Microbiome Project

The HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology partnered with James Clemens High School in Madison, Ala., to study the microbiome, or biological environment, of the school.

Throughout the school year, students used sterilized swabs to collect samples of microorganisms around campus — on bleachers, in the cafeteria, in locker rooms, and dozens of other places throughout the school.

The samples were brought back to labs at HudsonAlpha for processing and analysis.

Co-led by HudsonAlpha faculty investigator Shawn Levy, Ph.D.; and HudsonAlpha Vice President for Education Neil Lamb, Ph.D.; the project is an extension of the recently published New York City PathoMap project, which sampled the microbiome of the New York subway system. Levy is a collaborator on the PathoMap project.

The long-term project will be carried out over multiple school years and across curriculums, involving not only science classrooms but students in English, statistics, history and art.

Students working for the James Clemens student press “JETSpress” documented the project and created the following video.

https://youtu.be/EK6XSYQwH34