"Microbes across cultures" By Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello (ACES bdg Nov12 at 3:00)

Open

Dr. Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello will be giving a seminar as described below at the Avaya Auditorium in the ACES building on Tuesday, November 12 at 3:00.

Please feel free invite anyone who might be interested.

"Microbes across cultures"

'Microbes are everywhere, including those that coevolved in and on us and play important physiological roles. The best known microbes are from Westernized peoples. We have evidence of changes in the human microbiome, with reduced microbial diversity as Westernization increases. However, we do not know how microbes from the body and the built environment change with Westernization. 
We are studying microbes of villages across a transculturation gradient in the Amazon basin. We sampled microbes from 10 homes in each of 4 villages across the gradient, including 150 subjects, 34 animals and 496 objects. We also measured home environmental parameters, and preliminary results indicate changes in the use of home space and architecture, leading to changes in ventilation, temperature variation, UV, and of building materials that can be relevant to home microbes.'

Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello, PhD
Associate Professor
Human Microbiome Program
Division of Transnational Medicine
New York University School of Medicine
http://www.med.nyu.edu/biosketch/dominm05