Early Microbial Life with Michael Lynch and Vaughn Cooper
Meet The Microbiologist
Michael Lynch, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Mechanisms of Evolution at Arizona State University and Vaughn Cooper, Ph.D., professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at the University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine, examine the origins and trajectory of early microbial life (EML) and discuss the collaborative report between the American Academy of Microbiology and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, which explores the journey of life on Earth, from non-living chemical compounds to early unicellular life, to the vast diversity of organisms we see today. This...
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How FMTs, Coprophagia and the Milk Microbiome Inform Wildlife Conservation With Sally Bornbusch
Meet The Microbiologist
Sally Bornbusch, Ph.D., is an NSF postdoctoral fellow in biology conducting microbial ecology research in animal care and conservation at the Smithsonian National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute. She discusses how FMTs are being used to mitigate health concerns in wild animals in captivity, shares key findings about the milk microbiome from the Smithsonian milk repository, the largest collection of exotic animal milks in the world, and explains the science behind eating poo (Coprophagia). Links for This Episode . Take the
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Agnostic Diagnostics and the Future of ASM Health With Dev Mittar
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., Scientific Director of the discusses the use of metagenomic next generation sequencing to develop agnostic diagnostic technology, giving scientists and clinicians alike, a tool to diagnose any infectious disease with one single test. He also discusses how the ASM Health Unit is empowering scientists and leveraging microbial science innovations to address critical global health challenges and improve lives worldwide. Ashley's Biggest Takeaways The Division of Research, Innovation and Ventures is a small entrepreneurial arm of BARDA that takes on early-stage projects...
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Implementing a National Action Plan to Combat AMR in Pakistan With Afreenish Amir
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Episode Summary , Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Project Director at the National Institute of Health in Pakistan, highlights significant increases in extensively drug-resistant typhoid and cholera cases in Pakistan and discusses local factors driving AMR in Asia. She describes the development and implementation of a National Action Plan to combat AMR in a developing country, emphasizing the importance of rational antimicrobial use, surveillance and infection control practice. Ashley's Biggest Takeaways AMR is a global and One Health issue. Pakistan has a huge disease burden of AMR....
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Discovering Fossilized Microbes in Antarctic Ice Cores With Manuel Martinez Garcia
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Manuel Martinez Garcia, Ph.D., a professor of microbiology in the Physiology, Genetics and Microbiology Department at the University of Alicante in Spain, paints a picture of what microbial life looked like thousands of years ago by analyzing microbial genomic signatures within ice cores collected from the Antarctic ice shelves in the 1990s. Links for the Episode – mSphere paper. – Nature communications article. – Press Release from Alfred Wegener Institute. Take the Watch this episode: Ashley’s Biggest Takeaways There is a unique...
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Revenge of the Microbes With Brenda Wilson and Brian Ho
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Episode Summary Mother-Son duo, Brenda Wilson, Ph.D., professor of microbiology and the Associate Director of Undergraduate Education in the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and Brian Ho, Ph.D., researcher and lecturer at the Institute of structural and molecular biology, a joint institute between the Department of structural and molecular biology at the University College of London and the Department of Biological Sciences at Birkbeck University of London discuss the inspiration and motivation for their recent book, Revenge of the...
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Binning Singletons With Joseph James
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Joseph James, biologist at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, discusses his career trajectory and the creation of Binning Singletons, a unique mentorship program built on peer-to-peer networking at scientific meetings and conferences and was first implemented in 2019 at ASM Microbe. Links for the Episode Binning Singletons and Peer-to-Peer Networking Learn more about . Contact Joe James: [email protected] Follow Binning Singletons: —mSphere article. Binning Singletons: —Guest post on Addgene Blog. —asm.org article that James says has really helped him explain Binning...
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Biorisk Assessment and Management With Saeed Khan
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Saeed Khan, Ph.D., Head of the Department of Molecular Pathology at Dow diagnostic research and reference laboratory and President of the Pakistan Biological Safety Association discusses the importance and challenges of biosafety/biosecurity practices on both a local and global scale. He highlights key steps for biorisk assessment and management and stresses the importance of training, timing and technology. Ashley's Biggest Takeaways Adequate biosafety and biosecurity protocols depend on a thorough understanding of modern challenges, and scientists must be willing and able to respond to new...
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From Hydrothermal Vents to Cold Seeps: How Bacteria Sustain Ocean Life With Nicole Dubilier
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Nicole Dubilier, Ph.D., Director and head of the Symbiosis Department at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, has led numerous reserach cruises and expeditions around the world studying the symbiotic relationships of bacteria and marine invertebrates. She discusses how the use of various methods, including deep-sea in situ tools, molecular, 'omic' and imaging analyses, have illuminated remarkable geographic, species and habitat diversity amongst symbionts and emphasizes the importance of discovery-driven research over hypothesis-driven methods. Watch this episode: Ashley's...
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When Proteins Become Infectious: Understanding Prion Disease With Neil Mabbott
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From Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), Neil Mabbott, Ph.D., has worked for nearly 2 decades on understanding the mechanisms by which prion proteins become infectious and cause neurological disease in humans and animals. He discusses the remarkable properties of prions and addresses complexities surrounding symptoms, transmission and diagnosis of prion disease.
info_outlineDr. Wun-Ju Shieh, worked as a pathologist and infectious diseases expert with the CDC from 1995-2020. He recounts his experiences conducting high risk autopsies on the frontlines of outbreaks including Ebola, H1N1 influenza, monkeypox and SARS-CoV-1 and 2. He also addresses key questions about factors contributing to the (re)emergence and spread of pathogens and discusses whether outbreaks are becoming more frequent or simply more widely publicized.
Ashley’s Biggest Takeaways:
• Pathologists are a group of medical doctors serving behind the line of the daily hospital activities.
• Pathology service can be divided into atomic pathology and clinical pathology. The field covers all the laboratory diagnostic work in the hospital, and clinical microbiology or medical microbiology is actually a subdivision within the clinical pathology service.
• Usually, a pathologist working in a hospital will examine and dissect tissue specimens from surgery or biopsy.
• The pathologist also performs autopsies as requested to determine or confirm the cause of death.
• Serving as first a clinician in Taiwan and then a pathologist in the United States has provided Shieh with the unique experience of evaluating patients from both the outside-in and the inside-out!
• Even when a major outbreak of a known etiologic agent is taking place, confirmatory diagnosis is necessary for subsequent quarantine, control and prevention of the outbreak.
• During major disease outbreaks, other pathogens do not go away, and we must simultaneously facilitate their timely diagnosis to ensure effective patient treatment and care.
• SARS-CoV-2 appears to be transmitted more easily than SARS-CoV-1. One possible explanation for this is that the amount of viral load appears to be the highest in the upper respiratory tract of those with COVID-19, shortly after the symptoms develop. This indicates that people with COVID-19 may be transmitting the virus early in infection, just as their symptoms are developing…or even before they appear or without symptoms.
• SARS-CoV-1 viral loads peak much later in the illness.
• Asymptomatic transmission is rarely seen with SARS-CoV-1 infection.
• Almost 99% of SARS-CoV-1 patients developed prominent fever when they started to carry infectivity. Temperature monitoring was therefore, very effective at detecting sick patients and facilitating prompt quarantining procedures, which effectively contained/minimized transmission of the virus.
• This was not as effective for SARS-CoV-2, despite early attempts at temperature. monitoring.
• SARS-CoV-2 was much harder to contain both because of the milder display of host symptoms and the demonstration of higher viral transmissibility.