“You can either embrace the dirt and the germs as part of the risky joy of living in an exciting, overpopulated metropolis, or you can spend lots of mental real estate obsessing over whether you touched a few extra microbes when you got on the subway.” – Zack Love When I first moved to Boston…
Author: Jennifer Tsang
Our early life microbiome may be more resilient than once believed
“We are inhabited by as many as ten thousand bacterial species… Together, they are referred to as our microbiome — and they play such a crucial role in our lives that scientists like Blaser have begun to reconsider what it means to be human.” ― Michael Specter A couple weeks ago, I attended the Boston…
Plasmid mediated colistin resistance found in the U.S.
“When antibiotics first came out, nobody could have imagined we’d have the resistance problem we face today. We didn’t give bacteria credit for being able to change and adapt so fast.” -Bonnie Bassler Antibiotic resistant superbugs have dominated health-related news recently, warning of an impending post-antibiotic apocalypse where current antibiotics are no longer effective. Though…
Sourdough, an incubator for microbial symbiosis
“Blues is to jazz what yeast is to bread. Without it, it’s flat.” – Carmen McRae, jazz musician History of sourdough Sourdough bread and other fermented foods have been around for centuries. The oldest leavened bread was excavated in Switzerland, dating from 3500 BCE. However, the oldest evidence of leavening was recorded by the Egyptians…
Metropolitan Microbes: Microbiomes of Built Environments
In recent years, the human microbiome has gotten a lot of press. We have read about how our gut microbes affect our eating habits, immune system and mind. But what about the microbes that surround us indoors? We spend most of our time indoors, at home, in our cars, in offices and other buildings. We…





