Citizen Science at ASM2013

http://storify.com/Sponch2/citizen-science-at-asm2013

new (really old) post about fecal transplants and the FDA

I wrote this a while back and neglected to post it (again dissertating is hard and time consuming), but with the news from the FDA today I guess I have my answer!

"Jonathan Eisen @phylogenomics

The Tree of Life: Just in time for #ASM2013 - FDA adding regulations for fecal transplants #microbiome goo.gl/fb/8wZK4"

So here is my old non-posted blog about fecal transplants and what the FDA might do from when the clinical trials were announced:

Is it a food? Is it a drug? No, it's bacteriotherapy!

So, fecal transplants are finally going to clinical trials.

Yup, fecal transplants, you read that right. Take poo from one person and give it to another, or fecal bacteriotherapy, as Dr Eisen suggests. 

Infection by drug resistant C. difficile is very difficult to treat.  One can get it while taking antibiotics to treat another infection elsewhere in the body, often while hospitalized. Antibiotics also affect the bacteria normally in your gut, throwing your whole system out of whack, as in that all too common side effect of loose to watery stool.  Once your 'good/normal' bacteria clear out, drug resistant c diff can move in and start causing problems.  So, here's the idea, take poop from a healthy person and give it to a person with an 'unhealthy' gut.  The bacteria from the good gut take up residence and force the C diff out. This has been shown to be safe and there are anecdotal reports of it working, but clinical trials have yet to be done.  If these clinical trials show scientifically that bacteriotherapy truly works, it brings up an interesting question as far as how the FDA would handle it or if they would.

Bacteria are neither food nor drug, at least as far as I've heard, but we ingest them constantly and it's been shown that what they do in our bodies affects us.  But they aren't chemically defined substances like drugs. They are living things that respond to the conditions around them.  

Probiotics could be defined as a form of bacteriotherapy, but are currently classified as dietary supplements. This means any health claims the manufacturer makes have not been evaluated by the FDA.  If the FDA decides it needs to expand its reach, it could include any therapeutics, which could then include supplements, but there is a whole mess of issues that would come up as a result of that.  I think it would be like the GMO labeling fight currently going on in CA.

It's a complicated issue.  It will be interesting to see what happens, as my money is on fecal transplants being shown to be beneficial as a therapy. 

The Inspiration of SPONCH

I've been busy TAing and trying to graduate so blog posts have been rare.  I hope I will have more time to write for fun rather than work soon, but as promised posts will be sporadic at best till I am on my way to graduating.

I've been debating my next step after graduation.  I really enjoy teaching and interacting with college students, so I think I am going to focus on getting a teaching job.  That said, I am open to doing more research in a post-doc position, but I would like some more training on teaching college courses.  Not sure what kind of opportunities for a 50/50 research/teaching post-doc exists, but I'm looking.

Part of why I want to teach is because I have had some great teachers.  From time to time I want to use this blog to honor the teachers that have made a major impact on me.  Today it will be easy since I will be linking to an article.  Mr. Reise was my Bio Honors teacher.  He's inspired my teaching style in many ways and is the person behind SPONCH (because CHONPS isn't a word).

http://thecarillon.org/index.php/2012/11/28/rieses-pieces/

Here goes nothing...

For my first blog entry I'll provide background on who I am and what I hope this blog will be.

For now, I'll be keeping myself mostly anonymous.  I am a grad student in California trying to get a PhD in Microbiology, furiously trying to complete my dissertation in the very near future.  My research interests include new drugs to fight resistant microbes, how resistance starts, virology, microbiology, and ways to use microbes to our benefit.  Science education and translating scientific research to the public are some of my other interests, mostly because scientists are often not good at it.

While I work I like to listen to podcasts.  I often hear science-y discussions, where research is discussed, but not in depth.  With this blog I will try to further discuss science, especially microbiology, I hear on podcasts and in current events.  I'll try to make it so that anybody can understand the science behind whatever topic inspires me.  Science isn't necessarily seen as cool, even as it has never been "cooler" to be a geek/nerd.  I think this presents a unique opportunity to open science up to more people.

Also, I'll discuss grad school and the transition from PhD candidate to full fledged PhD/wizard (you get robes and a hat!).  That said, entries may be sporadic as I attempt to graduate, but I'll try to write a new blog entry per week.

So why SPONCH? It is way more fun to say than CHONPS (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/CHONPS)

Also I just found out that urbandictionary.com defines sponch as: ("verb) to engage in nerd-like behavior by spouting knowledge about totally irrelevant or uniteresting [sic] topics; to cement your lack of skills at social interaction by demonstrating your proviciciency [sic] in an obscure area of study."

Unfortunately accurate description of a lot of academics like me.  I hope those who give this blog a chance enjoy my sponching.