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PODCAST

Meet the Microbiologist

Ashley Hagen, M.S.

Who is microbiology? Meet the Microbiologist (MTM) introduces you to the people who discover, innovate and advance the field of microbiology. Go behind-the-scenes of the microbial sciences with experts in virology, bacteriology, mycology, parasitology and more! Share in their passion for microbes and hear about research successes and even a few setbacks in their field. MTM covers everything from genomics, antibiotic resistance, synthetic biology, emerging infectious diseases, microbial ecology,

science life sciences

All Episodes

54:25

129: Arbovirus evolution with Greg Ebel

Meet the Microbiologist ·

2020/04/23

How do arboviruses evolve as they pass between different hosts? Greg Ebel discusses his research on West Nile virus evolution and what it means for viral diversity. He also talks about using mosquitos’ most recent blood meal to survey human health in a process called xenosurveillance. Julie’s Biggest Takeaways: Mosquitoes and other arthropods have limited means of immune defense against infection. One major defense mechanism is RNA interference (RNAi). RNAi uses pieces of the West Nile viral genome

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01:03:01

128: Managing Plant Pathogens Using Streptomyces...

Meet the Microbiologist ·

2020/03/26

How can the intricate relationship between soil microbiota and plants be managed for improved plant health? Linda Kinkel discusses new insights into the plant rhizosphere and the ways that some Streptomyces isolates can protect agricultural crops against bacterial, fungal, oomycete, and nematode infections. Julie’s Biggest Takeaways: The soil microbiome is extremely dynamic, with boom-and-bust cycles driven by nutrient fluxes, microbial interactions, plant-driven microbial interactions, and

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55:11

127: E. coli and Burkholderia vaccines with Alfredo...

Meet the Microbiologist ·

2020/03/02

Pathogenic E. coli are different than lab-grown or commensal E. coli found in the gut microbiome. Alfredo Torres describes the difference between these, the method his lab is using the develop vaccines against pathogenic E. coli, and how this same method can be used to develop vaccines against Burkholderia infections. Julie’s Biggest Takeaways: coli plays many roles inside and outside the scientific laboratory: Laboratory E. coli strains used by scientists to study molecular biology. Commensal E

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59:45

126: Placental biology, infection and immunity with...

Meet the Microbiologist ·

2020/02/14

Does the fetus have a microbiome? How does the placenta prevent infection? Carolyn Coyne talks about placental structure and biology, and why studying the maternal-fetal interface remains a critical area of research. Julie’s Biggest Takeaways: The placenta forms within 3-5 days post conception as a single layer of cells surrounding the fertilized embryo. These cells differentiate and develop into more complex structures. Very few microbes cause fetal disease. Of those that do, the disease-causing

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52:37

125: Coronavirus Antiviral Drug Discovery with...

Meet the Microbiologist ·

2020/01/31

Are there drugs that can treat coronaviruses? Timothy Sheahan talks about his drug discovery work on a compound that can inhibit all coronaviruses tested so far, and tells how his career path took him to pharmaceutical antiviral research and then back to academia. Julie’s Biggest Takeaways: Even though the MERS-CoV was discovered as a human pathogen in 2012, it was likely percolating as a disease agent for a long time before that. Banked camel serum provides evidence that the virus had been

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54:35

124: Gastroenteritis Viruses with Mary Estes

Meet the Microbiologist ·

2020/01/10

Viral gastroenteritis around the world causes 200,000 deaths globally each year. Mary Estes talks about her work on 2 gastroenteritis-causing viruses, rotavirus and norovirus, and tells the story of her discovery of the first viral enterotoxin. She also describes how noroviruses have changed from human volunteer studies to studies using “miniguts,” a system now used with many enteropathogenic microorganisms. Julie’s Biggest Takeaways: Rotaviruses and noroviruses kill 200,000 people annually, despite

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55:18

123: SAR11 and Other Marine Microbes with Steve...

Meet the Microbiologist ·

2019/12/21

The most abundant organism on Earth lives in its seas: the marine bacterium SAR11. Steve Giovannoni describes how the origins of SAR11 provided its name, and the ways that studying SAR11 have taught scientists about ocean ecology. He also discusses how the different depths of the ocean vary in their microbial compositions and what his big questions are in marine microbiology. Different depths of the ocean have different habitats, but the microbes vary continuously, based in part on light

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49:38

122: Prions and Chronic Wasting Disease with Jason Bartz

Meet the Microbiologist ·

2019/12/06

Can a protein be contagious? Jason Bartz discusses his work on prion proteins, which cause spongiform encephalopathy and can be transmitted by ingestion or inhalation among some animals. He further discusses how prions can exist as different strains, and what techniques may help improve diagnosis of subclinical infections. Links for this Episode: Jason Bartz Creighton University website Holec SAM, Yuan Q, and Bartz JC. Alteration of Prion Strain Emergence by Nonhost Factors. mSphere. 2019. Yuan Q

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54:12

121: Microbial Interkingdom Interactions with Deb Hogan

Meet the Microbiologist ·

2019/11/21

Microbial interactions drive microbial evolution, and in a polymicrobial infection, these interactions can determine patient outcome. Deb Hogan talks about her research on interkingdom interactions between the bacterium Pseudomonas and the fungus Candida, 2 organisms that can cause serious illness in cystic fibrosis patients’ lung infections. Her research aims to better characterize these interactions and to develop better diagnostic tools for assessing disease progression and treatment. Links for

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11:40

Bonus: Diagnosing C. diff Infections for Optimal...

