Richard L. Corsi 1 , Hal Levin 2 , Jonathan Eisen 3 , and Kerry A. Kinney 1 1. The University of Texas at Austin 2. microBEnet and Building Ecology Research Group 3. microBEnet - University of California, Davis Microbiomes of Built Environments: 2011 Symposium Highlights & Workgroup Recommendations Healthy Buildings 2012 - Brisbane, Australia Indoor Air 2011: Symposium on June 8 th / 9 th , 2011 (Austin, Texas)– 9,
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
Richard L. Corsi1, Hal Levin2, Jonathan Eisen3, and Kerry A. Kinney1
1. The University of Texas at Austin
2. microBEnet and Building Ecology Research Group
3. microBEnet - University of California, Davis
Microbiomes of Built Environments: 2011 Symposium Highlights & Workgroup Recommendations
Healthy Buildings 2012 - Brisbane, Australia
Indoor Air 2011: Symposium on June 8th / 9th, 2011 (Austin, Texas)– 9,
Symposium Overview
DAY 1
• Keynote: J. Craig Venter
• 15 podium speakers
Day 2
• State of Knowledge: Aino Nevalainen
• New Tools and Opportunities: Jonathan Eisen
• Need to think big: Jesse Ausubel
• Workshop
Sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Workgroup Recommendations
1. Microorganisms & Building Materials
• Far more attention needed - interaction with materials
• Material properties (composition, porosity, water capacity)
• Surface temperature and humidity
• Microbial communities on damp materials
• Fungi, bacteria (100% of materials)
• Amoebae (20% of materials)
• Aged wood, gyp board, mineral wool
• Synergistic effects?
• Yli-Pirilä et al. (2004 & 2008)
2. Longitudinal Studies in Buildings
• How do microbial communities change over time and why?
• Changes (or controlled perturbations) in:
• Outdoor environmental conditions
• Indoor environmental conditions
• Building materials/furnishings
• Operations (HVAC, etc.)
• Maintenance (cleaning, etc.)
• Occupant loads / activities
U of Chicago – Center for Health Statistics http://healthstats.org/
3. Reference Genomes of Cultured Isolates
• Sequencing of “reference genomes” from cultured isolates
• Different types of microorganisms removed from buildings
• Valuable community resource
• Predicting functions of importance
• Interpretation of PCR and metagenomic
sequence data
4. Functioning of Microorganisms
• Cataloging is good, but not sufficient in and of itself
• Need to know what the microorganisms are doing
“You can observe a lot just by watching.” – Yogi Berra
5. Shared Buildings
• Several around the world are needed (different climate zones)
• Many benefits:
• Controlled and systematic research efforts
• International & interdisciplinary collaborations