This Week in Microbiology

This Week in Microbiology is a podcast about unseen life on Earth.

322: Photohydrolysis Decontamination Reduces Healthcare-associated Infections 11/22/2024

322: Photohydrolysis Decontamination Reduces Healthcare-associated Infections TWiM explains how ticagrelor alters the membrane of S. aureus and enhances the activity of vancomycin and daptomycin without eliciting cross-resistance, and the development of a novel continuous disinfectant technology that decreases healthcare-associated infections in ICUs by 70%. Hosts: , , and . Become a of TWiM. Links for this episode (mBio) Novel (Am J Inf Control) UVC-LED to (Appl Envir Micro) systems (ACS Photonics) area (CDC) Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to /episode/index/show/twimshow/id/34099416

321: The Microbes in Your Food 11/08/2024

321: The Microbes in Your Food TWiM focuses on recent foodborne outbreaks of bacterial infections, and how nanopore sequencing technology can be used to identify pathogenic microbes and antimicrobial resistance genes in food products. Hosts: , , and . Become a of TWiM. Links for this episode (CDC) d (Gates Foundation) of foods (Food Microbiol) (YouTube) (YouTube) Methods for (Appl Micro Biotech) Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to /episode/index/show/twimshow/id/33854977

320: Rockstars of USAMRIID 10/25/2024

320: Rockstars of USAMRIID TWiM travels to the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases to learn how research conducted at USAMRIID leads to vaccines, drugs, diagnostics, and training programs that protect both warfighters and civilians. Hosts: , and . Guests: Norman Kreiselmeir, Christopher K Coat, Keersten Ricks, and Eric Nguyen Links for this episode: (TWiV 200) Unintentional importation of (Emerg Inf Dis) Become a of TWiM. Links for this episode emissions (WaPo) Precision (Audacious Project) genes (Nat Commun) Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to /episode/index/show/twimshow/id/33618667

319: The Dark Side of the Rumen 10/11/2024

319: The Dark Side of the Rumen TWiM explains a project to engineer the cow microbiome to reduce emissions of methane, and the finding of antibiotic resistance genes in the genomes of giant viruses. Hosts: , , and . Subscribe to TWiM (free) on , , , , or by Become a of TWiM. Links for this episode emissions (WaPo) Precision (Audacious Project) genes (Nat Commun) Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to /episode/index/show/twimshow/id/33425627

318: How To Pick a Winner 09/27/2024

318: How To Pick a Winner TWiM explains how bacterial community structure can be used to predict athletic performance in racehorses, and the idea that a tiny fraction of all species forms most of Nature. Hosts: , , and . Become a of TWiM. Links for this episode (Sci Rep) by Stephen Jay Gould ? (PNAS) (PLoS Biol) Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to /episode/index/show/twimshow/id/33239172

317: Bat White-nose Syndrome 09/14/2024

317: Bat White-nose Syndrome TWiM explains unique modifications in the energy conservation pathways linked to methanogenesis in an Archaeon, and mechanisms of white nose fungal invasion of cells from the Little Brown Bat. Hosts: , , and . Become a of TWiM. Links for this episode (Nature) (Science) Adaptive (Science) (Critter Catalog) (Harpswell) Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to /episode/index/show/twimshow/id/33056012

316: Food Addiction and the Gut Microbiome 08/23/2024

316: Food Addiction and the Gut Microbiome TWiM describes experiments to explore gut microbiota signatures of vulnerability to food addiction in mice and humans, and how a phage tail-like protein suppresses competitors in populations of bacteria of plants. Hosts: , , and . Become a of TWiM. Links for this episode (Probiotics) (Gut Microbes) Blautia wexlerae ameliorates (Nat Commun) Phage tail–like (Science) ? (Front Micro) Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to /episode/index/show/twimshow/id/32719442

315: How Pseudomonas Became A Global Pathogen 08/09/2024

315: How Pseudomonas Became A Global Pathogen TWiM explores evolution and host adaptation of Pseudomonas infections of plants, and the impact of COVID-19 on ESBL-producing E. coli on urinary tract and blood infections. Hosts: and . Become a of TWiM. Links for this episode Evolution and host (Science) , infection by injection (Nat Comm) (Peer J) (Taming the Beast) (Wellcome Sanger Inst) (Antimicro Resist Inf Control) Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by and used with permission. Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to /episode/index/show/twimshow/id/32521182

