Advertise on podcast: Editors in Conversation

An outbreak of Ebola disease caused by the Bundibugyo virus remains in a period of intense transmission, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Since it's first detection in May, 6757 cases have been confirmed across 6 provinces of the DRC, along with 20 cases in Uganda and one in France (as of September 8). A crude case fatality ratio of 48% underscores the severity of the disease and the ongoing challenges towards case detection, clinical care and, ultimately, interruption of transmission. Unchecked transmission of Bundibugyo in the DRC heightens the risk of exportation across international borders. Furthermore, healthcare workers recovering from the disease have been medically evacuated to both Germany and France for enhanced care. Is your laboratory prepared to handle a potential case? Watch this episode: https://youtu.be/zIDFuwflo8Q Guests: Daniel Rhoads, M.D., Zoe Weiss, M.D., Beverley Orr, MT(ASCP), Nicholas Heger, Ph.D.

In this episode of Editors in Conversation mBio edition, Marvin Whiteley speaks with Macy Pell and Shannon Manning about how group B Streptococcus (GBS) responds to antibiotics given during childbirth to prevent newborn infections.   GBS can cause serious neonatal disease, and intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis has greatly reduced early-onset infections. But some GBS strains persist after treatment.   The conversation explores a recent mBio study comparing GBS isolates collected from the same individuals before and after antibiotic treatment and childbirth. Rather than simply acquiring new resistance genes, persistent strains accumulated mutations associated with adaptation, including the emergence of strains with unusually high mutation rates.   Pell and Manning discuss what these findings reveal about bacterial persistence, evolution under antibiotic pressure, and why understanding GBS survival may require looking beyond antibiotic resistance alone.   Relevant links:   Genomic adaptation in group B Streptococcus following intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis and childbirth https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mbio.03966-25 (Macy E. Pell, Heather M. Blankenship, Jennifer A. Gaddy, H. Dele Davies, Shannon D. Manning.)   Guests: Macy E. Pell, PhD Department of Microbiology, Genetics, and Immunology Michigan State University   Shannon D. Manning, PhD Department of Microbiology, Genetics, and Immunology Michigan State University

Equitable access to healthcare, and more specifically diagnostic testing, remains elusive globally, negatively impacting the health and wellbeing of all people. A not-so-distant illustration was access to testing during the COVID-19 pandemic, when testing sites globally, including here in the United States, underserved the very populations who bore a disproportionate burden of COVID-19 cases and deaths. There is a tremendous opportunity for research on diagnostic access, as well as the epidemiology and diseases that impact underrepresented groups, in clinical microbiology. In 2026, JCM launched a new section, entitled "Diagnostic Access and Equity". In today's episode of Editors in Conversation, I'm joined by the Editor overseeing this section, Dr. Ellie Theel, and one of our editorial board members, Dr. Shawn Lockhart of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to discuss diagnostic access, equity and what the clinical microbiology community is doing to move the needle on these issues. Guests: Elitza Theel, Ph.D., D(ABMM) Shawn Lockhart, Ph.D., D(ABMM) Links:  Remote regions, rapid recognition: performance and timeliness of BIOFIRE FilmArray BCID2 for diagnosing bloodstream infection in remote northern Australia This episode is brought to you by the Journal of Clinical Microbiology.  Visit asm.org/jcm to browse issues and/or submit a manuscript.  If you plan to publish in JCM, ASM Members get up to 50% off publishing fees. Visit asm.org/joinasm to sign up.

Multidrug-resistant Gram-negative infections remain one of the most urgent public health challenges worldwide, with some infections approaching the limits of available treatment options. In this special edition of Editors in Conversation, we celebrate the remarkable 10-year tenure of Dr. Laurent Poirel, whose pioneering work has profoundly shaped our understanding of antimicrobial resistance. Through his unique perspective, we will explore the evolving landscape of resistance in Gram-negative organisms, reflect on the major advances and challenges of the past decade, and discuss what the future may hold for this rapidly changing field.  View this episode: https://youtu.be/3OuzU4HjZcY Topics discussed: The most important events in Gram-negative resistance in the last 10 years How the antibiotic pipeline has responded to the challenge of Gram-negative resistance How the field would move in the next 10 years. Guest: Laurent Poirel, Ph.D. Senior Researcher, Medicine Section. University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland, Editor AAC 2016-2026. Links: This episode is brought to you by the Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy Journal.  Visit asm.org/aac to browse issues and/or submit a manuscript. If you plan to publish in AAC, ASM Members get up to 50% off publishing fees. Visit asm.org/joinasm to sign up.

