This Week In Microbiology

On episode #30 of the podcast, Vincent, Elio, and Michael review how a toxin from Burkholderia pseudomallei inhibits protein synthesis, and the role of the gut microbiome in modulating insulin resistance in mice lacking an innate immune sensor.

On episode #29 of the podcast, Vincent and Stanley review how a phage pierces the cell membrane with an iron-loaded spike, and two programmed cell death systems in E. coli.

Vincent, Michael, and Elio review how competition within a host drives virulence of Streptococcus pneumoniae, and the expanding universe of the bacterial cytoskeleton.

Vincent, Elio, and Michael review how inflammation allows Salmonella to compete with fermenting gut microbes, and a riboswitch in bacterial and Archeal species that is triggered by fluoride.

Vincent, Elio, and Michael discuss the finding of Sutterella species in the gut of autistic children, and methods for cultivating oral bacteria. 

On episode #25 of the podcast, Vincent, Elio, and Michael review bacteria that use the earth’s magnetic field for navigation, and identification of totally drug resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Vincent, Michael, and Cliff review ten compelling microbiology stories from 2011.

Vincent, Jo, Elio, and Michael explain how a swarming bacterium helps disperse a non-motile fungus, and bacterial antibiotic tolerance mediated by hydrogen sulfide and starvation responses.

Vincent and Michael speak with Alfred Sacchetti, MD, Chief of Emergency Services at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center, about microbial infections encountered in the emergency room.

Vincent and Elio discuss ancient symbiosis between Alphaproteobacteria and catenulid flatworms, and a toxin from Helicobacter pylori that engages the mitochondrial fission machinery to induce host cell death.

On episode #20 of the podcast This Week in Microbiology, Vincent, Michael, and Elio follow up on the outbreaks of E. coli in Germany and cholera in Haiti, then discuss genes that confer self-identity to Proteus mirabilis.

Vincent, Michael, Elio, and Jo discuss the genome sequence of Y. pestis from victims of the Black Death, and the effect of diet on gut microbial enterotypes.

Vincent, Michael, Elio, and Stanley explain how to make the human intestinal commensal and benign laboratory bacterium Escherichia coli K-12 into an invasive organism, and the unearthing of century-old spores in New York City.

Vincent, Michael, and Elio focus on endosymbiosis: the rapid spread of Ricekttsia in whitefiles, and a metabolic patchwork in nested symbionts of mealybugs.

On episode #16 of the podcast This Week in Microbiology, Vincent, Michael, Arturo, Stuart, and David converse about antimicrobial resistance and why most fungi do not cause disease at the 51st Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC).

On episode #15 of the podcast This Week in Microbiology, Vincent, Michael and Jo review the number of species on Earth, evidence that the 2010 Haitian cholera outbreak originated in Nepal, and how gut microbiota influence the immune response to influenza virus infection of the lung. 

On episode #14 of the podcast This Week in Microbiology, Stanley, Margaret, Michael and Elio review how the fungus Cryptococcus escapes from macrophages, and electrical conductivity in nanowires formed by the bacterium Geobacter.

On episode #13 of the podcast This Week in Microbiology, Stanley, Jo, Michael and Elio discuss how colonic microbial ecology and risk for colitis are regulated by an inflammasome, and amelioration of intestinal inflammation in mice by delivery of a probiotic-derived soluble protein to the colon.

Vincent, Margaret, Michael and Elio review the use of photothermal nanoblades to dissect the Burkholderia intracellular life cycle, and manipulation of chromosomes in vivo for genome-wide codon replacement in E. coli.

Vincent, Margaret, Michael and Elio review the presence of extended spectrum beta-lactamase genes in chicken meat and in humans, and a beneficial effect of Helicobacter pylori colonization on the development of allergen-induced asthma.