Matters Microbial

Matters Microbial is a podcast about the wonders of microbiology, microbiologists, and microbial centrism with Dr. Mark Martin

Matters Microbial #122: Jumbo Marine Viruses and Nanoscopic Warfare 01/26/2026

Matters Microbial #121: Phollowing Phage in the Gut Microbiome 01/08/2026

Matters Microbial #120: Bacterial Interactions among Oral Microbes 12/29/2025

Matters Microbial #120: Bacterial Interactions among Oral Microbes Matters Microbial #120: Bacterial Interactions among Oral Microbes December 29, 2025 For Episode 120, we welcome Dr. Batbileg Bor, Associate Professor at the ADA Forsyth Institute, to the #QualityQuorum. He joins us to discuss some of the oral community’s most enigmatic members: microbes that dwell on other microbes and potentially influence our own health. Host: Guest Subscribe: , Become a of Matters Microbial! Links for this episode Here is a fun about #LuxArt that Dr. Jennifer Quinn and I made for Harvard University’s Microbial Sciences Initiative in 2024. Here is a wonderful about Dr. Rita Colwell. Here is a link to her fascinating about her life. A of the amazing Deinococcus radiodurans. A fine about the “artwork” that Paenibacillus creates when it forms colonies. Here is the that two of my #Bio350 #Micronauts made…a parody of Vanilla Ice’s “Ice, Ice, Baby” but about microbiology. Here is a to the #MattersMicrobial podcast involving the fascinating work of Dr. Jessica Mark Welch on the oral microbiome. A on predatory bacteria. An of the CPR (Candidate Phyla Radiation), both prominent and mysterious. A recent by Dr. Bor and colleagues describing the “microbial dark matter” seemingly everwhere…even in the human mouth. An on TM7, Saccharibacteria. A solid early of TM7, by Dr. Bor and colleagues. Dr. Bor and colleagues’ early about TM7, discussed in today’s podcast. Dr. Bor and colleagues’ describing interesting interactions between the epibiont and the basibiont, described in today’s podcast. Here is a . An by Dr. Bor and colleagues describing the two Type IV pili systems of Saccharibacteria. A fascinating by Dr. Bor and colleagues describing how TM7 can modulate the responses of animals in different ways, discussed on the podcast. Dr. Bor’s LinkedIn . Dr. Bor’s at the ADA Forsyth Institute. Dr. Bor’s with fabulous images to enjoy. Intro music is by Reber Clark Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com /episode/index/show/3492a3b8-a362-4761-811b-3b12664a3d82/id/39559750

Matters Microbial #119: Investigating Microbial "Dark Matter" 12/22/2025

Matters Microbial #118: Biofilms Everywhere! 12/16/2025

Matters Microbial #118: Biofilms Everywhere! Matters Microbial #118: Biofilms Everywhere! December 15, 2025 Today Dr. Matthew Fields, Director of the Center for Biofilm Engineering at Montana State University, joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss ubiquitous microbial biofilms. These biofilms touch so many aspects of life on Earth, ranging from human health to engineering issues! Host: Guest Subscribe: , Become a of Matters Microbial! Links for this episode The for the American Society for Microbiology’s Conference for Undergraduate Educators. Highly recommended! The must-read story of , and the first use of agar to solidify microbiological media. Here is a involving promoting this important piece of microbiological history. And here is a made by former podcast guest Dave Westenberg on the Hesse agar story. An engaging for budding #Micronauts explaining the general concept of quorum sensing in bacteria. A of biofilms on Earth. Perhaps we should call Earth “Planet Biofilm”! Here is an older that is very easy to read and fun to think about. Here is a of the impact that biofilms can have in health, agriculture, industry, and ecology. A with the late “father” of biofilm research, William J. Costerton. The that stromatolites are fossilized biofilms. A video describing the .” Recent developments in the of how biofilms form. An on biofilms and evolution of multicellularity. Previous podcast guest Dr. Vaughn Cooper’s “” outreach project that places biofilms front and center. The of antibiotic resistance and biofilms. The of the Center for Biofilm Engineering at Montana State University. There is so much to see here, at every level. It is a grand resource for anyone interested in biofilms. The Center for Biofilm Engineers “” on biofilms. Dr. Fields’ , where you can find information about the kinds of projects discussed today. An engaging from Dr. Fields institution on biofilms. Dr. Fields’ . Intro music is by Reber Clark Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com /episode/index/show/3492a3b8-a362-4761-811b-3b12664a3d82/id/39419145

