From the ASM Biodefense and Emerging Diseases Research meeting, Vincent speaks with Rebekah and Wyndham about their work on Rift Valley Fever virus and other vector-borne pathogens, and the evolution and pathogenesis of Yersinia pestis, the agent of plague.
Vincent and Elio marvel in the finding that a phage tail-like structure from a marine bacterium stimulates tubeworm metamorphosis, and reveal Ophidiomyces as a cause of snake fungal disease.
The microbophiles investigate the ratio of bacterial to human cells in our bodies, and how placing solar panels on a bacterium enables it to carry out photosynthesis.
On the last episode for 2015, Vincent, Elio, and Michele discuss how soil amoeba hunt nematodes in packs, and the role of mushrooms as rainmakers.
The TWiM team marvels over the finding of a completely nitrifying Nitrospira, and horizontal gene transfer from Wolbachia into an animal genome.
The TWiMeriti reveal a Brazilian social bee that must cultivate a fungus to survive, and diet-mediated reduction in gut colonization by Candida albicans.
Vincent, Elio, and Michele meet with Harry Mobley, Mary O’Riordan, and Vince Young at the University of Michigan, during the designation of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology as a Milestones in Microbiology site. They discuss how the laboratory has advanced the science and teaching of microbiology, and discuss faculty work on uropathogenic E. coli, induction of stress by bacterial infection, and the gut microbiome.
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.
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.
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). Subscribe…
The Hosts of TWiM
Petra Levin, Ph.D.
Michele Swanson, Ph.D.
Michael G. Schmidt, Ph.D.
Vincent Racaniello, Ph.D.