Meet the Microbiologist ·

2019/11/18

Why is C. diff such a serious disease and what are clinical microbiologists doing to improve patient outcomes with better diagnostic tools?

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01:00:45

120: Antibiotic-Resistant Infections in Hospital...

Meet the Microbiologist ·

2019/11/08

Many hospital-acquired bacterial infections are also drug-resistant. Amy Mathers describes her work tracking these bacteria to their reservoir in hospital sinks, and what tools allowed her team to make these discoveries. Mathers also discusses her work on Klebsiella, a bacterial pathogen for the modern era. Subscribe (free) on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Android, RSS, or by email. Julie’s Biggest Takeaways Nosocomial infections are a type of opportunistic infection: one that wouldn’t

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55:19

119: Microbiome Diversity and Structural Variation...

Meet the Microbiologist ·

2019/10/24

How do medical professionals incorporate microbiome science into their patient care? Ami Bhatt discusses her research on the diversity within and between human gut microbiomes, and how this research is slowly and carefully being used to build new patient care recommendations. Subscribe (free) on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Android, RSS, or by email. Julie’s Biggest Takeaways Although these terms are often used interchangeably, microbiome and microbiota represent distinct samples types:

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01:03:59

118: Lyme Disease and Other Tick-Borne Infections...

Meet the Microbiologist ·

2019/10/11

Identified in the 1980s, Borrelia burgdorferi and other Lyme disease-associated spirochetes have since been found throughout the world. Jorge Benach answers questions about Lyme Disease symptoms, his role in identifying the causative bacterium, and his current research on multispecies pathogens carried by hard-bodied ticks. Julie’s Biggest Takeaways Erythema migrans (the classic bullseye rash) is the most common manifestation that drives people to go see the doctor to be diagnosed with Lyme disease,

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52:24

117: Influenza Virus Evolution with Jesse Bloom

Meet the Microbiologist ·

2019/09/26

Influenza is famous for its ability to mutate and evolve but are mutations always the virus’ friend? Jesse Bloom discusses his work on influenza escape from serum through mutation and how mutations affect influenza virus function and transmission. Subscribe (free) on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Android, RSS, or by email. Also available on the ASM Podcast Network app. Julie’s Biggest Takeaways Influenza is famous for its ability to mutate and evolve through two major mechanisms: Antigenic

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40:21

116: Citrus Greening and the Microbiome in Diabetes...

Meet the Microbiologist ·

2019/09/13

Graciela Lorca studies genetic systems to find positive and negative microbial interactions that lead to disease. She talks about her discovery of chemical inhibitors for the citrus greening disease bacterium, Liberibacter asiaticus,and how a specific strain of Lactobacillus johnsoniimodulates the immune system and may help prevent development of diabetes in people. Subscribe (free) on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Android, RSS, or by email. Also available on the ASM Podcast Network app

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41:54

115: 20 Years of the Lab Response Network with Julie...

Meet the Microbiologist ·

2019/08/30

When a new biothreat or emerging infectious agent threatens, how are diagnostic protocols put into place? It’s up to the Laboratory Response Network (LRN), a multipartner network of public health, clinical and other labs, to generate and distribute reagents, and provide training to detect these threats. Julie Villanueva, Chief of the Laboratory Preparedness and Response Branch at the CDC, talks about the LRN and how no two weeks on the job are alike. Subscribe (free) on Apple Podcasts, Google

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45:38

114: Global Public Health with George F. Gao

Meet the Microbiologist ·

2019/08/15

George F. Gao discusses how China CDC promotes global public health during outbreaks SARS and Ebola. He also talks about running a structural biology lab, the importance of both basic and translational research, and the most important discovery of the 20th century. Julie’s Biggest Takeaways: China CDC was founded in 2001. Its experience with the SARS outbreak informed its response to the western Africa Ebola outbreak in 2014-2016, having learned that viruses don’t care about national borders and can

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45:38

113: Bacteriophage Interactions in the Gut with...

Meet the Microbiologist ·

2019/08/03

Bacteriophage are viruses that infect specific bacteria. Jeremy Barr discusses his discovery that phage interact with (but don’t infect) mammalian epithelial cells. He explains how these different organisms: bacteria, bacteriophage, and the mammalian host, may exist in three-way symbioses. Subscribe (free) on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Android, RSS, or by email. Also available on the ASM Podcast Network app. Julie’s Biggest Takeaways Jeremy’s work as a postdoc focused on developing a

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41:24

112: A Career in Salmonella with Stanley Maloy

Meet the Microbiologist ·

2019/07/19

Stanley Maloy discusses his career in Salmonella research, which started with developing molecular tools and is now focused on the role of Salmonella genome plasticity in niche development. He further talks about his role in science entrepreneurship, science education, and working with an international research community. Julie’s Biggest Takeaways: Stanley’s career began when transposon mutagenesis was a new, cutting-edge technique, and he found the best way to learn how to apply a new method was to

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38:10

111: The Cheese Microbiome with Rachel Dutton

Meet the Microbiologist ·

2019/07/03

Cheese rinds contain microbial communities that are relatively simple to study in the lab while offering insight into other, more complex microbial ecosystems. Rachel Dutton discusses her work studying these cheese microbiomes, one of the few microbial ecosystem types where almost all of the microorganisms are culturable. Subscribe (free) on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Android, RSS, or by email. Also available on the ASM Podcast Network app. Julie’s Biggest Takeaways The cheese microbiome

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