Matters Microbial #117: Cancer Virus Hunters and Molecular Biology 12/08/2025

Matters Microbial #116: Microbes in the Concrete Instead of the Abstract 11/14/2025

Matters Microbial #115: Suiting Up Against Bacterial Predators! 11/07/2025

Matters Microbial #115: Suiting Up Against Bacterial Predators! Matters Microbial #115: Suiting Up Against Bacterial Predators! November 6, 2025 Today Dr. Hannah Ledvina, Assistant Professor in the Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology Department at the University of Michigan joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss how bacteria can protect themselves against predators in unusual ways . . . including a type of armor! Host: Guest Subscribe: , Become a of Matters Microbial! Links for this episode The “Giant Microbes” . A prompt for my course: an article on “,” with so many interesting examples. Here is a for novice #Micronauts. A prompt for my course: an article by the late, great Lynn Margulis on the and the definition of multicellularity and the organism. A prompt for my course: an article on in bacteria. An of “genomic islands.” A to a previous guest of #MattersMicrobial, Dr. Laura Williams, discussing Bdellovibrio and undergraduate based research. An of predatory bacteria. Here is a more recent . An of the predator Myxococcus. A wonderful showing the predatory process of Myxococcus. A fine of the predator Bdellovibrio. A of the life cycle of Bdellovibrio. Some work by Dr. Koval and colleagues suggesting that aspects of the outer cell wall with resistance to Bdellovibrio. Recent VERY exciting work suggesting that there is indeed a on bacteria that Bdellovibrio can recognize. Here is a short of that work. Could Bdellovibrio become a “”? A from Drs. Kolter and Losick that bacteria in the laboratory can be quite different from their relatives in nature. The under discussion on this podcast by Dr. Ledvina and colleagues. Here is an summary on the article. An on curli proteins in bacteria. An on amyloid like proteins in bacteria. A by Dr. Ledvina on the research interests of her group. Thoughts on an “” for bacteria. Dr. Ledvina’s . Dr. Ledvina’s . Intro music is by Reber Clark Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com /episode/index/show/3492a3b8-a362-4761-811b-3b12664a3d82/id/38946055

Matters Microbial #114: A Tongue-n-Cheek Look at the Oral Microbiome 10/31/2025

Matters Microbial #113: Microbes That Swim, Swarm, Stand Up—and ‘Walk’ 10/24/2025

Matters Microbial #112: Bacterial Size, Stress, and Antibiotic Resistance 10/17/2025

Matters Microbial #111: Shocking Tales of Metal-Loving Microbes 10/10/2025

Matters Microbial #110: Enumerating the Microbiome 10/03/2025

Matters Microbial #109: Bat-Crazy About Rabies 09/26/2025

Matters Microbial #108: Neanderthal Oral Health, Ancient Bacteria and DNA 09/19/2025

