Linkage of in-refrigerator water dispensing systems to elevated exposure to microbial contamination at the microbiome scale.

In-refrigerator water dispensing systems are ubiquitous in residential homes with tap water as the inflow. Passage through these systems resulted in significant microbial growth in the water, with the abundance of potential opportunistic pathogens Mycobacterium and Pseudomonas increasing by 8,053- and 221-fold, respectively. Elevated exposure to microbial contaminants linked to in-refrigerator water dispensing systems may represent a significant public health concern.

Alternating polarity as a novel strategy for building synthetic microbial communities capable of robust Electro-Methanogenesis.

Electro-methanogenic microbial communities can produce biogas with high efficiency and have attracted extensive research interest. In this study an alternating polarity strategy was developed to build electro-methanogenic communities. In two-chamber bioelectrochemical systems amended with activated carbon, the electrode potential was alternated between +0.8 V and -0.4 V vs. standard hydrogen electrode every three days. Cumulative biogas production under alternating polarity increased from 45 L/L/kg-activated carbon after start-up to 125 L/L/kg after the 4th enrichment, significantly higher than that under intermittent cathode (-0.4 V/open circuit), continuous cathode (-0.4 V), and open circuit. The communities assembled under alternating polarity were electroactive and structurally different from those assembled under other conditions. One Methanobacterium population and two Geobacter populations were consistently abundant and active in the communities. Their 16S rRNA was up-regulated by electrode potentials. Bayesian networks inferred close associations between these populations. Overall, electro-methanogenic communities have been successfully assembled with alternating polarity.

A New Paradigm for Pandemic Preparedness.

Purpose of Review: Preparing for pandemics requires a degree of interdisciplinary work that is challenging under the current paradigm. This review summarizes the challenges faced by the field of pandemic science and proposes how to address them. Recent Findings: The structure of current siloed systems of research organizations hinders effective interdisciplinary pandemic research. Moreover, effective pandemic preparedness requires stakeholders in public policy and health to interact and integrate new findings rapidly, relying on a robust, responsive, and productive research domain. Neither of these requirements are well supported under the current system. Summary: We propose a new paradigm for pandemic preparedness wherein interdisciplinary research and close collaboration with public policy and health practitioners can improve our ability to prevent, detect, and treat pandemics through tighter integration among domains, rapid and accurate integration, and translation of science to public policy, outreach and education, and improved venues and incentives for sustainable and robust interdisciplinary work.