This Week in Microbiology

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326: I Have One Word For You: PETase! Jan 24, 2025

Show notes

TWiM explores the discovery of microbial enzymes, PETases, that can degrade ubiquitous plastics, and how exogenous peptidoglycan is a danger signal to trigger biofilm formation.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Michele Swanson.

Guest Mark O. Martin.

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

Links for this episode

Discovery of PET depolymerases (Science)
Exogenous peptidoglycan triggers biofilm formation (Nat Micro)
What is a biofilm? (Vimeo)
Peptidoglycan as a PAMP/MAMP (Immunol Rev)
Light organ formation triggered by peptidoglycan (Science)
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325: Microbes Making Methane Jan 10, 2025

Show notes

TWiM reveals that record high atmospheric methane growth has been driven by microbes, and the cecum as an adaptive niche for Salmonella typhi.

Hosts: Michael Schmidt, Petra Levin and Michele Swanson.

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

Links for this episode

Why a potent greenhouse gas is rising (WaPo)
Microbial emissions drove record high atmospheric methane growth (PNAS)
Salmonella biofilm formation in the cecum (mBio)
Typhoid Mary (The Collector)
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324: Back To School for TWiM Dec 27, 2024

Show notes

From ASMCUE 2024, the conference on undergraduate education, TWiM speaks with Becky, Melanie, and Katriana about their careers and how they use TWiM in undergraduate microbiology education.

Hosts: Michael Schmidt and Mark O. Martin

Guests: Becky Seipel-Thiemann, Melanie Melendrez-Vallard, and Katriana Popichak

Subscribe to TWiM (free) on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Android, RSS, or by email.

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

Links for this episode

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Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv

323: Better Concrete With Microbes Dec 13, 2024

Show notes

TWiM describes how to make concrete more 'green' by using microbes, and bacterial bioluminescence as an important regulator of multitrophic interactions in the soil.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Michele Swanson and and Mark O. Martin.

Subscribe to TWiM (free) on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RSS, or by email.

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

Links for this episode

Construction nanobiotechnology for concrete (Appl Env Micro)
Self-healing concrete (Sci Tot Environ)
Microbe-inspired self-healing concrete (Front Struct Civil Eng)
Bacterial bioluminescence regulates multitrophic interactions in the soil (Cell Rep)
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322: Photohydrolysis Decontamination Reduces Healthcare-associated Infections Nov 22, 2024

Show notes

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: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Michele Swanson.

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Links for this episode

Ticagrelor and S. aureus (mBio)
Novel disinfectant technology (Am J Inf Control)
UVC-LED to inactivate foodborne pathogens (Appl Envir Micro)
UV disinfection systems (ACS Photonics)
High-touch surfaces in specialized patient care area (CDC)
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321: The Microbes in Your Food Nov 08, 2024

Show notes

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: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Petra Levin and Michele Swanson.

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Links for this episode

Foodborne outbreaks (CDC)
Race to nourish a warming world (Gates Foundation)
Nanopore sequencing of foods (Food Microbiol)
How is Oxford Nanopore used? (YouTube)
Introduction to Nanopore sequencing (YouTube)
Methods for detecting foodborne pathogens (Appl Micro Biotech)
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320: Rockstars of USAMRIID Oct 25, 2024

Show notes

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: Michael Schmidt, Petra Levin and Michele Swanson. Guests: Norman Kreiselmeir, Christopher K Coat, Keersten Ricks, and Eric Nguyen Links for this episode:

U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases
Threading the NEIDL (TWiV 200)
Unintentional importation of B. pseudomallei into US (Emerg Inf Dis)

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Links for this episode

Engineering the cow for less methane emissions (WaPo)
Precision microbiome editing (Audacious Project)
Giant viruses carry antibiotic resistance genes (Nat Commun)
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319: The Dark Side of the Rumen Oct 11, 2024

Show notes

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: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Petra Levin and Michele Swanson.

Subscribe to TWiM (free) on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Android, RSS, or by email.

Become a patron of TWiM.

Links for this episode

Engineering the cow for less methane emissions (WaPo)
Precision microbiome editing (Audacious Project)
Giant viruses carry antibiotic resistance genes (Nat Commun)
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Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv

318: How To Pick a Winner Sep 27, 2024

Show notes

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: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Petra Levin and Mark O. Martin.

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Links for this episode

Microbiome picks a winner (Sci Rep)
Picking a Winner by Reading the Form
Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes by Stephen Jay Gould
How much does it cost to breed a horse?
Date of birth and purchase price as foals or yearlings and race performance
Rarity as a sticky state (PNAS)
How many species on Earth? (PLoS Biol)
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317: Bat White-nose Syndrome Sep 14, 2024

Show notes

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: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Petra Levin and Michele Swanson.

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Links for this episode

Methyl-reducing methanogenesis (Nature)
Pathogenic strategies of Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Science)
Adaptive fungal invasion of bat cells (Science)
Little brown bat (Critter Catalog)
Nature Notes: Little Brown Bat (Harpswell)
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