MicroARCH_lab

The sociobiome–oral microbiome pathway in dental caries among Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians experience disproportionately high rates of dental caries, yet the biological pathways linking socioeconomic disadvantage to oral health remain unclear. This study examined how ...

New preprint on bioRxiv!
The sociobiome–oral microbiome pathway in dental caries among Indigenous Australians” by Sonia Nath et al.

doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Wet Lab Protocols Matter: Choice of DNA Extraction and Library Preparation Protocols Bias Ancient Oral Microbiome Recovery Ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis of archaeological dental calculus has provided a wealth of insights into ancient health, demography and lifestyles. However, the workflow for ancient metagenomics is still...

🎉 New from our team: lab methods can shape what we recover from ancient dental calculus! Extraction & library prep choices influence results, highlighting the importance of careful protocols for reproducible ancient microbiome research.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Check it out today!!

The study links socioeconomic disadvantage to oral microbiome shifts that mediate dental caries risk — showing that income-related microbial dysbiosis impacts oral health inequities.

Check it out today!!

The sociobiome–oral microbiome pathway in dental caries among Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians experience disproportionately high rates of dental caries, yet the biological pathways linking socioeconomic disadvantage to oral health remain unclear. This study examined how ...

New preprint on bioRxiv!
The sociobiome–oral microbiome pathway in dental caries among Indigenous Australians” by Sonia Nath et al.

doi.org/10.1101/2025...

YouTube video by MicrobeTV Matters Microbial #108: Neanderthal Oral Health, Ancient Bacteria and DNA

🦠 New Matters Microbial with @markowenmartin.bsky.social!

Guest Dr. @lauraweyrich.bsky.social shares how ancient dental plaque DNA reveals:

– Neanderthal diets & health
– Early “medicine” use
– Microbes shared with humans

🎧 www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Bc5...

YouTube video by MicrobeTV Matters Microbial #108: Neanderthal Oral Health, Ancient Bacteria and DNA

Another week, another episode of #MattersMicrobial podcast! This time, @lauraweyrich.bsky.social of Penn State discusses what bacterial DNA from ancient dental plaque can tell us. Please spread the #GoodMicrobialWord. @univpugetsound @asmicrobiology @microbe.tv

youtu.be/6Bc5jhCDWg8?...

Great to see initiatives working on policy improvements for microbiome conservation! So wonderful to see the forethought to also include broad representation! Exciting!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

@microarch-lab.bsky.social was lucky enough to host and work with @bbonucci.bsky.social this summer. Checkout her recent publication on retrieving #ancientDNA from concretions from human remains!

Checkout this new #ancientDNA research published today on mastodons significantly revising the previous understanding of their evolutionary history!

Originally from Bangladesh, he completed his BSc and MS in Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology at the University of Chittagong before coming to Penn State. Outside the lab, Shah enjoys biryani and seafood. Connect with him on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/shahimranhossain

Welcome to the team, Shah!

Meet Shah Imran Hossain, a graduate student in Biotechnology at Penn State. Shah is part of the Oral Microbiome Transplants (OMT) project, where he studies how microbial communities in the mouth can be shifted to help treat oral diseases like caries, periodontal disease, gingivitis, and oral cancers

OPEN INVITATION to the One Health Microbiome Symposium, May 13-14, 2026!! This is not your typical siloed topic conference. It unifies diverse research fields in microbiome science across Ag, Envtl, and Human Health. 1/n

www.eventbrite.com/e/2026-one-h...

Congratulations to our PhD student, Christine Ta @ckayeeta.bsky.social on being awarded the One Health Microbiome interdisciplinary Innovation Fellowship!!

We are super proud of you!

Ancient microbial DNA and proteins preserve in concretions covering human remains Microbiome; Omics; Proteomics; Archeology

🚨Thrilled to share our new paper!!
We were able to retrieve ancient DNA and proteins from layers of sediment attached to the skeletal remains of individuals from a Neolithic site from Southern Italy 💀🧬🦠
www.cell.com/iscience/ful...

Great job presenting today @bbonucci.bsky.social

#ISBA11
@isba11.bsky.social

Ancient DNA reveals farming spread through migration, locals slow to adopt it | Penn State University Roughly 10,000 years ago, humans started shifting from being nomadic hunter-gatherers to building large agricultural settlements, marking one of the greatest transformations in human history. For deca...

Ancient DNA reveals farming spread through migration—not local adoption.
Penn State-led study shows migration drove nearly all of Europe’s Neolithic farming transition, with cultural adoption contributing only minimally.

Congratulations to the Huber lab!!!
www.psu.edu/news/researc...

Great job presenting today @wicedjuju.bsky.social

#ISBA11
@isba11.bsky.social

Come to my poster at #ISBA11 today!!
Number 92 🥰🔥

Check out Biancamaria's @bbonucci.bsky.social poster presentation tomorrow at #ISBA11, Aug 29, 12:45–2:25 pm @ Musei Reali, Torino

Session title: Methodological advances in biomolecular archaeology

@isba11.bsky.social

Good job presenting today @ckayeeta.bsky.social

#ISBA11
@isba11.bsky.social

NEW PAPER ALERT ❗️❗️

Check out this new paper on Romania microbiome.
www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/13...

Juliana Simas Coutinho Barbosa @wicedjuju.bsky.social — Aug 29, 1–3 pm, Poster #224 @ Musei Reali

Session name: Methodological advances in biomolecular archaeology

Come say hi! 👋

The MicroARCH team is well represented at the #ISBA2025 conference! 🎉
Check out our poster sessions:

Christine Ta @ckayeeta.bsky.social — Aug 28, 1-3 pm, Poster #22 @Musei Reali

Session name: Authentication and reliability of ancient molecular datasets

Cameron Pauly is officially starting the PhD phase of his MD/PhD journey with the microARCH lab! His research will explore how colonialism has shaped the oral microbiomes of Indigenous communities. Welcome back, Cameron—we’re glad to have you with us!

Good job to our PhD student, Iyunoluwa Ademola-Popoola on her presentation at the Society of Africanist Archaeologists 2025 conference today!

Meet @willvuyk.bsky.social! An #ecology PhD student in our lab and the @microarch-lab.bsky.social studying the impacts and legacies of past more-than-human ecosystem engineering. Will uses paleolimnological and aDNA techniques to reconstruct ancient and historical human-modified ecosystems. 1/2

ARISE program provides hands-on training to aspiring anthropologists | Penn State University Twenty-five students from universities throughout the country were selected to participate in this year's ARISE program hosted by Penn State's Department of Anthropology.

The Penn State Department of Anthropology’s ARISE 2025 program welcomed 25 aspiring undergraduate anthropologists. Read more about the hands-on training they received and hear participants share their experiences: www.psu.edu/news/liberal...

Guidelines for preventing and reporting contamination in low-biomass microbiome studies - Nature Microbiology In this Consensus Statement, the authors outline strategies for processing, analysing and interpreting low-biomass microbiome samples, and provide recommendations to minimize contaminants.

Check out this new publication featuring @lauraweyrich.bsky.social on guidelines for preventing and reporting contamination in low-biomass microbiome studies www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Grateful for this opportunity!! 🦠👩‍💻
The microARCH lab has already welcomed me in the best way!
Super excited for the months to come 🤩🔥
#staytuned

Are you at #WAC2025? Don’t miss Laura Weyrich’s (@lauraweyrich.bsky.social) Tuesday AM talk in Session T25/S01 – Historical Archaeology: Entanglements of Colonialism and Capitalism Across the Globe.
Paper title: "Understanding How the Industrial Revolution Reshaped the Global Oral Microbiome."