Matters Microbial #107: Listeria Sprouting Hysteria? 09/11/2025

Matters Microbial #106: Cells Without Walls – Full-Frontal Bacteria 09/06/2025

Matters Microbial #105: Snails Farming Bacteria in the Deep Sea 08/29/2025

Matters Microbial #104: Antibiotic “Tolerance” and Biofilms 08/22/2025

Matters Microbial #103: Giant Bacteria and Bigger Questions 08/15/2025

Matters Microbial #102: Teaching Through the Issues with Microbes! 08/01/2025

Matters Microbial #101: Electrifying News about Cable Bacteria 07/25/2025

Matters Microbial #101: Electrifying News about Cable Bacteria Matters Microbial #101: Electrifying News about Cable Bacteria July 25, 2025 Today, Dr. Nicole Geerlings from the University of Vienna in Austria joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss some of the wonderful work she and colleagues have carried out studying the wild, weird, and wonderful world of cable bacteria, which can conduct electricity over microbially enormous distances! Definitely time for #OMG and #WTM! Host: Guest Subscribe: , Become a of Matters Microbial! Links for this episode This just became available: a wonderful to day’s topic, the cable bacteria, from Asimov Press. It is an absolute must read for everyone interested. Here is a to the Summer Science Program, a wonderful outreach program for high school juniors. An about Nobel Prize winning Albert Szent-Györgyi, who stated that life was a matter of electrons finding a place to rest. Here is a short introduction to his work. A to microbial metabolism. A to electron transport. Remember that bacteria and archaea are VERY skilled at using different electron donors and acceptors than eukaryotic life. The really fun of the “Jagendorf Jump,” showing electron transport vs. pH in chloroplasts. An of the microbial fuel cell concept. Here is a nice I highly recommend. A for you to build your own microbial fuel cell. A to building a MFC. An ESSENTIAL to the idea of electrons in microbial sediments. A about cable bacteria. is another fine review. This is a third great to cable bacteria. And here is a . An by Dr. Geerlings and colleagues describing cable bacteria for new #Micronauts. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. An of stable isotope probing in microbiology. is a video seminar using SIP in microbiology. An of Nano-SIMS and how it is used in microbiology. Here is another . A deeply wonderful by Dr. Geerlings and colleagues suggesting that inactive cells with the “microbial cable” are still conducting electrons! Dr. Geerlings postdoctoral scholar . Links and References on Cable Bacteria from Dr. Geerlings: 1. Here is a from the group of Prof. Dr. Filip Meysman from the University of Antwerp, which includes a great video on the electron conductivity of cable bacteria. 2. The first paper describing redox half-reactions separated by long-distance electron transport. Nielsen, L. P., Risgaard-Petersen, N., Fossing, H., Christensen, P. B., and Sayama, M. (2010). Electric currents couple spatially separated biogeochemical processes in marine sediment. Nature 463, 1071–1074. doi: 10.1038/nature08790 3. The paper describing the discovery of cable bacteria. Look into the supplemental material for the excellent experimental set-up to prove that the cable bacteria are the ones doing the long-distance electron transport. Pfeffer, C., Larsen, S., Song, J., Dong, M., Besenbacher, F., Meyer, R. L., et al. (2012). Filamentous bacteria transport electrons over centimetre distances. Nature 491, 218–221. Doi: 10.1038/nature11586 4. A paper that dives into the conductivity of the cable bacteria network and shows that these fibres can conduct electrons just as well as a copper wire. Meysman, F. J. R., Cornelissen, R., Trashin, S., Bonné, R., Martinez, S. H., van der Veen, J., et al. 2019. A highly conductive fibre network enables centimetre-scale electron transport in multicellular cable bacteria. Nat. Commun. 10:1–8. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-12115-7 5. This paper describes how cable bacteria activity generates a layer of iron oxyhydroxides on the top of the sediment layer and how this delays the release of sulfide into the water column for several weeks in a seasonally hypoxic basin in the Netherlands. Seitaj, D., R. Schauer, F. Sulu-Gambari, et al. 2015. “Cable Bacteria Generate a Firewall Against Euxinia in Seasonally Hypoxic Basins.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 112: 13278–13283. 6. This paper describes how the catabolic division of labor is coupled to an anabolic division of labor where cells reducing oxygen cannot grow and therefore provide a “community service” for the rest of the filament. Nicole M. J. Geerlings, Cheryl Karman, Stanislav Trashin, Karel S. As, Michiel V. M. Kienhuis, Silvia Hidalgo-Martinez, Diana Vasquez-Cardenas, Henricus T.S. Boschker, Karolien de Wael, Jack J. Middelburg, Lubos Polerecky, and Filip J.R. Meysman. Division of labor and growth during electrical cooperation in multicellular cable bacteria. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 117, 5478–5485. Doi: 10.1073/pnas.1916244117 Intro music is by Reber Clark Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com /episode/index/show/3492a3b8-a362-4761-811b-3b12664a3d82/id/37543010

Matters Microbial #100: What's the Buzz on Phage Therapy for Honeybees? 07/17/2025