314: Microbes Sculpt Our Planet and Manage Inflammation 07/27/2024

314: Microbes Sculpt Our Planet and Manage Inflammation TWiM explores the deep-dwelling microbes that sculpt our planet, and the use of microbes in bioelectronics to manage inflammation. Hosts: , , and . Become a of TWiM. Links for this episode Deep-dwelling (NY Times) resolve inflammation (Science) Active for managing inflammation (Science) Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to /episode/index/show/twimshow/id/32312767

313: Could Fungal Pathogens Outsmart US? 07/11/2024

313: Could Fungal Pathogens Outsmart US? From ASM Microbe in Atlanta, Georgia, Arturo joins TWiM to reveal the threats that fungi pose to human health, including the notorious Candida auris and many more and how committed experts are researching ways to save us and our food supplies. Hosts: , Guest: Watch this episode: https://youtu.be/nKJe5xNUocU Become a of TWiM. Links for this episode Disaster (Biomedica) Emergence of (mBio) What if ? (JHU Press) : Good Science, Bad Science, and How to Make It Better (Amazon) Recorded at ASM Microbe 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. Join us at the next ASM Microbe by visiting us at Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by and used with permission. Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to /episode/index/show/twimshow/id/32104472

312: Cry Havoc!, and Let Slip the Phages of Healing 06/28/2024

312: Cry Havoc!, and Let Slip the Phages of Healing TWiM explains a new mechanism for preventing lysogeny through temperate phage-antibiotic synergy, and Salmonella expansion in the murine gut dependency on aspartate derived from reactive oxygen species-mediated microbiota lysis. Hosts: , and . Become a of TWiM. Links for this episode Temperate (mBio) (Cell Host Micr) by Sinclair Lewis (Wiki) by Mark Ptashne and bacteriophage fitness (Genetics) (Ad Exp Med Biol) (Drugs) a foodborne pathogen (CDC) (HHMI) - 30 years of Microbiology (McGovern Medical School) Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to /episode/index/show/twimshow/id/31933977

311: Bacteria, beware of siderophore-antibiotic hybrids 06/13/2024

311: Bacteria, beware of siderophore-antibiotic hybrids TWiM explores how climate change may be increasing our risks to infectious disease and then how the Odyssey literally comes alive in our microbial world but fear not, unlike the Trojans, the bacteria are fighting back and have developed resistance to this novel class of newly developed antimicrobials. Become a of TWiM. Links for this episode: fueling diseases (NY Times) and risk of infectious diseases (Nature) E. coli in Canada (Clin Micro) E. coli cells (YouTube) Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by and used with permission. Send your microbiology questions and comments to [email protected] /episode/index/show/twimshow/id/31726657

310: Starvation vs Dehydration: Who Loses, Who Wins? 05/12/2024

310: Starvation vs Dehydration: Who Loses, Who Wins? TWiM explores the plasticity of the adult human small intestinal stoma microbiota, and survival and rapid resuscitation that permit limited productivity in desert microbial communities. Hosts: , , and . Subscribe to TWiM (free) on , , , , or by Become a of TWiM. Links for this episode Plasticity of small intestinal (Cell Host Micr) (Nat Comm) How (Science Daily) (WikiCommons) Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to /episode/index/show/twimshow/id/31247912

309: Stomach Acid Can Be Your Friend 04/26/2024

309: Stomach Acid Can Be Your Friend Today on TWiM, a charcuterie invasion, and how that acid in your stomach may protect from the invading hordes of microbes. Hosts: , and . Become a of TWiM. Links for this episode Commentary: Peeling the onion: Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to /episode/index/show/twimshow/id/31007768

308: Living in a Community World 04/13/2024

308: Living in a Community World TWiM reviews a case of E. faecium bacteremia treated with combination bacteriophage and antibiotic therapy, and how dopamine receptor D2 confers colonization resistance via microbial metabolites. Hosts: , , and . Guest: Become a of TWiM. Links for this episode Distinct (Nature) Bacterial (Nature) A (Nature) Spatial perspective on (Nature) (Yale Med) promotes its survival (mBio) (mBio) Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to /episode/index/show/twimshow/id/30806678

