Matters Microbial

Latest Episodes:

Matters Microbial #79: How Amoebae Beat the Heat Feb 20, 2025

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Matters Microbial #79: How Amoebae Beat the Heat February 20, 2025

Today, Dr. Angela Oliverio, Assistant Professor in the Biology Department at Syracuse University, joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss what her research group has been learning about extremophilic single-celled eukaryotes!

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Angela Oliverio

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An overview of protists.
A wondrous video of the types of protists to be found seemingly everywhere.
A video about amoebae and how YOU can find them.
A video about the testate amoebae mentioned in this podcast.
An essay about the testate amoebae.
A very old article on temperature limits to eukaryotic life.
A more modern article on this topic.
An article from Dr. Oliverio's group on the temperature limits to eukaryotic life.
The Mullin laboratory at UCSF does remarkable visualization.
Genomics and the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory.
How mycoplasma move, with remarkable videos.
A member of Dr. Oliverio's lab creates beautiful glass art at this Etsy shop.
A wonderful local news report on Dr. Oliverio and coworker's research.
A nice overview of Dr. Oliverio's research interest in extremophilic protists.
An article from Dr. Oliverio's group explaining why we should all care about extremophilic eukaryotes.
Dr. Oliverio's research website (and SO worth your time)
Dr. Oliverio's faculty website.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Matters Microbial #78: An EXTREME Close Up of the Squid-Vibrio Symbiosis Feb 13, 2025

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Matters Microbial #78: An EXTREME Close Up of the Squid-Vibrio Symbiosis February 13, 2025

Today, Dr Ariane Briegel, Professor and head of the Integrative Structural Cell Biology research unit at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, France, joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss some of the exciting findings of her research group studying how bacteria and the ever-popular Hawaiian bobtail squid work together at a molecular level—using cutting-edge cryo-electron tomography!

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Ariane Briegel

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Links for this episode

The (somewhat venerable) "The Eighth Day of Creation" discussed in this episode.
A lovely article about the much missed Dr. Esther Lederberg. Here is another I much enjoyed.
A website devoted to Dr. Esther Lederberg.
A fun video reminder of the symbiosis between Vibrio fischeri and Euprymna scolopes.
A review of cryo-electron tomography as applied to the study of bacterial structures.
A book coauthored by Dr. Briegel on the use of this technology to study cell-microbe interactions.
A video on the topic of cryo-electron tomography.
Another video by Dr. Briegel on this topic.
An earlier episode of #MattersMicrobial with Dr. Briegel.
An article by the Moore Foundation that supports the work of Dr. Briegel.
A article describing how cryo-EM can be applied to whole organisms, like roundworms.
Research websites for collaborators on this project, Dr. Edward Ruby and Dr. Margaret McFall-Ngai.
Dr. Briegel's laboratory website.
Dr. Briegel's academic website.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Matters Microbial #77: It's a Germ-Eat-Germ World! Feb 06, 2025

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Matters Microbial #77: It's a Germ-Eat-Germ World! February 6, 2025

Today, Dr Laura Williams, Director of Undergraduate Research at Georgia Institute of Technology, joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss some of the exciting work she did as an associate professor at Providence College with undergraduate students studying predatory bacteria and why we should care about this fascinating topic!

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Laura Williams

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A quite ancient review article describing the different classes of predatory bacteria by yours truly.
A very important article on this topic by the late Dr. Lynn Margulis and colleagues.
An article about my very inspirational first microbiology professor at UCLA, Syd Rittenberg, who did early work on Bdellovibrio.
Several more up to date review articles on Bdellovibrio.
The website of Dr. Liz Sockett (where both yours truly and Dr. Williams received some generous training).
A quite interesting article by Dr. Sockett on Bdellovibrio.
An article suggesting that predatory bacteria could be used as "living antibiotics."
An article describing the BALOs concept.
The article described by Dr. Williams.
Dr. Williams laboratory group website.
Dr. Williams current faculty/administrator page.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Matters Microbial #76: Marvelous Multicellular Magnetotactic Microbes! Jan 30, 2025

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Matters Microbial #76: Marvelous Multicellular Magnetotactic Microbes! January 29, 2025

Today, Dr. George Schaible, Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of California, Santa Barbara, joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss the exciting work he did during his PhD to unravel a fascinating topic: multicellular magnetotactic microbes!