New imaging and measurement approaches are revealing previously hidden aspects of microbial life, challenging long-held assumptions and creating opportunities to answer questions that were once out of reach. Marvin Whiteley, Heran Darwin and Jeffrey Moffitt talk about how technological innovation is transforming microbiology. Guests: Heran Darwin, Ph.D. - NYU Grossman School of Medicine Jeffrey Moffitt, Ph.D. - Boston Children's Research This episode of Editors in Conversation is brought to you by mBio® and hosted by mBio Editor in Chief, Marvin Whiteley, Ph.D.  Visit journals.asm.org/journal/mbio to read articles and/or submit a manuscript. Receive up to 50% off fees when you publish in mBio® or any of the ASM journals by becoming an ASM member. Sign up at asm.org/joinasm.

It starts out with a couple of stomach twinges, maybe a little nausea, maybe some sharp pains, and then… before you know it, you are running to the closest toilet with which you become very, very familiar. Cyclospora causes frequent watery diarrhea with sometime "explosive" bowel movements, but is typically a relatively rare cause of infectious diarrhea. However, the U.S. is in the midst of one of the largest documented cyclosporiasis outbreaks. How does one acquire this parasite? What are the risks? And – most importantly for our audience – how does the lab approach diagnosis? Guests: Daniel Rhoads, M.D. Bobbi Pritt, M.D. Marc Couturier, Ph.D., D(ABMM) Links:  This episode is brought to you by the Journal of Clinical Microbiology.  Visit asm.org/jcm to browse issues and/or submit a manuscript. If you plan to publish in JCM, ASM Members get up to 50% off publishing fees. Visit asm.org/joinasm to sign up.

So, you think you want a career in clinical microbiology? This field demands more than technical skill—it's driven by curiosity, growth, and the confidence to lead. From mastering diagnostics to pushing innovation and mentoring the next generation, success comes to those who keep evolving. In this episode, we explore the many paths into the field—and spotlight the Laboratory Director role through a candid conversation between early- and mid-career leaders, sharing the real highs, lows, and advice for those ready to step up. Watch this episode: https://youtu.be/p992HyDcm-M Guests: Amanda Roth, Ph.D. Janiece Glover, Ph.D., MS Links:  This episode is brought to you by the Journal of Clinical Microbiology.  Visit asm.org/jcm to browse issues and/or submit a manuscript. If you plan to publish in JCM, ASM Members get up to 50% off publishing fees. Visit asm.org/joinasm to sign up.

Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing the world in many ways. One of the most exciting applications of artificial intelligence is in the area of drug discovery. Particularly the discovery of antimicrobial molecules that are in the environment or even hidden within our own body. Today, we discuss some of the uses of artificial intelligence in the discovery of antimicrobials with an outstanding expert in the field. Topics discussed: How artificial intelligence can help the discovery of new antimicrobial moieties Antibiotic discovery and challenges to bring molecules to the clinic The implications for artificial intelligence and infectious diseases in particularly in the discovery of antibiotics. Guest: César de la Fuente, Ph.D., FRSB, Presidential Associate Professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Director, Machine Biology Group. This episode is brought to you by the Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy journal available at https://asm.org/aac.  If you plan to publish in AAC, ASM Members get up to 50% off publishing fees. Visit https://asm.org/joinasm to sign up. Visit https://asm.org/aac to browse issues and/or submit a manuscript. Follow Cesar on twitter at https://twitter.com/SuperBugDoc for AAC updates.  Get the audio only podcast at https://asm.org/eic.

Accurate AST results are the backbone of diagnostic stewardship, yet routine quality control (QC) might be missing subtle shifts that skew your hospital's annual antibiogram. By examining a real-world "silent failure" in daptomycin testing, we explore how lab-driven data is essential to the AMR crisis response and why the human eye—and traditional QC bugs—aren't always enough to catch technical drifts. This session breaks down the importance of LIS rules, alert fatigue, and the future of automated susceptibility testing. Guests: Laurel J. Glaser, M.D., Ph.D. Rebekah Dumm, Ph.D. D(ABMM) Links:  Leveraging patient data to detect systematic shifts in daptomycin susceptibility testing associated with reduced prescribing This episode of Editors in Conversation is brought to you by the Journal of Clinical Microbiology and hosted by JCM Editor in Chief, Romney Humphries, Ph.D., D(ABMM) and Elitza (Elli) Theel, Ph.D., D(ABMM).  Visit journals.asm.org/journal/jcm to read articles and/or submit a manuscript. Become an ASM member to receive up to 50% off publishing fees when you publish in JCM or any of the ASM journals. Sign up at asm.org/joinasm.

