A podcast that explores unseen life on Earth. New episodes are on the 2nd and 4th Fridays of each month. Subscribe: Apple | Google | Spotify | RSS Feed
The Hosts of TWiM
Vincent Racaniello, Ph.D.
Vincent is a Professor of Microbiology at Columbia University Medical Center. He has been studying viruses for over 30 years, starting in 1975, when he entered the Ph.D. program in Biomedical Sciences at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine of the City University of New York with a focus on influenza viruses …
Read Vincent’s full bio here.
@profvrr on X and Instagram
Petra Levin, Ph.D.
Petra is the George William and Irene Koechig Freiberg Professor of Biology at Washington University in St. Louis. She received her Ph.D. from Harvard University and completed her postdoctoral training at MIT. Focusing on the intersection of the environment and microbial physiology, research in the Levin lab probes the mechanisms governing bacterial growth, cell cycle progression, and antibiotic sensitivity.
A proponent of broadening access to research at all levels, Dr. Levin served as co-director of Washington University’s Plant and Microbial Biosciences graduate program until 2020. In 2021, she developed EnTER, a university-wide initiative to increase the participation of low-income, first-generation undergraduate students in research. Passionate about microbiology and science communication, Dr. Levin teaches an upper-level undergraduate seminar on infectious disease that helps students hone their ability to read primary literature and write for both expert and lay audiences.
Michael G. Schmidt, Ph.D.
Michael earned his Ph.D. from Indiana University, Bloomington, and rose through the ranks of The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), where he is presently a professor of microbiology and immunology. He was elected to a fellowship in the American Academy of Microbiology and the American College of Dentists. In 2017, he was selected as the South Carolina Governor’s Awardee for Excellence in Science and Scientific Awareness, and, in 2019, he was elected chair of the ASM Council on Microbial Sciences.Currently, he is leading an inter-institutional-interdisciplinary team of professionals investigating the role of microbes in the built clinical environment in acquiring healthcare-associated infections (HAI). Building on the results of a successful multi-center clinical trial, they established that by controlling the microbial burden in the built clinical environment, a significant reduction (58%, p<0.0013) of HAI was achieved by limiting and targeted placement of copper alloys. The results from this study were the basis of a talk he provided to TEDxCharleston and featured in articles in the Smithsonian Magazine and Vice.
Finally, he is a regular contributor to This Week In Microbiology (TWiM) and is the councilor to the South Carolina Branch of ASM.
Michele Swanson
Michele is a Professor of Microbiology & Immunology and Director of the Office of Postdoctoral Studies at the University of Michigan Medical School where she teaches medical students about bacterial pathogens. Her lab investigated how Legionella pneumophila relies on metabolic cues to alternate between resilience in aquatic environments and virulence in phagocytes