Matters Microbial

Latest Episodes:

Matters Microbial #29: Exploring cave microbiology and career paths with Hazel Barton Feb 23, 2024

Show notes

Today, Dr. Hazel Barton, Loper Endowed Professor of Geological Sciences at the University of Alabama, joins the #QualityQuorum to tell us about her explorations of cave microbiology and the relationship between microbiology and geology!

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Hazel Barton

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Spotify

Become a patron of Matters Microbial!

Links for this episode

An introduction of the fascinating field of geomicrobiology.
An recent introduction to cave microbiology.
An overview of Lechuguilla Cave discussed by Dr. Barton.
An overview of Carlsbad Caverns discussed by Dr. Barton.
An overview of Deer Cave in Borneo discussed by Dr. Barton.
An overview of Wind Cave discussed by Dr. Barton.
An article from Dr. Barton's lab describing antibiotic resistance genes among cave microbes.
An article from Dr. Barton and colleagues suggesting that iron metabolism could lead to cave formation.
An article from the Barton lab describing microbial photosynthesis driven by far red light in caverns.
An article from Dr. Barton and colleagues describing the very unusual low bioload/high diversity microbial communities deep within Wind Cave.
Dr. Barton's faculty page at the University of Alabama.
Dr. Barton's quite impressive website about cave microbiology.
A very impressive video with Dr. Barton.
A fun "Twenty Questions" video with Dr. Barton.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Matters Microbial #28: From Lizard Cloacal Microbes to CPG in the Business Sector with Franny Gilman Feb 16, 2024

Show notes

Today, Dr. Franny Gilman, Principal Scientist at the Kraft-Heinz Company (and another #DocMartian who worked in my undergraduate research lab), joins the #QualityQuorum to tell us about the path that took her from studying the cloacal microbiome of lizards to Greenland and eventually to food science!

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Franny Gilman

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Spotify

Become a patron of Matters Microbial!

Links for this episode

The paper that first caught Dr. Gilman's eye when I suggested she read it while in my laboratory: "The influence of sex, handedness, and washing on the diversity of hand surface bacteria."
Another paper suggested by Dr. Gilman: "Boomerang academics: why we left academia for industry, but then came back."
Still another paper: "Academia or Industry: Where Would I Fit In?"
A website for the Institute of Food Technologists, with wonderful links and information.
A nonspecialist's introduction to Aspergillus oryzae that makes koji.
A review article about the koji mold, Aspergillus oryzae.
A conference website devoted to the study of koji and A. oryzae.
Dr. Gilman's LinkedIn profile.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Matters Microbial #27: Broccoli sprouts, gut health, and microbes for all with Dr. Sue Ishaq Feb 09, 2024

Show notes

Today, Dr. Sue Ishaq of the University of Maine joins the #QualityQuorum to tell us about the relationship between what we eat and our microbes, as well as making microbiology more inclusive to everyone.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Sue Ishaq

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Spotify

Become a patron of Matters Microbial!

Links for this episode

An explanation of Charles Darwin's quotation about having a bad day.
The laboratory website of Dr. Michael Baym, who sent me that quotation as a metal plate for my lab. Much appreciated!
An article about broccoli metabolism.
An introductory article for the public about broccoli consumption and IBD.
A 2023 article from Dr. Ishaq's group suggesting a relationship between consuming broccoli sprouts and reduction of inflammatory bowel disease in mice.
A 2023 article https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/msystems.00532-23 from Dr. Ishaq's group relating the consumption of steamed broccoli sprouts to reduction of inflammation in mice.
A very readable introduction to the concept of microbiology and social equity.
A link to a number of essential articles relating microbiology and social equity—microbiology should be for EVERYONE.
The faculty website of Dr. Ishaq at the University of Maine.
The WONDERFUL laboratory website of Dr. Ishaq.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Matters Microbial #26: Cultivating the hidden microbial majority Feb 02, 2024

Show notes

Today, Dr. Cameron Thrash of the University of Southern California will discuss marine microbiology, an extremely…ubiquitous…microbe (with a name every #Micronaut should know!), conducting research at sea, and his path in science.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Cameron Thrash

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Spotify

Become a patron of Matters Microbial!

