Vincent, Elio, Michael, and Michelle discuss a symbiosis between a bacterium and fungus that increases the virulence of oral biofilms, and the assembly of amyloid fibers, which are needed for biofilm formation.
Vincent, Elio, and Michael discuss a huge 30,000 year old virus recovered from Siberia, and nested symbiosis facilitated by horizontal gene transfer from bacteria to insect.
Vincent, Michael, and Michele discuss how soil-dwelling bacteria induce the formation of root nodules on legumes via a protein called CYCLOPS.
Vincent, Elio, Michael, and Michele review how microbial virulence can be increased as a consequence of community surveillance and adaptation to macrophages.
Vincent, Michael, and Michele explain how the gut microbiome modulates colon tumorigenesis, and regulation of intestinal macrophage function by the microbial metabolite butyrate.
Vincent, Elio, Michael, and Michele discuss evidence that the acellular pertussis vaccine fails to prevent infection and transmission in nonhuman primates, and the use of bacterial cytological profiling to identify pathways targeted by antibiotics.
Vincent, Elio, Jo, and Michele review evidence for bacterial DNA integrated into the human genome, and control of the symbiont population in an insect midgut.
Vincent, Elio, Michael, and Michele discuss the amazingly high level of intergenera gene exchange among haloarchaea in an Antarctic lake, and the diversity of fungi on residential surfaces and the human forehead.
Vincent, Elio, Michael, and Michele discuss the curious outer membrane vesicles of Neisseria meningitidis, and sources of Clostridium difficile infection revealed by genome sequencing.
Vincent and Michelle reveal how the human gut microbiota can modulate obesity in mice.
About the Hosts of TWiM
Vincent Racaniello, Ph.D. (@profvrr) is Higgins Professor of Microbiology & Immunology at Columbia University Medical Center. He has been studying viruses for over 40 years. He teaches virology to undergraduate and graduate students, as well as medical, dental, and nursing students. His lectures are available online at iTunes University, YouTube, and Coursera.
Michael Schmidt, Ph.D. (TWiM) is the Professor and Vice Chairman of Microbiology and Immunology and Director of the Office of Special Programs at the Medical College of South Carolina. Dr. Schmidt is leading a team of infectious disease specialists from three health sciences centers and engineers from industry.