In this episode, a fascinating new bacteriophage, JS1. While most contractile phages (which inject DNA like a spring-loaded syringe) are rigid and straight, JS1 sports a curved, flexible tail that may help it navigate the complex "canyons and valleys" of the bacterial cell wall. Watch this episode: https://youtu.be/eDGta8xc4_0 Guests: Sabrina Suhani, Ph.D., Graduate Student, Monash University, Australia Trevor Lithgow, Ph.D., Professor, Monash University's Biomedical Discovery Institute. Links:  Staphylococcus species infected by a bacteriophage with a tail that is both curved and contractile This episode of Editors in Conversation is brought to you by mBio® and hosted by mBio Editor in Chief, Marvin Whiteley, Ph.D.  Visit journals.asm.org/journal/mbio to read articles and/or submit a manuscript. Receive up to 50% off fees when you publish in mBio® or any of the ASM journals by becoming an ASM member. Sign up at asm.org/joinasm.

Is the future of cervical cancer screening non-invasive? Sharmila Manjeshwar, Ph.D. and Jeffrey Klausner M.D. MPH, discuss a breakthrough in HPV diagnostics: urine-based testing. While vaccination and clinical screening have reduced cervical cancer rates, participation has stalled due to barriers like healthcare access and the invasive nature of traditional clinician-collected samples. This conversation explores how novel high-volume urine concentration technology is changing the landscape, making screening more accessible, private, and efficient. Watch this episode: https://youtu.be/am7NvL1Y0g4 Guests: Sharmila Manjeshwar, Ph.D. Jeffrey Klausner M.D. MPH Links:  Performance of a novel, urine-based test for the detection of cervical human papillomavirus infection This episode of Editors in Conversation is brought to you by the Journal of Clinical Microbiology and hosted by JCM Editor in Chief, Romney Humphries, Ph.D., D(ABMM) and Elitza (Elli) Theel, Ph.D., D(ABMM).  Visit journals.asm.org/journal/jcm to read articles and/or submit a manuscript. Become an ASM member to receive up to 50% off publishing fees when you publish in JCM or any of the ASM journals. Sign up at asm.org/joinasm.

Most microbiome research focuses on soil, oceans, or hosts. But the atmosphere itself harbors diverse communities of bacteria and fungi that move between ecosystems. This episode explores a recent mBio study comparing airborne microbial communities above a subalpine forest and a grassland in Colorado. The conversation unpacks what the "aerobiome" is, how scientists actually sample microbes from the air, and why height, time of day, and season matter. The study reveals striking differences between fungi and bacteria, with fungi showing strong site-specific structure and environmental sensitivity, while bacteria appear more ubiquitous. They also discuss "vertical filtering," long-distance dispersal, and what these findings mean for pathogen spread, ecosystem connectivity, and climate change. The atmosphere is not empty space, it is an active conduit connecting microbial life across landscapes. Guests: Carolyn R. Cornell, Ph.D., Department of Agricultural BiologyColorado State University Jane E. Stewart, Ph.D., Department of Agricultural BiologyColorado State University Links:  Spatiotemporal patterns of airborne microbial communities in forest and grassland ecosystems. This episode of Editors in Conversation is brought to you by mBio® and hosted by mBio Editor in Chief, Marvin Whiteley, Ph.D.  This episode is brought to you by the mBio journal available at https://asm.org/mBio.  If you plan to publish in mBio, ASM Members get up to 50% off publishing fees. Visit https://asm.org/joinasm to sign up. Visit https://asm.org/mBio to browse issues and/or submit a manuscript. Follow mBio on twitter at https://x.com/mbiojournal.

Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (or MALDI) has revolutionized the clinical microbiology laboratory, enabling rapid, accurate and cheap identification of bacteria, yeast, moulds and mycobacteria. In most labs, it has become a verb (I maldi'ed it). But – can it replace our antimicrobial susceptibility tests? Let's find out! Guests: Dr. Frieder Schaumburg Niklas Wiesmann