307: Attaching and Effacing on a Pedestal 03/30/2024

307: Attaching and Effacing on a Pedestal TWiM reviews a case of E. faecium bacteremia treated with combination bacteriophage and antibiotic therapy, and how dopamine receptor D2 confers colonization resistance via microbial metabolites. Hosts: , , and . Subscribe to TWiM (free) on , , , , or by Become a of TWiM. Links for this episode for E. faecium bacteremia (mBio) Dopamine receptor (Nature) CDC’s Reports of Brett Finlay’s narrated Colonization resistance by (ACS Chem Biol) Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to /episode/index/show/twimshow/id/30603248

306: Spirulina Smoothies 03/15/2024

306: Spirulina Smoothies TWiM discusses the identification of natural products from reconstructed ancient bacterial genomes, and how plant mRNAs move into a fungal pathogen via extracellular vesicles to reduce infection. Hosts: , , and . Become a of TWiM. Links for this episode Natural (Science) (Cell Host Microb) Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to /episode/index/show/twimshow/id/30395363

305: The Marvel of MAC 03/02/2024

305: The Marvel of MAC TWiM reviews the ongoing cholera outbreak in Africa, and research showing that gut complement induced by the microbiota blocks pathogens and spares commensal bacteria. Hosts: , , and . Become a of TWiM. Links for this episode (Africa CDC) Deadly (NY Times) in sub-Saharan Africa (Curr Op Ped) spares commensals (Cell) Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to /episode/index/show/twimshow/id/30197533

304: A New blue cheese-making fungus 02/17/2024

304: A New blue cheese-making fungus TWiM reveals a new population in the blue cheese-making fungus Penicillium roqueforti and identification of a quorum-sensing autoinducer and siderophore in uropathogenic Escherichia coli. Subscribe to TWiM (free) on , , , , or by Become a of TWiM. Links for this episode New (Evol Appl) (Guardian) (CNRS News) (YouTube) (ASM) (mBio) (Curr Biol) Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to /episode/index/show/twimshow/id/29994258

303: Can Our Microbiome Break Our Hearts? 02/03/2024

303: Can Our Microbiome Break Our Hearts? TWiM reveals a database of genome sequences of thousands of Mycobaterium tuberculosis, allowing association with resistance phenotypes to 13 antibiotics, and microbe-derived uremic solutes that enhance thrombosis potential in the host. Hosts: , , and . Become a of TWiM. Links for this episode (PLoS Biol) The (mBio) (mBio) (EJIFCC) (Mayo Clinic) (Zoology) Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to /episode/index/show/twimshow/id/29778913

302: Itching and Scratching and New Antibiotics 01/20/2024

302: Itching and Scratching and New Antibiotics TWiM describes the mechanism for the S. aureus itch and scratch induced skin damage, and discovery of a novel class of antibiotics that targets the lipopolysaccharide transporter. Become a of TWiM. Links: S. aureus drives behavior (Cell) Staph (Cell) A of antibiotics (Nature) A of antibiotic (Nature) Novel antibiotic targets (Nature) New antibiotic (Nature) Macrocyclic (Science) Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by and used with permission. Send your microbiology questions and comments to [email protected] /episode/index/show/twimshow/id/29572083

301: Another Year is Microbial 01/03/2024

301: Another Year is Microbial A highly reduced TWiM team presents a study of the use of phage diversity in cell-free DNA to identify bacterial pathogens in human sepsis cases, and the evolution, persistence, and host adaptation of a gonococcal antimicrobial resistance plasmid that emerged in the pre-antibiotic era. Hosts: and Become a of TWiM. Links for this episode (Nat Micro) (PLoS Genetics) Take the Music used on TWiM is by . Send your microbiology questions and comments to [email protected] /episode/index/show/twimshow/id/29320473

