Category Archives: Microbiome

The Hidden Value of ‘Big Science’

Posted on March 29, 2013 by

Having been involved in ‘Big Science’, I think one of the things that typically goes unmentioned, but which might be the most important thing to come out of these kinds of projects is the breakthrough and improvement in technology and … Continue reading →

Posted in BRAINS! I EAT THEM!!, Microbiome | 2 Comments

Microbiome Creep, E. coli and Colorectal Cancer (Oh My!)

Posted on August 23, 2012 by

My recent snark-laden post about the microbiome was in part inspired by the coverage of this Science paper “Intestinal Inflammation Targets Cancer-Inducing Activity of the Microbiota.” Interestingly, the coverage of this paper didn’t make Jonathan Eisen happy either: Some studies … Continue reading →

Posted in E. coli, Microbiology, Microbiome, News Media | 3 Comments

Some Predictions About the Coverage of the Human Microbiome

Posted on August 20, 2012 by

In keeping with the spirit of the following tweets: …I offer some predictions about the popular media coverage of human microbiome research over the next few years: 1) Koch’s Postulates will be ‘rediscovered.’ Multiple times. 2) Methods and theories that … Continue reading →

Posted in Humor, Microbiome | 3 Comments

The Human Microbiome Project Was About Non-Diseased People, Not ‘Normal’ Ones

Posted on June 21, 2012 by

After reading this article by Gina Kolata and this post from the Knoepfler Blog, it seems there’s some confusion about how the Human Microbiome Project (‘HMP’) was designed to look at “normal” people. Having been involved in the project pretty … Continue reading →

Posted in Microbiome

Where Did the Term ‘Core Microbiome’ Come From?

Posted on September 19, 2011 by

In an excellent post about the vaginal microbiome (the microbes that in the vagina), Dr. Rad asks: I wonder if the idea of a ‘core microbiome’ came from Lourens Baas Becking’s oft-quoted idea in microbial ecology that ‘Everything is everywhere, … Continue reading →

Posted in Ecology, Genomics, Microbiology, Microbiome, Uncategorized | 4 Comments

A Handy Transformation for Microbiome Data

Posted on August 9, 2011 by

Handling non-normal frequency data that also have zeros.
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Posted in Ecology, Microbiome, Statistics | 10 Comments

You Know the Human Microbiome Has Made It Big When…

Posted on May 11, 2011 by

…someone makes an animated cartoon about it.
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Posted in Microbiome | 1 Comment

The Fifty Most Sequenced Bacterial Genomes

Posted on April 5, 2011 by

It’s (very) partially my fault.
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Posted in E. coli, Genomics, Microbiome | 3 Comments

Finally, Someone Is Allocating Genomics Resources the Right Way

Posted on March 31, 2011 by

Someone must have learned something from the last few years of microbiome work…
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Posted in Microbiome

Microbiome Triumphalism and Misusing a Metaphor

Posted on March 29, 2011 by

The human microbiome isn’t an organ. We have evolved to dampen the effects of the microbiome’s inherent variability on our bodies.
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Posted in Microbiology, Microbiome, Obesity | 5 Comments