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: George Schaible

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Links for this episode

What is a postdoctoral scholar in microbiology?
A previous #MattersMicrobial podcast about giant bacteria from Dr. Esther Angert.
A previous #MattersMicrobial podcast about magnetotactic bacteria from Dr. Arash Komeili.
A previous #MattersMicrobial podcast about multicellularity in microbes from Dr Will Ratcliff.
The transformative Microbial Diversity Course at the Marine Biological Labs at Woods Hole, Massachusetts.
An article describing the value of the Microbial Diversity Course.
I wrote this blog post on Chlorochromatium aggregatum consortium for Small Things Considered many years ago.
The "pink berry" consortium at Woods Hole.
A research paper on genetic interactions within the pink berry consortium, coauthored by a former undergraduate researcher of mine, Dr. Danielle Campbell. Yes, I am very proud.
A strategy to easily enrich for magnetotactic bacteria from nature. Here is a video that informs and amuses.
An early report of multicellular magnetotactic microbes.
The research article under discussion in today's podcast.
A link to Dr. Roland Hatzenpichler's laboratory website (Dr. Hatzenpichler was the originator of this research, all the way back to his own attending the Microbial Diversity Course.).
The deeply strange genome(s) of Achromatium.
An introduction to nanoSIMS technology.
An introduction to stable isotope probing.
The laboratory website of Dr. Jean-Marie Volland, where Dr. Schaible works at UC Santa Barbara

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Matters Microbial #75: Do Gut Microbes Watch their Carbs? Jan 23, 2025

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Matters Microbial #75: Do Gut Microbes Watch their Carbs? January 22, 2025

Today, Dr. Darrell Cockburn, Associate Professor of Food Science at Penn State, joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss the work his research group has done exploring how starches and other polysaccharides are used by the gut microbiome.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Darrell Cockburn

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An overview of dietary fiber in the diet.
A primer on the structure of starch and cellulose.
An overview on starch granules.
The concept of food gelatinazation.
An overview of "resistant" starch.
How Febreze works!
The concept of the glycemic index of foods.
An article about resistant starch and colon microbiota. Another article on this topic.
A primer on carbohydrate binding modules.
An article describing the role of short chain fatty acids in digestion.
An article suggesting that there is no perfect microbiome.
An interesting article from Dr. Cockburns research group showing that microbes can work together to digest resistant starch.
Dr. Cockburn's academic website.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Matters Microbial #74: Podcasting to Combat Microbial Misinformation Jan 16, 2025

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Matters Microbial #74: Podcasting to Combat Microbial Misinformation January 16, 2025

Today, Dr. Jessica Coates of the Biology Department at Spelman College joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss her work combating microbial misinformation in the classroom and to share her journey to the microbial sciences.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Jessica Coates

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Links for this episode

A short talk I gave at ASM some time ago about Louis Pasteur and the term "germ."
An organization devoted to promoting microbial literacy.
An example of using podcasting to increase learning outcomes in the STEM classroom.
An example of using podcasts by scientists to promote learning by students.
The interesting story of Spelman College.
An interview with Dr. Coates.
The academic website of Dr. Coates.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Matters Microbial #73: Seeing the Microbiome Jan 09, 2025

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Matters Microbial #73: Seeing the Microbiome January 8, 2025

Today, Dr. Travis Wiles, Assistant Professor of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at the University of California, Irvine, joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss the work he and his research group have done to visualize the changing dynamics of the gut microbiome—including bacteriophages residing there.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Travis Wiles

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Links for this episode

Dr Anne Estes' academic website is found here, along with her blog, and her social media link on Bluesky. So many interesting ideas!
Transgenic zebrafish as pets are called GLOfish.
Use of zebrafish as a model system for developmental biology.
An article exploring the effects of the microbiome on gnotobiotic ("germ free") zebrafish.
An essay on both lytic and lysogenic bacteriophages.
An essay describing how bacteriophage interact with the gut microbiota. One of my former undergraduate research students, Dr. Danielle Campbell, works in this area!
An article suggesting that bacteriophage do in fact interact with eukaryotic cells.
The concept of phage conversion: how some bacteriophages carry bacterial genes, including toxin genes.
An article about bacteriophages and bacterial evolution.
An article about the study of the zebrafish gut microbiome.
An article about research with zebrafish and Mycobacterium.
The article discussed in this episode by Dr. Wiles' group: "Phollow: Visualizing Gut Bacteriophage Transmission within Microbial Communities and Living Animals ."
Dr. Wiles' academic website.
Dr. Wiles' very colorful and interesting laboratory group website.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Matters Microbial #72: Who is in Your Water? Jan 02, 2025