300: Marvels of Microbiology 12/16/2023

300: Marvels of Microbiology On the occasion of TWiM’s 300th episode, we discuss how two college students found a new antibiotic in soil, Barbara Iglewski’s passing, and Elio returns for an appearance. Hosts: , , and . Guest: Become a of TWiM. Links for this episode (MicroPubl Biol) 2 NWTC students found a (Green Bay Press Gazette) bacteria group (Clover) Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to /episode/index/show/twimshow/id/29111278

299: Teaching with TWiM 12/02/2023

299: Teaching with TWiM From ASM’s Conference for Undergraduate Educators 2023 in Phoenix, TWiM speaks with Amaya Garcia Costas and Gwendolyn Knapp about their approaches to undergraduate microbiology education, and how they use TWiM as part of their curricula. Hosts: , , and . Guest: and . Become a of TWiM. Links for this episode 2023 (J Microbiol Biol Edu) Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to /episode/index/show/twimshow/id/28893583

298: Impact of Lung Microbiome and Racial Disparities on Asthma 11/16/2023

298: Impact of Lung Microbiome and Racial Disparities on Asthma TWiM provides thoughts on providing better training for a non-academic career, and help celebrate Black in Microbiology Week with a 2023 paper by Ari Kozik, a co-founder of and Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan Hosts: , , , , Become a of TWiM. Links for this episode Better t (Nat Micro) Prosper - in obesity and asthma (J Allerg Clin Immunol) (mSphere) (ASM) (ASM) Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to /episode/index/show/twimshow/id/28678933

297: Bacterial-electronic Sensor Pill 11/04/2023

297: Bacterial-electronic Sensor Pill TWiM reviews how a coating of lipoproteins provides a stabilizing environment on the inner membrane of Bacillus subtilis spores, and a miniaturized device that integrates genetically engineered probiotic biosensors with a custom-designed photodetector and readout chip to track mediators of inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract Hosts: , , and , Subscribe to TWiM (free) on , , , , or by Become a of TWiM. Links for this episode (J Bacteriol) (J Bacteriol) Biosensor to (Nature) Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to /episode/index/show/twimshow/id/28512593

296: Bacterial Channels in Plant Cells 10/07/2023

296: Bacterial Channels in Plant Cells TWiM discusses a dispute about whether the mycobiome plays a role in the development of cancer, and the structure and function of channels that are delivered to plant cells by pathogenic bacteria. Hosts: , and . Become a of TWiM. Links for this episode (Carl Zimmer) (Nature) and cancer (Nature) (Nature) (YouTube) (Curr Protein Pept Sci) (Cold Spring Harb Protocols) Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to /episode/index/show/twimshow/id/28253912

295: Uncultured and Unmutable 09/22/2023

295: Uncultured and Unmutable TWiM explains how phages avoid tRNA-targeting host defenses, and discovery of a new antibiotic from an uncultured bacterium that binds to an immutable target. Hosts: , , and , Become a of TWiM. Links for this episode host defenses (eLife) New antibiotic from (bioRxiv) (For Policy) (Nature) Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to /episode/index/show/twimshow/id/28118582

294: You’ll Scream After Ice Cream 09/08/2023

294: You’ll Scream After Ice Cream TWiM reveals that the ice cream manufacturing environment harbors psychrotrophic bacteria, and identification of a deadly bacterial strain causing widespread deaths of newborns in Uganda. Hosts: , , & . Become a of TWiM. Links for this episode (Appl Environ Micro) Creamery pays fine for (US DOJ) (The Lancet) (Yale SOM) Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to /episode/index/show/twimshow/id/27983331

293: Aerosol phage therapy, alpha-gal aptamers for MRSA 08/23/2023

293: Aerosol phage therapy, alpha-gal aptamers for MRSA TWiM explains personalized aerosilized phage therapy for a chronic lung infection, and using the combination of antibiotic and a DNA molecule that binds alpha-gal to reduce S. aureus infection in vivo. Hosts: and Subscribe to TWiM (free) on , , , , , or by Become a ! Links for this episode: Aerosolized (Nat Comm) Alpha-gal for MRSA (Microorg) syndrome (Front Allergy) protects against viral infection (virology blog) for improving oral health (Healthcare) Music used on TWiM is by . Send your microbiology questions and comments to [email protected] /episode/index/show/twimshow/id/27827916

This Week in Microbiology

TOPICS