Links for this episode

Here is an essay describing the Great Plating Anomaly and a criticism of that approach.
A wonderful video (scan forward to 27 minutes in for the relevant part) about the discovery of SAR11.
An interview with Dr. Stephen Giovannoni about marine microbiology.
An introductory overview of Pelagibacter ubique and a more thorough review.
How the genome of Pelagibacter and other small microbes have been "darwinnowed" over time by evolution.
A review article about Pelagibacter and regulation.
Here and here are two examples of Dr. Thrash's CURE approach with undergraduates.
Here is Cameron Thrash's faculty website.
Here is Cameron Thrash's really quite awesome laboratory website.
For indispensable links to myriad fascinating articles about microbiology, check out Cameron Thrash on X (formerly Twitter) (@jcamthrash) and BlueSky (@jcamthrash .bsky.social)

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Matters Microbial #25: Gut feelings about phage and the gut microbiome Jan 25, 2024

Show notes

Today, Dr. Danielle Campbell (and former #DocMartian!), a postdoctoral scholar of the Baldridge group at Washington University in St. Louis, will share her research into the relationship between bacteriophage and the gut microbiome…as well as chat about her path in science.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Danielle Campbell

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Spotify

Become a patron of Matters Microbial!

Links for this episode

Here is a link to a wonderful review article by Dr. Campbell describing the role that the microbiome can have on viral infections.
Here is a link to a a publication describing the Salyersviridae, as described by Dr. Campbell.
I wrote an essay about Abigail Salyers here.
Here and here can be found more biographical information about Dr. Salyer's contribution to microbiology, and the remarkable life she led.
A description of the career changing Microbial Diversity Course at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.
A link to the Baldrige Laboratory at Washington University of St. Louis, where Dr. Campbell is a postdoctoral scholar.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Matters Microbial #24: It takes a quorum to cause disease Jan 18, 2024

Show notes

Today, Associate Professor of Biology Dr. Julia van Kessel of Indiana University will chat with us about how groups of bacteria can sense one another and carry out behavior as a collective…including some kinds of disease!

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Julia van Kessel

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Spotify

Become a patron of Matters Microbial!

Links for this episode

An introduction to the horrific disease leprosy, caused by the quite strange organism Mycobacterium leprae.
An overview of the Hansen Institute in Ethiopia.
A solid overview of quorum sensing.
A very interesting review article about quorum sensing.
A video that two of my Bio350 Micronauts (including a former guest of our podcast, Dr. Ruth Isenberg) put together some years ago to illustrate the idea of quorum sensing.
A very clear overview of quorum sensing by the highly energetic and brilliant Dr. Bonnie Bassler, one of the giants of this field.
A #LuxArt show I organized a few years ago at Carleton College, where I encouraged students to create art by "painting" with luminous bacteria on Petri dishes. It is a true merger of art and science.
Using Chromobacterium to "look" for quorum sensing molecules. I made this imperfect video to illustrate the concept.
My old friend Vibrio harveyi, which Dr. van Kessel uses in her laboratory.
Vibrio coralliilyticus, which causes coral diseases.
If you are interested in learning about how some bacteria have what seems to be a molecular switchblade knife—the Type 6 Secretory System— to use against other bacteria or other organisms, the link above is a fine place to start. In addition, a Bio350 student of mine made a lovely Claymation video of the process some years ago.
Here is Dr. van Kessel's faculty website at Indiana University in Bloomington.
Here is the laboratory website—with excellent graphics and videos—of Dr. van Kessel's group.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Matters Microbial #23: Fungi: Cool Friends and Looming Foes Jan 05, 2024

Show notes

Today, the impressive Dr. Arturo Casadevall of Johns Hopkins University will joint #MattersMicrobial to discuss his path in science, how fungi need more study, that some fungi are literally cool, and others a looming threat.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Arturo Casadevall

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Spotify

Become a patron of Matters Microbial!

