a shout out this holiday season to Science - the gift that keeps on giving
Amy Pickering
@seqh2o.bsky.social
Associate Prof, UC Berkeley. Global health, WASH tech, environmental surveillance, antibiotic resistance, following the pathogens. pickering.berkeley.edu www.mangrovewater.org
So how did it go? NIH made 43 DP2 awards, the lowest number in a decade. I really wish Director Bhattacharya would spend doing his actual job rather than badmouthing the agency he is charged to lead and spouting platitudes on podcasts and elsewhere. 6/7
No one is talking about global handwashing day today here! We have new WHO Global Guidelines for hand hygiene in community settings - we worked hard on them - check them out! Wash your hands with plain soap and water (no added antimicrobials) or use ABHS! cdn.who.int/media/docs/d...
Is it Solid Evidence or Liquid Gold?? It's both for wastewater-based epidemiology! Check out our new paper - Trade-Offs of Processing Settled Solids, Whole Influent, or Centrifuged Influent for Codetecting Viral, Bacterial, and Eukaryotic Pathogens in Wastewater pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
Solid Evidence and Liquid Gold: Trade-Offs of Processing Settled Solids, Whole Influent, or Centrifuged Influent for Codetecting Viral, Bacterial, and Eukaryotic Pathogens in Wastewater
Effective methods for simultaneously measuring viral, bacterial, protozoan, and fungal pathogens in wastewater are needed. Here, we investigate how the sample type and nucleic acid extraction protocol...
pubs.acs.org
One NIH diversity supplement grant reinstated! we'll take the win! now if we can just get our delayed NOA on the parent grant to come through...
Nice article on our new paper out in @natcomms.nature.com www.genomeweb.com/sequencing/n...
New Nanopore Method Enables Targeted Sequencing of Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Genomic Context
Context-Seq leverages CRISPR-Cas9-mediated target enrichment and nanopore sequencing to detect antibiotic resistance genes in their genomic context.
genomeweb.com
Amy Pickering@seqh2o.bsky.social · last yr.Interested in cas9 targeted sequencing of ARGs and their genomic context? check out our new paper! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Interested in cas9 targeted sequencing of ARGs and their genomic context? check out our new paper! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Context-Seq: CRISPR-Cas9 targeted nanopore sequencing for transmission dynamics of antimicrobial resistance - Nature Communications
Evidence of antimicrobial resistance exchange between humans, animals, and the environment is limited by methodological challenges. Here, the authors report the development of ContextSeq, a Cas9 targe...
nature.com
STAGGERING: This new study of 133 countries is the first to estimate the impact of all USAID’s work. In 2 decades, it has saved *92M* lives. Current cuts, if not reversed, are forecast to cost up to *14M* lives thru 2030. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
I am devastated by the recent news that HUD is pushing the National Science Foundation (NSF) out of their building. People need to speak up NOW. Thread w/ facts: Below is email I sent to trusted @meidastouch.com @adammockler.com and my local Congressional leaders-use any/all parts that help. (1/)
New paper out! Here we find that 85% of pathogens detected in child stool are also found in animals living in close proximity. Longitudinal sampling and TAC analysis also showed pathogen transmission from animals => soil => child hands => new infections. pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
Zoonotic and Environmental Sources of Infant Enteric Pathogen Infections Identified with Longitudinal Sampling
Many enteric pathogens that infect young children can be zoonotic, yet the exposure risk of domestic animals living in close proximity to young children is poorly understood. Here, we longitudinally m...
pubs.acs.org
Today RFK Jr took the single biggest step towards destroying childhood vaccines When @nytimes asked me in December whether RFK could kill the vaccine program - I said he’d have to remove CDCs ACIP And… that’s exactly what he just did today Not good-just like that we cannot trust CDC on vaccines
My mom had polio, was disabled her entire life, it severely impacted my entire family & me personally, & she died way too early. She contracted it in infancy shortly before the Salk vaccine roll-out. These attacks on vaccines are a public health nightmare. Many people are going to get sick & die.
Kennedy Removes All C.D.C. Vaccine Panel Experts
nytimes.com
As Chair of the Department of Global and Public Health @healthsciences.mcgill.ca, I am pleased to share two open junior faculty positions! mcgill.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/mcgill... mcgill.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/mcgill...
“We were interested in understanding the role of the household environment in bacterial transmission to humans,” said Prof. @seqh2o.bsky.social. “And our findings showed that water is actually one of the most important transmission pathways for pathogenic and drug-resistant bacteria.”
UC Berkeley Engineering@berkeleyengineer.bsky.social · last yr.Berkeley researchers have shown that household environment might play a larger role in the transmission of gastrointestinal bacterial infections via drinking water than previously thought.
