The Gulf Oil Spill: Microbes to the Rescue?

Jay Grimes, a scientist from the research team examining the biological aftermath of the Gulf oil spill, and Ronald Atlas, a researcher involved in the Exxon Valdez cleanup, examine how such spills affect marine microbes and the role of microbes in cleaning up both oil spills, what bioremediation can and can't do, and differences between the spills in the Gulf of Mexico and Prince William Sound.

Moderated by Jeff Fox, Features Editor for Microbe magazine, at the American Society for Microbiology's 2010 General Meeting in San Diego, CA.

The role of multiple pathogens in colony collapse disorder #ASMGM

New research from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) identifies a new potential cause for “Colony Collapse Disorder” in honeybees.  A group of pathogens including a fungus and family of viruses may be working together to cause the decline.

Dr. Jeff Fox, Features Editor for Microbe Magazine interviews researcher Jay Evans, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville, Maryland, from the 110th ASM General Meeting.

High bacterial counts in Canadian bottled water #ASMGM

Dr. Jeff Fox, Features Editor for Microbe Magazine interviews Sonish Azam, C-crest Laboratories, Montreal, and Ali Khamessan, C-crest Laboratories, Montreal, from the 110th ASM General Meeting for our webcast, ASM Live.

A C-crest study finds heterotrophic bacteria counts in more than 70 percent of bottled water samples exceed the recommended limits specified by the United States Pharmacopeia (USP).

Can Bacteria Make You Smarter (#ASMGM 2010)

Dr. Jeff Fox, Features Editor for Microbe Magazine interviews Dorothy Matthews, The Sage Colleges, Troy, New York, from the 110th ASM General Meeting for our webcast, ASM Live.

Exposure to specific bacteria in the environment, already believed to have antidepressant qualities, could increase learning behavior.  Mice fed live cultures of Mycobacterium vaccae were able to learn and complete a maze twice as fast as control mice.

 

ScienceOnline 2010 Live

The Research Triangle Park blog in Raleigh-Durham, NC will be live streaming many of the sessions from ScienceOnline 2010, a three day event that "brings together scientists, physicians, patients, educators, students, publishers, editors, bloggers, journalists, writers, web developers, programmers and others to discuss, demonstrate and debate online strategies and tools for doing science, publishing science, teaching science, and promoting the public understanding of science."

While Sunday, January 17, is the last day of the event, the core of the presentations happen today.

With fingers crossed! The Research Triangle Park folks will be successfully broadcasting sessions from Room D. Watch live here or over on the UStream Channel ScienceOnline2010.

[ustream scienceonline2010]

[uschat scienceonline2010 416 300]

Saturday Schedule

9:00 - 10:05 am - The Importance of Meatspace: Science Motels, science freelancing and science coworking – Brian Russell and Paweł Szczęsny

9:00 - 10:05 am - The Importance of Meatspace: Science Motels, science freelancing and science coworking – Brian Russell and Paweł Szczęsny

10:15- 11:20 am - Rebooting Science Journalism in the Age of the Web – Ed Yong, Carl Zimmer, John Timmer, and David Dobbs

11:30-12:35 pm - Talking Trash: Online Outreach from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch – Miriam Goldstein, Lindsey Hoshaw and Annie Crawley

2:00 - 3:05 pm - Science and Entertainment: Beyond Blogging – Tamara Krinsky and Jennifer Ouellette

3:15 - 4:20 pm - How does a journalist figure out “which scientists to trust”? – Christine Ottery and Connie St Louis

4:40 - 5:45 pm - Web Science: An examination of the World Wide Web and how it is transforming our society – Arikia Millikan and Nate Silver

Sunday Schedule

9:00 - 10:05 am - Broader Impact Done Right – Karen James, Kevin Zelnio, Miriam Goldstein, Jeff Ives and Beth Beck

10:15 - 11:20 am - Getting the Science Right: The importance of fact checking mainstream science publications — an underappreciated and essential art — and the role scientists can and should (but often don’t) play in it. – Rebecca Skloot, Sheril Kirshenbaum, and David Dobbs

11:30 - 12:35 pm - Blogging the Future – The Use of Online Media in the Next Generation of Scientists – Stacy Baker

 

Rhinovirus: Beyond the Common Cold - ICAAC 09

Rhinovirus is typically viewed as the cause of the common cold, but that is not the only disease it can cause.  In this ICAAC 2009 press panel participants present the latest research on the effects of rhinovirus beyond a cold including its potential role in asthma, new and emerging rhinoviruses around the world and promising treatments for rhinovirus infection that have yet to make it to market and why.

• Ian Mackay, SASVRC, Royal Children's Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland,  Australia

• Nathan Bartlett, Imperial Coll., London, , United Kingdom

• Ronald Turner, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, United States

Infections in the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq - ICAAC 09

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are giving rise to new challenges to the infectious disease community. Soldiers fighting in those countries are acquiring infections that are not normally seen by doctors in the United States.  Participants discussed these foreign infections and the challenges they present.

• David Aronoff, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States

• Clinton Murray, Brooke Army Medical Ctr, Fort Sam Houston, TX, United States

The synergistic effect of a combination of three influenza drugs against H1N1 - ICAAC 09

The latest research on H1N1 influenza taken from ICAAC's latebreaker slide abstracts, including the synergistic effect of a combination of three influenza drugs against drug-resistant virus, and a finding that patients are still infective over a week after initial symptoms appear, suggesting the recommended self-quarantine period is not enough.

• Amy Patick, Adamas Pharmaceuticals, Emeryville, CA, United States

• Gaston De Serres, Associate Professor, Laval University, Quebec, Canada
  

New Issues in the Control of C. difficile - ICAAC 09

Clostridium difficile bacteria are a common cause of antibiotic-associated diarrhea, especially in hospital settings.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, each year in the United States C. difficile is responsible for tens of thousands of cases of diarrhea and at least 5,000 deaths.  New research on how this infection is transmitted suggest that symptomatic patients can aerosolize infective spores and that these spores can be found on surfaces throughout  patients’ hospital room and not just on the patients themselves.  Participants will present this research as well as discuss the impact of these findings on future control efforts against this infection.

• Curtis Donskey, VA Med. Ctr., Cleveland, OH, United States
  
• John Boyce, Hospital of Saint Raphael, New Haven, CT, United States
  
• Dubert M. Guerrero, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, United States