Links for this episode

A wonderful remembrance (by multiple authors) of Lynn Margulis, and essays by Elio Schaechter (a friend of Margulis') and James Lake (a colleague).
The wonderful Tiny Earth program that uses a CURE type approach to allow students to search for new antibiotic producing microbes. Also, a fine publication describing this worldwide program.
An overview of the diverse and dizzying fungal world all around us.
A publication describing how fungi dominated after every mass extinction.
Giant fungi existed in Earth's past.
Dr. Casadevall group's article on how fungi are cooler than the environment around them, including the "mycorefrigerator."
Evidence that high body temperatures defend against fungal disease. Dr. Casadevall wrote an article suggesting that fungal diseases might have helped lead to the extinction of dinosaurs.
Dr. Casadevall explores the possibility of fungal adaptation to higher temperatures in our warming world.
Dr. Casadevall's essay about problems with the term "pathogen."
Drs Casadevall and Fang's new book titled "Thinking About Science."
A short biography of Dr. Casadevall as well as his Wikipedia page.
Dr. Casadevall's faculty website

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Matters Microbial #22: A microbial path through the graduate school maze with Lauren Augusta Dec 29, 2023

Show notes

Today my former undergraduate student Lauren Augusta, currently in a PhD program in Microbiology at the University of Indiana, joins the podcast to chat about how she chose her career path in the microbial sciences, and her future path.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Lauren Augusta

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Spotify

Become a patron of Matters Microbial!

Links for this episode

The program for creating the maze on this session's thumbnail image is here.
Here is the website for Micropia, the microbiology museum in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. SO WORTH YOUR TIME. I wish that I worked there!
Here is a description of Micropia's "tardigrade chair" which is kind of a tourist destination!
Lauren Augusta, today's guest on the podcast, did a wonderful video advertisement for my institution, the University of Puget Sound.
An introduction for beginning micronauts about Agrobacterium, and why you should care about this natural genetic engineer, as well as a more advanced review. Plus another fine review from Dr. Clay Fuqua and coworkers.
Lovely overviews of the global signaling molecule of bacteria that Lauren studies, cyclic-di-GMP, can be found here, here, and here.
The Microbiology Department website at the University of Indiana where Lauren is working on her Ph.D.
The faculty webpage of Lauren's Ph.D. supervisor, Dr. Clay Fuqua.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Matters Microbial #21: Microbes, mermaids and coral reefs with Chris Kellogg Dec 22, 2023

Show notes

Today Dr. Christina Kellogg of the USGS St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center in St. Petersburg Florida chats with the podcast about her many diverse adventures in marine microbial ecology! It's quite a high energy microbial journey!

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Chris Kellogg

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Spotify

Become a patron of Matters Microbial!

Links for this episode

The recycled metal artwork of Brian Mock has a website here.
Interested in how bacterial respiration can generate electricity? See this interesting review paper. And with the holidays approaching, you might even make a microbial fuel cell of your own here!
An video introduction to coral reefs
A fine review essay on coral reefs and bacterial diseases.
Very much worth your time: a video (including Dr. Kellogg) describing coral microbiology.
Video from Dr. Kellogg #1: A Deep Sea Coral Expedition.
Video from Dr. Kellogg #2: Coral Disease Projet in Kauai.
Video from Dr. Kellogg #3: DEEP Sea Exploration to Advance Research on Coral/Canyon/Cold Seep Habitats.
Dr. Kellogg's website is here

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Matters Microbial #20: Who You Calling Weird? Diving into Microbes at the Bottom of the Ocean Dec 15, 2023

Show notes

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected