AncientBiotics With Steve Diggle and Freya Harrison
Release Date: 06/02/2023
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.
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Trillion Dollar Microbes Make the Bioeconomy Go Round With Tim Donohue
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Episode Summary —ASM Past President, University of Wisconsin Foundation Fetzer Professor of Bacteriologyand Director of the (GLBRC) calls genomics a game-changer when it comes the potential of microbes to create renewable resources and products that can sustain the environment, economy and supply chain around the world. He also shares some exciting new advances in the field and discusses ways his research team is using microorganisms as nanofactories to degrade lignocellulose and make a smorgasbord of products with high economic value. Take the Ashley's Biggest...
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Rabies: The Diabolical Virus With Many Symptoms and Hosts With Rodney Rohde
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, Regents’ Professor and Chair of the Medical Laboratory Science Program at Texas State University discusses the many variants, mammalian hosts and diverse neurological symptoms of rabies virus. Take the Ashley’s Biggest Takeaways: Prior to his academic career, Rohde spent a decade as a public health microbiologist and molecular epidemiologist with the and , and over 30 years researching rabies virus. While at the Department of Health Lab, Rohde worked on virus isolation using what he described as “old school” cell culture techniques,...
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Increasing Laboratory Capacity for TB Diagnosis With Aureliana Chambal
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ASM's Young Ambassador, Aureliana Chambal, discusses the high incidence of tuberculosis in Mozambique and how improved surveillance can help block disease transmission in low resource settings. Ashley's Biggest Takeaways: Mozambique is severely impacted by the TB epidemic, with one of the highest incidences in Africa (368 cases/ 100,000 people in the population). Human-adapted members of the . These 7 lineages may vary in geographic distribution, and have varying impacts on infection and disease outcome. For decades, 2 reference strains have been used for TB lab research, H37Rv, which...
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Good Science, Bad Science and How to Make it Better with Ferric Fang and Arturo Casadevall
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The scientific process has the power to deliver a better world and may be the most monumental human achievement. But when it is unethically performed or miscommunicated, it can cause confusion and division. Drs. Fang and Casadevall discuss what is good science, what is bad science and how to make it better. Get the book!
info_outlineDr. Steve Diggle, ASM Distinguished Lecturer and Microbiology Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia and Dr. Freya Harrison, Associate Microbiology Professor at the University of Warwick in Coventry, U.K., discuss the science behind medieval medical treatments and the benefits of interdisciplinary research.
Ashley's Biggest Takeaways
- Diggle and Harrison met in Oxford, where Harrison was finishing up her Ph.D. and Diggle was doing background research for his work studying evolutionary questions about quorum sensing.
- When Diggle began searching for a postdoc, Harrison, who had been conducting an independent fellowship at Oxford and studying social evolution, applied.
- The AncientBiotics Consortium is a group of experts from the sciences, arts and humanities, who are digging through medieval medical books in hopes of finding ancient solutions to today’s growing threat of antibiotic resistance.
- The group’s first undertaking was recreation and investigation of the antimicrobial properties of an ancient eyesalve described in Bald’s Leechbook, one of the earliest known medical textbooks, which contains recipes for medications, salves and treatments.
- The consortium found that the eyesalve was capable of killing MRSA, a discovery that generated a lot of media attention and sparked expanded research efforts.
- The group brought data scientists and mathematicians into the consortium (work driven by Dr. Erin Connelly from the University of Warwick).
- Together, the researchers began scouring early modern and medieval texts and turning them into databases.
- The goal? To mathematically data mine these recipes see which ingredients were very often or non-randomly combined in ancient medical remedies.
- The group recently published work showing synergistic antimicrobial effects of acetic acid and honey.
- They are also working to pull out the active compounds from Bald’s eyesalve and make a synthetic cocktail that could be added to a wound dressings.
- A 1,000-Year-Old Antimicrobial Remedy with Antistaphylococcal Activity.
- Medieval medicine: the return to maggots and leeches to treat ailments.
- A case study of the Ancientbiotics collaboration.
- Phase 1 safety trial of a natural product cocktail with antibacterial activity in human volunteers.
- Sweet and sour synergy: exploring the antibacterial and antibiofilm activity of acetic acid and vinegar combined with medical-grade honeys.
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