In the inaugural episode of Editors in Conversation mBio edition, Marvin Whiteley speaks with Arturo Casadevall, infectious-disease physician-scientist, founding Editor in Chief of mBio, and a leading voice in fungal pathogenesis and scientific rigor. They explore how climate change may be reshaping the fungal kingdom, potentially eroding the thermal barrier that has historically protected humans from most fungal pathogens. Using Candida auris (C auris) as a case study, they discuss heat adaptation, antifungal resistance, and what climate change could mean for future outbreaks. The conversation also examines fungal pandemics in pop culture, the challenges of antifungal drug development, and the promise of vaccines and biotechnology. Fungi are both threat and ally in a changing world, and understanding them has never been more urgent. Guest: Arturo Casadevall, M.D., Ph.D. - Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Distinguished Professor, Infectious-disease physician-scientist, Founding Editor in Chief of mBio® Links:  On the Emergence of Candida auris: Climate Change, Azoles, Swamps, and Birds  Reflections on my 15 years as mBio editor in chief This episode of Editors in Conversation is brought to you by mBio® and hosted by mBio Editor in Chief, Marvin Whiteley, Ph.D.  Visit journals.asm.org/journal/mbio to read articles and/or submit a manuscript. Receive up to 50% off fees when you publish in mBio® or any of the ASM journals by becoming an ASM member. Sign up at asm.org/joinasm.

The Interdisciplinary Meeting of Antimicrobial Resistance and Innovation has launched! The first version of IMARI brought together researchers, clinicians, industry leaders and policymakers to address one of the greatest challenges in modern medicine: antimicrobial resistance" Check the highlights at IMARI.org and prepare for IMARI 2017 from January 27-29, 2027! The inaugural amazing conference took place in Las Vegas. This is the forst time that ASM and IDSA collaborate together in a scientific meeting. One of the sessions involved an unprecedent collaboration between two journals AAC and JID published by each society. To celebrate this achievement we had a session of the best AMR papers of 2025 for AAC and JID. This session will be presented here as apart of our series.  Watch this episode: https://youtu.be/XRYl7863z34 Objectives: - Review the best papers and topics of AMR in 2025 form AAC and JID. - Discuss the context of each finding and contributions to the AMR community - Elaborate on the implications for AMR, novelties and how the field is advancing. Guests:  - Ayesha Khan, Ph.D.  Assistant Professor, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine and Associate Director, Division of Clinical Microbiology Biomedical & Translational Research Track. Principal Investigator, UC3P UCI Prime Pre-Health Pathways Program. - Madison Stellfox, M.D. Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA.  Links:  Links: AAC A microbiological and structural analysis of the interplay between sulbactam/durlobactam and imipenem against penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs) of Acinetobacter spp. https://doi.org/10.1128/aac.01627-24 JID Ampicillin/Sulbactam in Combination with Ceftazidime/Avibactam Against Metallo-β-Lactamase-Producing Carbapenem-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii: A Genomics-Informed Mechanism-based model https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiaf567 AAC Advancements in the fight against globally distributed OXA-48 carbapenemase: evaluating the new generation of carbapenemase inhibitors https://doi.org/10.1128/aac.01614-24 JID Daptomycin-Loaded Nanocarriers Facilitate Synergistic Killing of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus via Lipid-Mediated Interactions and Targeting https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiaf492 AAC Amoxicillin-non-susceptible Streptococcus pneumoniae causing invasive pneumonia: serotypes, clones, and clinical impact https://doi.org/10.1128/aac.00237-25 JID Blood Cultures Contain Populations of Genetically Diverse Candida albicans Strains that May Differ in Echinocandin Tolerance and Fitness https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiaf495 AAC Antibiofilm activity of manogepix, ibrexafungerp, amphotericin B, rezafungin, and caspofungin against Candida spp. biofilms of reference and clinical strains https://doi.org/10.1128/aac.00137-25 JID Engineered Mycobacteriophage TM4::GeNL Rapidly Determines Bedaquiline, Pretomanid, Linezolid, Rifampicin, and Clofazimine Sensitivity in Mycobacterium tuberculosis Clinical Isolates https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiae438 AAC Emergence of antibiotic-specific Mycobacterium tuberculosis phenotypes during prolonged treatment of mice https://doi.org/10.1128/aac.01310-24 JID The Changing Paradigm in Infectious Diseases—Host-Directed Medicine: Implications for the Next Generation of ID Physicians https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiaf497 JID Triggering Toll-Like Receptor 5 Signaling During Pneumococcal Superinfection Prevents the Selection of Antibiotic Resistance https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiae239 IMARI Conference This episode is brought to you by the Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy journal available at https://asm.org/aac.  If you plan to publish in AAC, ASM Members get up to 50% off publishing fees. Visit https://asm.org/joinasm to sign up. Visit https://asm.org/aac to browse issues and/or submit a manuscript. Follow Cesar on twitter at https://twitter.com/SuperBugDoc for AAC updates.