The Anthropocene, a proposed geological epoch characterized by significant human influence on Earth's ecosystems, has seen dramatic changes in environmental microbiomes due to urbanization, industrialization, pollution, and climate change. These changes affect not only soil and water microbiomes but also those within human bodies, altering fundamental ecological and health processes.
Conversely, microorganisms are resilient in the face of anthropogenic disruption due to their capacity for rapid adaptation, thriving in even in the most contaminated environments and are used to develop remediation strategies.
Understanding the interplay between microbiomes and human-driven environmental changes is crucial for learning to live on a damaged planet.
Questions we are investigating in this topic are:
How can the microbiomes of contaminated sites teach us responsible stewardship?
What are the ethical implications of ‘harnessing’ microbial mechanisms - how do you ask consent of a microbe?
Title | Type | Venue | Date | People | Topics | Projects | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Living Interfaces Lab Showcases Research at 2025 Bioremediation Symposium | TalkPoster PresentationSymposium | Bioremediation Symposium 2025 | 06/24/2025 | Hao-Wei Shih Karolina Sulich Elizabeth Hénaff | Microbiomes and the Anthropocene | Gowanus Canal Microbiome | www.battelle.org |
LAMP-PCR biosensor top 8 finalist at Bio Design Challenge 2025 | TalkExhibit | Museum of Modern Art | 06/13/2025 | Karolina Sulich Elizabeth Hénaff | Microbiomes and the Anthropocene | Gowanus Canal Microbiome | |
Gowanus team wins first prize at Tandon Research Expo | PressOutreach | NYU Tandon Newsletter | 05/13/2024 | Hao-Wei Shih Karolina Sulich Caroline Chou Elizabeth Hénaff | Microbiomes and the Anthropocene | Gowanus Canal Microbiome | engineering.nyu.edu |
 | Conference PresentationExhibitLLIAward | 2023 BioDesign Challenge, Museum of Modern Art, NYC | 06/22/2023 → 06/23/2023 | Sheila Atieno Diedre Brown Tori Coleman Ands Sanchez Anshika Srivastava | Holobiont Interactions Microbiomes and the Anthropocene Biological Metrics and Design | Aerobiomes as seen by Honeybees | www.biodesignchallenge.org |
 | Award | Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY | 06/23/2023 | Ands Sanchez Sheila Atieno Tori Coleman Diedre Brown Anshika Srivastava | Microbiomes and the Anthropocene | Aerobiomes as seen by Honeybees | www.biodesignchallenge.org |
Holobiont Urbanism: sampling urban beehives reveals cities’ metagenomes | Publication | Environmental Microbiome | 2023-03-30 | Elizabeth Hénaff | Microbiomes and the Anthropocene | environmentalmicrobiome.biomedcentral.com | |
PRECIPITATE | Open Source Gallery | Exhibit | Open Source Gallery | 06/29/2023 | Elizabeth Hénaff | Microbiomes and the Anthropocene | open-source-gallery.org | |
Beehives are the honeypot for a city’s microbial secrets | Press | PopSci | 2023-03-31 | Tori Coleman Ands Sanchez Rabtah Jinan Adriana St. Clair | Microbiomes and the Anthropocene | Aerobiomes as seen by Honeybees | www.popsci.com |
The Invisible Scrubbers at the Bottom of the Gowanus / Curbed | Press | New York | 2022-04-08 | Elizabeth Hénaff | Microbiomes and the Anthropocene | Gowanus Canal Microbiome | www.curbed.com |
2024 Tandon Research Excellence Exhibit | AwardExhibitLLI | NYU Tandon School of Engineering | 04/26/2024 | Hao-Wei Shih Caroline Chou Karolina Sulich Elizabeth Hénaff | Microbiomes and the Anthropocene | Gowanus Canal Microbiome | engineering.nyu.edu |
The Urban Microbiome - Conversation with Elizabeth Hénaff and Núria Conde | Talk | CCCB Centre de Cultura Contemporanea de Barcelona | 2021-11-22 | Elizabeth Hénaff | Microbiomes and the Anthropocene | www.cccb.org |