Dome – a cool closed system
According to a recent BBC news article, NASA is doing a Mars simulation project to see if six live human beings can survive being isolated in a dome together. From a MoBE perspective, it would be cool...
View ArticleNASA, Bigelow Laboratory Study Microbes on Spacecrafts
Just a mini post here. Got pointed to this press release of possible interest on a collaboration to study microbes on the space station and on other spacecrafts using single cell approaches: Source:...
View ArticleNew papers on Microbiology of the Built Environment, December 24, 2016
Microbes and buildings Bacterial Hygromorphs: Experiments into the integration of soft technologies into building skins – ACADIA 2016: Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture – Carolina...
View ArticleFrom @CNNAshley at @CNN: Why NASA is sending a superbug to the space station
Just a quick post here. There is a new CNN story that may be of interest. An antibiotic-resistant superbug will launch from the same pad where the first manned mission to the moon lifted off to be...
View ArticleNASA MoBE Postdoctoral Fellowship: Virulence and Drug Resistance of...
The disease-causing organisms Burkholderia multivorans, B. cepacia, genomovars of the B. cepacia complex (BCC), as well as an unclassified species of Burkholderia, and its relatives Ralstonia pickettii...
View ArticleNew papers on Microbiology of the Built Environment, June 3, 2017
Microbes indoors DNA metabarcoding to assess indoor fungal communities: Electrostatic dust collectors and Illumina sequencing – Steffi Rocchi – Journal of Microbiological Methods ($39.95) Our study...
View ArticleJournal Club: Metagenomics on the Space Station
Microbes in space have been of interest to the folks at various space agencies for as long as we’ve been sending people into space. Rampant mold growth on the Russian Space Station Mir was probably...
View ArticleEclipse brings out a cool citizen microbiology project
When I first saw the headline on this I groaned a little, thinking this was some completely bogus type of project. But actually, upon reading about it in more detail it sounds like a really good...
View ArticlePreparing for the crewed Mars journey: Microbiota dynamics in the confined...
Human exploration of planet Mars has a long history with number of robotic missions surveying the Martian surface and environment, including the Viking program (1975), the Mars Exploration Rover...
View ArticleBetsy Pugel-MoBE 2017
Betsy Pugel speaks about tiny houses: planetary protection-focused materials selection for spaceflight hardware surfaces. This was recorded at the MoBE 2017 symposium in Washington D.C. If you’re...
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