Advertise on podcast: This Week in Microbiology

TWiM reveals a new population in the blue cheese-making fungus Penicillium roqueforti and identification of a quorum-sensing autoinducer and siderophore in uropathogenic Escherichia coli. Subscribe to TWiM (free) on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Android, RSS, or by email. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode New blue cheese-making fungus (Evol Appl) Threat to Camenbert cheese (Guardian) French Cheese Under Threat (CNRS News) Fungadapt project (YouTube) Microbes Make the Cheese (ASM) Yersiniabactin in uropathogenic Escherichia coli (mBio) Public goods and cheating in microbes (Curr Biol) Take the TWiM Listener survey! Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv

TWiM reveals a database of genome sequences of thousands of Mycobaterium tuberculosis, allowing association with resistance phenotypes to 13 antibiotics, and microbe-derived uremic solutes that enhance thrombosis potential in the host. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Michele Swanson. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode M. tuberculosis genomes and antimicrobial resistance (PLoS Biol) The CRyPTIC consortium BashTheBug Zooniverse Microbial solutes enhance thrombosis (mBio) Can our microbiome break our heart? (mBio) Pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease (EJIFCC) How Kidneys Work Video (Mayo Clinic) What is a metaorganism? (Zoology) Take the TWiM Listener survey! Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv

TWiM describes the mechanism for the S. aureus itch and scratch induced skin damage, and discovery of a novel class of antibiotics that targets the lipopolysaccharide transporter.   Become a patron of TWiM.   Links: S. aureus drives itch and scratch behavior (Cell) Staph scratches its itch (Cell) A new class of antibiotics (Nature) A new type of antibiotic (Nature) Novel antibiotic targets LPS transporter (Nature) New antibiotic traps LPS (Nature) Macrocyclic peptide drugs (Science) Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission. Send your microbiology questions and comments to twim@microbe.tv  

A highly reduced TWiM team presents a study of the use of phage diversity in cell-free DNA to identify bacterial pathogens in human sepsis cases, and the evolution, persistence, and host adaptation of a gonococcal antimicrobial resistance plasmid that emerged in the pre-antibiotic era. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Petra Levin Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Phages identify sepsis pathogens (Nat Micro) Gonococcal AMR plasmid from pre-antibiotic era (PLoS Genetics) Take the TWiM Listener survey! Music used on TWiM is by Ronald Jenkees. Send your microbiology questions and comments to twim@microbe.tv

On the occasion of TWiM’s 300th episode, we discuss how two college students found a new antibiotic in soil, Barbara Iglewski’s passing, and Elio returns for an appearance. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Petra Levin and Michele Swanson. Guest: Elio Schaechter Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Barbara Iglewski dies Antimicrobial activity of P. nicotinovorans (MicroPubl Biol) 2 NWTC students found a new antibiotic in soil (Green Bay Press Gazette) ESKAPE bacteria group (Clover) Take the TWiM Listener survey! Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv

From ASM’s Conference for Undergraduate Educators 2023 in Phoenix, TWiM speaks with Amaya Garcia Costas and Gwendolyn Knapp about their approaches to undergraduate microbiology education, and how they use TWiM as part of their curricula. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Petra Levin and Michele Swanson. Guest: Amaya Garcia Costas and Gwendolyn Knapp. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode ASMCUE 2023 Teaching in the time of COVID-19 (J Microbiol Biol Edu) Take the TWiM Listener survey! Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv

TWiM provides thoughts on providing better training for a non-academic career, and help celebrate Black in Microbiology Week with a 2023 paper by Ari Kozik, a co-founder of Black Microbiologists Association and Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Michele Swanson, Petra Levin, Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Better training for a non-academic career (Nat Micro) Nature career site ASM career site Prosper - Unlocking postdoc career potential Airway microbiota in obesity and asthma (J Allerg Clin Immunol) A vision for human microbiome research (mSphere) Microbes in Models (ASM) Climate change and microbes (ASM) Take the TWiM Listener survey! Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv

TWiM reviews how a coating of lipoproteins provides a stabilizing environment on the inner membrane of Bacillus subtilis spores, and a miniaturized device that integrates genetically engineered probiotic biosensors with a custom-designed photodetector and readout chip to track mediators of inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Petra Levin, Subscribe to TWiM (free) on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Android, RSS, or by email. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Lipoproteins stabilize germination apparatus (J Bacteriol) A coating of liposomes (J Bacteriol) Biosensor to detect inflammatory molecules in the gut (Nature) Take the TWiM Listener survey! Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv

TWiM discusses a dispute about whether the mycobiome plays a role in the development of cancer, and the structure and function of channels that are delivered to plant cells by pathogenic bacteria. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, and Michael Schmidt. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Cancer microbes disputed (Carl Zimmer) Fungal mycobiome and cancer (Nature) Revisiting fungal mycobiome and cancer (Nature) Bacteria deliver channels to plant cells (Nature) Ice nucleation by bacteria (YouTube) Gram-negative bacterial porins (Curr Protein Pept Sci) Xenopus oocyte toolbox (Cold Spring Harb Protocols) Take the TWiM Listener survey! Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv

TWiM explains how phages avoid tRNA-targeting host defenses, and discovery of a new antibiotic from an uncultured bacterium that binds to an immutable target. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Petra Levin, Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Phages avoid tRNA-targeting host defenses (eLife) Sea phages Actinobacteriophage database New antibiotic from uncultured bacterium (bioRxiv) The age of infection (For Policy) Killing bacteria by teixobactin (Nature) Take the TWiM Listener survey! Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv

TWiM reveals that the ice cream manufacturing environment harbors psychrotrophic bacteria, and identification of a deadly bacterial strain causing widespread deaths of newborns in Uganda. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, & Michele Swanson. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Pyschrotrophic bacteria in ice cream plants (Appl Environ Micro) Creamery pays fine for contaminated ice cream (US DOJ) Paenibacillus infection of infants in Uganda (The Lancet) Deadly bacterial strain identified (Yale SOM) Take the TWiM Listener survey! Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv

TWiM explains personalized aerosilized phage therapy for a chronic lung infection, and using the combination of antibiotic and a DNA molecule that binds alpha-gal to reduce S. aureus infection in vivo. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Michael Schmidt Subscribe to TWiM (free) on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Android, RSS, or by email. Become a Patron of TWiM! Links for this episode: Aerosolized phage therapy (Nat Comm) Alpha-gal aptamer and vancomycin for MRSA (Microorg) Alpha-gal syndrome (Front Allergy) Natural antibody protects against viral infection (virology blog) Oil pulling for improving oral health (Healthcare) Music used on TWiM is by Ronald Jenkees. Send your microbiology questions and comments to twim@microbe.tv