Matters Microbial #100: What's the Buzz on Phage Therapy for Honeybees? Matters Microbial #100: What’s the Buzz on Phage Therapy for Honeybees? July 14, 2025 Today, Dr. Heather Hendrickson from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss the research she and her team are conducting on bacteriophage therapy to protect vulnerable honeybees from bacterial infections. Host: Guest Subscribe: , Become a of Matters Microbial! Links for this episode Here is the for a former undergraduate research student of mine, Dr. Paula Welander, now a professor and administrator at Stanford University. Yes, I am proud. Here is a to another former undergraduate research student of mine, Dr. Krista Venecia Edmiston, now a professor at California Health Sciences University. Yes, I am proud. A on cell shape in bacteria. A on the cytoskeleton of bacteria and archaea. I am a great admirer of Dr. John Roth, and his clearheaded and direct approach to microbial genetics. Here is his with many publications. An about the causative agent of American Foulbrood, Paenibacillus larvae. An of American Foulbrood’s impact on honeybees. The honeybee . and honeybees. A of bacteriophage therapy against bacterial diseases. An of bacteriophage plaques. A of lytic versus lysogenic bacteriophages. and his simply amazing program, teaching so many people about isolating and studying bacteriophages. An from Dr. Hendrickson’s laboratory exploring cell shape in bacteria. An from Dr. Hendrickson’s laboratory explaining the importance of protecting honeybees from American Foulbrood, and the approach her laboratory uses. An from Dr. Hendrickson’s laboratory describing a community based approach to search for bacteriophages of Paenibacillus larvae. An from Dr. Hendrickson’s laboratory analyzing the types of Paenibacillus attacking bacteriophages isolated in New Zealand. An from Dr. Hendrickson’s laboratory describing an improved method for isolating bacteriophages. A truly great from Dr. Hendrickson some years ago, explaining her research. This is a “must see.” Dr. Hendrickson’s . Dr. Hendrickson’s informative . This of Dr. Hendrickson’s research group website is devoted to outreach, and so very worth your time. Intro music is by Reber Clark Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com /episode/index/show/3492a3b8-a362-4761-811b-3b12664a3d82/id/37403465

Matters Microbial #99: Albert Kluyver—Microbial Unity and Diversity in Metabolism 07/10/2025

Matters Microbial #98: Nesting Dolls of Endosymbiosis 07/04/2025

Matters Microbial #98: Nesting Dolls of Endosymbiosis Matters Microbial #98: Nesting Dolls of Endosymbiosis July 3, 2025 Today, Dr. John McCutcheon of Arizona State University joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss the work he and his research group do to investigate the strategies by which microbes become symbionts of other cells. After all, the mitochondria and chloroplasts of eukaryotic cells, including yours, were once bacteria! Host: Guest Subscribe: , Become a of Matters Microbial! Links for this episode A about the symbiosis of Hydra virdissima, which captured my heart when I was young. Look at those symbiotic algae! Here is an of this topic. A describing the Rhizobium – legume nitrogen fixing symbiosis in all of its glory—by my PhD advisor, the great Dr. Sharon Long. Here is an of this topic. An of Paul Buchner’s very important book, “Endosymbiosis of Animals with Plant Microorganisms.” A wonderful by Dr. McCutcheon on how symbioses form. A wonderful essay by Ed Yong about an event that made eukaryotic cells possible: . A about an anaerobic protist that lost its mitochondria completely. A bacterial symbiont of mitochondria, the “.” The recent discovery of a new integrated symbiont that has become an organelle, the . The “X-bacteria” and amoebae . A on endosymbiosis, and Paramecium based on Tracey Sonneborn’s work. An on aphids and bacteria. An on the Moranella/Tremblaya symbiosis. An on “bacteria inside other bacteria” found in several symbioses, written by Dr.McCutcheon and colleagues. in bacterial endosymbionts. An on cicadas and bacterial endosymbionts from Dr. McCutcheon and colleagues. An on mealybugs and bacterial endosymbionts from Dr. McCutcheon and colleagues. Dr. McCutcheon’s on his career path (so worth reading). The Center for Mechanisms of Evolution in which Dr. McCutcheon works. Dr. McCutcheon’s . Dr. McCutcheon’s (and his research team’s) wonderful . Intro music is by Reber Clark Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com /episode/index/show/3492a3b8-a362-4761-811b-3b12664a3d82/id/37280195

Matters Microbial #97: Microbes in the Air (Way) 06/27/2025

Matters Microbial #96: Molecular Microbiology in High Schools 06/20/2025

Matters Microbial #95: Bacteria and Aphids — A Symbiotic Story 06/13/2025

Matters Microbial #94: One Health and Microbiomes Everywhere 06/06/2025

Matters Microbial #93: Preventing Antibiotic Resistance 05/29/2025

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