This Week in Microbiology

TWiM 112: Mushroom pickers and mushroom kickers

September 26, 2015

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

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.

Right click to download TWiM#112 (44 MB .mp3, 61 minutes).

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Links for this episode

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

Send your microbiology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiM 111: Ancientbiotics and modernbiotics

September 10, 2015

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.

Right click to download TWiM#111 (43 MB .mp3, 59 minutes).

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 protected]

TWiM 110: Exploring unseen life with unpronounceable words

August 19, 2015

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

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.

Right click to download TWiM#110 (52 MB .mp3, 72 minutes).

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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)
Letters read on TWiM 110

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 [email protected]

TWiM 109: Precision killing

August 6, 2015

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

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.

Right click to download TWiM#109 (50 MB .mp3, 69 minutes).

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

Antimicrobial peptides to modulate microbial ecology (PNAS)
Targeting specific bacteria in the oral microbiome (Trends Micro)
How Wolbachia kills male hosts (PLoS Biol)
Wolbachia phage on TWiV 332
Image credit
Letters read on TWiM 109

Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]

TWiM 108: Vaccine in the time of cholera

July 22, 2015

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.

Right click to download TWiM#108 (51 MB .mp3, 72 minutes).

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

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

Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]

TWiM 107: The battle in your bladder

July 9, 2015

Vincent and Michael discuss the highly diverse microbiome of uncontacted Amerindians, and how the composition of human urine plays a role in the battle for iron.

Right click to download TWiM#107 (44 MB .mp3, 91 minutes).

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Links for this episode

Microbiome of uncontacted Amerindians (Sci Adv)
Urinary composition controls siderocalin activity (J Biol Chem)
Urine acidity and UTI susceptibility (Infect Cont Today)
Image (from pdb file 3cmp) shows siderocalin (magenta) complexed with iron (orange) and enterobactin (sticks)
Letters read on TWiM 107

Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]

TWiM 106: Lawn mower disease

June 24, 2015

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Michael Schmidt

Guest: Katy Bosio

Vincent and Michael speak with Katy Bosio about her research on pathogenesis, immunity, and vaccines against Franciscella tularensis, the causative agent of tularemia.

Right click to download TWiM#106 (55 MB .mp3, 76 minutes).

Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iTunes, via RSS feed, by email or listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app.

Links for this episode

Tularemia (CDC)
Tularemia research at NIH (YouTube)
Tularemia in Colorado (Denver Post)
Tularemia outbreak, Russia, 2013
Canine tularemia (ProMedMail)
Tularemia in CO on record-breaking pace (ProMedMail)
Image credit

Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]

TWiM 105: Real bugs with legs

June 5, 2015

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

The TWiM team reviews the microbiological safety of herbs in the United Kingdom, and how a peptide from the milkweed bug binds the ribosome and inhibits bacterial protein synthesis.