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Matters Microbial #72: Who is in Your Water? January 2, 2025

Today, Dr. Ameet Pinto, Carlton S. Wilder Associate Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss the microbiome of drinking water and how it can be used to optimize safety and health.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Ameet Pinto

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Links for this episode

A short review of a famous article by Dr. Norman Pace about the microbiome of showers and how microbial populations differed due to chlorination.
An old discussion of microbial oligotrophy: the ability to survive on very low levels of nutrients.
The story of John Snow, a water fountain, and cholera in England.
The concept of "Live/Dead" staining of microbes.
An overview of the concept of metagenomics.
An article on the microbiome of shower hoses.
A public science outreach program to study the microbiome of showerheads.
The Instagram link for Dr. Pinto's wonderful cat, Nessie.
A great book describing exceptions to Mendelian genetics using cats: "Cats Are Not Peas." Highly recommended.
An article about water supplies and the pathogenic microbe Legionella.
An overview of water disinfection techniques.
An introduction to a model system of a microbial soil community, called THOR by Jo Handelsman and colleagues.
Thinking of water treatment and related technologies as a series of ecological niches, via Tom Curtis and Bill Sloane.
Dr. Pinto's faculty website.
Dr. Pinto's deeply fascinating research group website.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Matters Microbial #71: Disinfecting the Built Environment Dec 26, 2024

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Matters Microbial #71: Disinfecting the Built Environment December 25, 2024

Ever wonder what's growing on your toothbrush? Today, Dr. Erica Hartmann, Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Northwestern University, joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss how antimicrobial resistance can occur in the built environment we see all around us every day—and why it is vital to learn more about this association.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Erica Hartmann

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Links for this episode

An essay on the Hygiene Hypothesis.
An overview of the "built environment."
The trouble with triclosan.
An essay on heavy metal resistance.
An article from Dr. Hartmann's group about the toothbrush microbiome ("Project Pottymouth").
A link to the Human Microbiome Project.
An overview of antibiotic resistance and antibiotic resistance genes.
An article about silver nanoparticles on toothbrushes.
A blog post about probiotic cleaning products.
An interesting post from Dr. Hartmann's team about viruses in your bathroom.
A video by Dr. Hartmann about her research.
Dr. Hartmann's faculty website.
Dr. Hartmann's research team website.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Matters Microbial #70: Food Safety and Antibiotic Resistance Dec 19, 2024

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Matters Microbial #70: Food Safety and Antibiotic Resistance December 18, 2024

Today, Dr. Dr. Erika Ganda, Assistant Professor of Food Animal Microbiomes in the Department of Animal Science at Pennsylvania State University, joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss the varied interests of her research team studying the intersection of animal husbandry, microbiome studies, and the threat of antimicrobial resistance.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Erika Ganda

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Links for this episode

A video that Dr. Quinn and yours truly did for an event at Harvard University about #LuxArt.
A video of a #LuxArt event I ran at ASMCUE a few years ago.
An overview from the CDC about the One Health concept.
The story of "Typhoid Mary."
An overview of rumen microbiology.
The glass artwork of Jane Hartman.
An article about Salmonella dublin and the impact on the dairy industry.
An introduction to strategies of antibiotic resistance.
A TED talk about the threat of antibiotic resistance.
The concept of low level antibiotics to promote growth in chickens and other animals.
A video demonstrating the swift rise of antibiotic resistance using the MEGAPLATE approach.
The accident in Brazil in 2015 releasing metal mining waste leading to increased antibiotic resistance.
Evidence that microbial zinc resistance leads to increased antibiotic resistance.
An explainer for proper antibiotic use.
Dr. Ganda's faculty website.
Dr. Ganda's research website

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

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