Shutting down the Energy Star program will raise your energy costs and make you sicker. There is no good policy reason to shut it down. None. It saves people lots of money and helps cut pollution. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/06/c...
E.P.A. Plans to Shut Down the Energy Star Program
nytimes.com
Berkeley researchers have shown that household environment might play a larger role in the transmission of gastrointestinal bacterial infections via drinking water than previously thought.
Household drinking water identified as key pathway for bacterial transmission - Berkeley Engineering
Research points to effective strategies for protecting community health
bit.ly
nice to have a daredevilry distraction from the current fed gov research horrors
Apoorva Mandavilli@apoorvanyt.bsky.social · last yr.Over nearly 18 years, Tim Friede, injected himself with escalating doses of venom from 16 deadly snake species. He also allowed the snakes to sink their sharp fangs into him about 200 times. His daredevilry may help solve a dire problem. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/02/h...
Not a great morning. Two grant cancellations and now this: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Exclusive: NIH to suspend funds for research abroad as it overhauls policy
Move by US biomedical agency threatens thousands of projects on infectious diseases, cancer and more.
nature.com
Human wastewater contamination is so bad in Alabama homes that 1 in 3 adults in one county had hookworm. Biden funded efforts to improve sanitation there. But the effort is cancelled as "DEI". www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/...
Trump shut down program to end human waste backing into Alabama homes, calling it 'illegal DEI'
A $26 million federal program to help residents of Lowndes County, Alabama, who have dealt with inadequate sewage systems for decades was stopped by an executive order.
nbcnews.com
How are pathogenic and antibiotic resistant bacterial strains shared across humans, animals, and the environment? Using PIC-Seq + StrainGE, we find drinking water plays an important role in human-human strain sharing. Just published in @natmicrobiol.nature.com! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Contaminated drinking water facilitates Escherichia coli strain-sharing within households in urban informal settlements - Nature Microbiology
Escherichia coli-contaminated stored drinking water facilitates strain-sharing between household members, suggesting water treatment can curb bacterial transmission and antibiotic resistance in urban ...
nature.com
And we are building a roster of expert consultants for our growing list of projects! Read more and apply here: drive.google.com/file/d/1DNEZ...
Mangrove Water, Consultant Roster Description (1).pdf
drive.google.com
The time burden of future climate change in SSA will disproportionately fall on women
Blum Center for Developing Economies@blumcenter.bsky.social · last yr.Climate change is expected to make sub-Saharan Africa warmer and drier. In @natcomms.nature.com, @seqh2o.bsky.social & co. explore how this affects the burden of collecting water—with impacts for health, hygiene, income, and gender equity: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Climate change is expected to make sub-Saharan Africa warmer and drier. In @natcomms.nature.com, @seqh2o.bsky.social & co. explore how this affects the burden of collecting water—with impacts for health, hygiene, income, and gender equity: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Temperature and precipitation affect the water fetching time burden in Sub-Saharan Africa - Nature Communications
This study reveals that rising temperatures and decreased precipitation levels increase walking time for fetching drinking water in Sub-Saharan Africa. Rural areas are most affected, but community ele...
nature.com
New blog post going into @seqh2o.bsky.social and team’s inventions — which add the right amount of chlorine to disinfect water at places people collect it — and why we decided to support the work in 2020: www.openphilanthropy.org/research/how...
How a low-cost, no-electricity device is expanding access to clean water | Open Philanthropy
The TuriTap, a new low-tech water chlorination device that operates without electricity, entered a crucial phase of testing in January: a randomized controlled trial across 40 health care facilities i...
openphilanthropy.org
Amy Pickering@seqh2o.bsky.social · last yr.Thanks to support from Open Phil, we are getting ready to launch sales of the TuriTap in Kenya in a couple of weeks! www.openphilanthropy.org/research/how...
Thanks to support from Open Phil, we are getting ready to launch sales of the TuriTap in Kenya in a couple of weeks! www.openphilanthropy.org/research/how...
An important preprint contribution which demonstrates the excellent scalability and rapidity of deriving trends in antimicrobial resistance using wastewater surveillance. www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
Wastewater surveillance reveals patterns of antibiotic resistance across the United States
Antibiotic resistance is a growing public health threat, with over 2.8 million antibiotic-resistant infections and 35,000 attributable deaths annually in the U.S. This is an underestimate, as it is ba...
medrxiv.org
How will climate change affect water access in Sub-Saharan Africa? Excited to share our new paper in @naturecomms.bsky.social revealing increased temp and lower precipitation will worsen the water fetching time burden on households - read more here rdcu.be/ehreS
Temperature and precipitation affect the water fetching time burden in Sub-Saharan Africa
Nature Communications - This study reveals that rising temperatures and decreased precipitation levels increase walking time for fetching drinking water in Sub-Saharan Africa. Rural areas are most...
rdcu.be