MSE seminar today on “Invisible Friends: How Microbes Shape Our Lives and the World Around Us” by Dr. Jake Robinson

You can find up to date details on the event page for all the talks in this series.

Spring 2023; January 18 – May, Wednesdays from 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EST.

Presented over Zoom. Registration is free!

You can register for any or all of the events from the same link here.

Hosting Organizations: MSE and the University of Maine Institute of Medicine.


The environment, microbes, and us

Anthropology Theme organized by Katherine Daiy and Kieran O’Doherty, and Environmental Theme organized by Mallory Choudoir, Mustafa Saifuddin, and Hannah Holland-Moritz.

“Invisible Friends: How Microbes Shape Our Lives and the World Around Us”

Dr. Jake Robinson, PhD.

March 15, 2023; Wednesday,11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EST. This event has passed, watch the recording here.

Headshot of Dr. Jake Robinson

Dr. Robinson is a microbial ecologist based in the UK (soon to be Australia). In 2021, he received a PhD from the University of Sheffield. He is passionate about researching microbes, ecosystems, social equity issues and the connections between them, and at the same time, he is keen to develop ways to conserve and restore nature. Invisible Friends is his first book. This book counters the prevailing narrative of microbes as the bane of society, along the way providing much-needed clarity on the overwhelmingly beneficial role they play. Discover how the microbiome is highly relevant to environmental and social equity issues while there’s also discussion about how microbes may influence our decisions; even the way we think about how we think may need to be revisited. Invisible Friends introduces the reader to a vast, pullulating cohort of minute life – friends you never knew you had! Jake has worked on several publications with the MSE Working Group founder Dr Sue Ishaq and even interviewed her for the Microbes and Social Equity chapter in Invisible Friends.

Upcoming seminars on The environment, microbes, and us

“Microbiome Research with the Yanomami”

David Good, March 22, 2023; Wednesday,11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EST. Register for the Zoom link here.

“Religion, Race and the Microbe: Theological Analysis of Public Health Resistance in the Pandemicine”

Dr. Aminah Al-Attas Bradford, PhD. March 29, 2023; Wednesday,11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EST. Register for the Zoom link here.

“The human-valued interest in microbiome science is the distillation of human-environmental interactions”

Dr. Stephanie Schnorr, PhD. April 5, 2023; Wednesday,11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EST. Register for the Zoom link here.

“Anthropology, Microbiomes, and Antimicrobial Resistance”

Dr. Cecil Lewis, PhD. April 12, 2023; Wednesday,11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EST. Register for the Zoom link here.

Soil health – towards a ‘microbial agriculture’?

Dr. Anna Krzywoszynska, PhD. and Paula Palanco Lopez. April 19, 2023; Wednesday,11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EST. Register for the Zoom link here.

Panel Discussions on the environment, microbes, and us

April 26, 2023; Wednesday,11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EST. Register for the Zoom link here.

May 3, 2023; Wednesday,11:00 AM – 1:00 PM EST. Register for the Zoom link here.

For two weeks, we’ll be bringing back our Theme 3 speakers back to engage in a panel discussion together on the importance of environmental microbiomes and our place in ecosystems, and then will continue talking about soil health. Panel will be hosted by Katherine Daiy, Kieran O’Doherty, Mallory Choudoir, Mustafa Saifuddin, and Hannah Holland-Moritz.

Please note, this session will only be featured live in real-time and will not be recorded.


Logo designed by Alex Guillen

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