This Week in Microbiology

Latest Episodes:

TWiM #117: Finding the comammox Dec 17, 2015

Show notes

The TWiM team marvels over the finding of a completely nitrifying Nitrospira, and horizontal gene transfer from Wolbachia into an animal genome.

Links for this episode:

Complete nitrification by Nitrospira bacteria (Nature one, two)
Enigmatic comammox (PhysOrg)
Ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (Ann Rev Micro)
Tardigrade controversy (SciAlert)
Horizontal gene transfer from Wolbachia to grasshopper (PeerJ)
Thumbnail Image (nitrogen cycle) credit
Letters read on TWiM 117

This episode is sponsored by ASM Microbe 2016 and ASM Biodefense

Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twim@twiv.tv.

TWiM #116: Chewates and coconuts Dec 02, 2015

Show notes

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Elio Schaechter and Michele Swanson

The TWiMeriti reveal a Brazilian social bee that must cultivate a fungus to survive, and diet-mediated reduction in gut colonization by Candida albicans.

Links for this episode

Bee cultivates fungus to survive (Curr Biol)
Diet reduces C. albicans gut colonization (mSphere)
mSphere, a new open-access ASM journal
Image credit
Letters read on TWiM 116

This episode is sponsored by ASM Biodefense and the 32nd Clinical Virology Symposium.

Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twim@twiv.tv.

TWiM #115: Profiling the Poglianos Nov 20, 2015

Show notes

Vincent visits the laboratories of Kit and Joseph Pogliano on the campus of the University of California, San Diego, where he learns about their work on the bacterial cytoskeleton, sporulation, and the effects of antibiotics on bacterial cells.

Visit microbeworld.org/twim for complete shownotes including the special video version of this episode. Thanks for listening and watching!

TWiM #114: Milestones in Blue Nov 06, 2015

Show notes

Vincent, Elio, and Michele meet with Harry Mobley, Mary O’Riordan, and Vince Young at the University of Michigan, during the designation of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology as a Milestones in Microbiology site. They discuss how the laboratory has advanced the science and teaching of microbiology, and discuss faculty work on uropathogenic E. coli, induction of stress by bacterial infection, and the gut microbiome.

Visit microbeworld.org/twim for more including the special video version of this episode.

TWiM #113: Waves of Change Oct 22, 2015

Show notes

Vincent meets up with Romney and Duncan at the 79th annual meeting of the Southern California branch of the American Society for Microbiology, where they talk about emerging technologies for antimicrobial susceptibility testing, and next generation sequencing and advanced molecular diagnostics.

Visit microbeworld.org/twim to watch the video version and for complete shownotes including links mentioned.

TWiM #112: Mushroom pickers and mushroom kickers Sep 26, 2015

Show notes

The TWiM team wonders why definitions in biology often change, and discuss how the small molecule terrein is important for the growth of a soil fungus.

Image: Lesion formation on banana surfaces infected with Aspergillus terreus. Source

Links mentioned:

Visit microbeworld.org/twim for more.

TWiM #111: Ancientbiotics and modernbiotics Sep 10, 2015

Show notes

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Elio Schaechter.

The TWiMitos discuss the reconstruction of a 1,000-year-old antimicrobial remedy, and using gallium as an antimicrobial in the battle for iron.

Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iTunes, Stitcher, Android, RSS, or by email. You can also listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app.

Links for this episode

1,000 year old antimicrobial (mBio)
Siderophore quenching with gallium (Evol Med Pub Health)
Evolutionary dynamics of public goods (J Evol Biol)
Image credit
Letters read on TWiM 111

Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twim@twiv.tv, or call them in to 908-312-0760. You can also post articles that you would like us to discuss at microbeworld.org and tag them with twim.

TWiM #110: Exploring unseen life with unpronounceable words Aug 19, 2015

Show notes

The TWiM team focuses on the gut microbiome, from a single member, Akkermansia muciniphila, to the effect of antibiotics on its composition and colonization resistance against C. difficile.

Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iTunes, Stitcher, Android, RSS, or by email. You can also listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app.

Links for this episode

Agar art contest

Akkermansia muciniphilia and obesity (Gut)

A. muciniphilia genome (Biol Direct)

Alterations of gut microbiota and C. difficile colonization (mBio)

Science Delivered

Girls Who Code

F.E.M.M.E.S.

Association for Women in Science

UMich Host-Microbiome Initiative

UMich anaerobic chamber room (png)

TWiM #109: Precision killing Aug 06, 2015

Show notes

The TWiM cohort discusses the use of antimicrobial peptides to target specific bacteria in the microbiome, and how the intracellular bacterium Wolbachia selectively kills male hosts.

Links for this episode:

Antimicrobial peptides to modulate microbial ecology (PNAS)
Targeting specific bacteria in the oral microbiome (Trends Micro)
How Wolbachiakills male hosts (PLoS Biol)
Wolbachia phage on TWiV 332

Image: Transmission electron micrograph of Wolbachia within an insect cell.

By: Scott O'Neill - Genome Sequence of the Intracellular Bacterium Wolbachia. PLoS Biol 2/3/2004: e76.

TWiM #108: Vaccine in the time of cholera Jul 23, 2015

Show notes

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Elio Schaechter and Michele Swanson.

The professors of TWiM discuss a University of Wisconsin plan for rescuing biomedical research in the US, and results of a clinical trial in Bangladesh of an oral cholera vaccine.

Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iTunes, Stitcher, RSS, or by email. You can also listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app.

Links for this episode

Rescuing biomedical research (eLife)
Rethinking graduate and postdoc education (iBiology)
Oral cholera vaccine trial (Lancet)
Inexpensive cholera vaccine (NYTimes)
Image credit
Letters read on TWiM 108

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