In this episode Luis talks to Dr. Madeline Barron about urinary tract infections (UTIs). Clinical Microbiologists work closely with urine cultures and recover many organisms and perform susceptibility testing. However some questions come to mind. What causes a UTI ? What organisms are typically seen in UTIs? Any treatment options other than antimicrobials? Tune in to find out. Madeline Barron's article: https://asm.org/articles/2024/may/why-urinary-tract-infections-uti-recur Questions? Feedback?...
Jun 13, 2024•25 min•Season 3Ep. 146
Luis and Andrea are back to talk AMR! This time they are joined by Dr. Alyssa Walker to go over polymyxins . As usual they go over important questions such as mechanism of action, intrinsic resistance, applying the interpretation of one drug to another, and more. What media used in the laboratory has colistin in it? Don't miss another great episode. Questions? Feedback? Send those to letstalkmicro@outlook.com Want to support the podcast? Here's how: Venmo: https://venmo.com/u/letstalkmicro Buy m...
Jun 06, 2024•42 min•Season 3Ep. 145
Regresa la serie en Español. Luis y Maridaliz discuten la tinción de gram. Cómo se prepara la laminilla? Cúales son los reactivos y el proceso? Qué diferencia hay entre bacterias gran-positiva y gram-negativa? Sintonizen a este episodio para aprender sobre una de las pruebas mas importantes en Microbiología Clínica. Preguntas? Comentarios? Envíen un correo electrónico a letstalkmicro@outlook.com Desean apoyar al podcast? Pueden hacerlo de la siguiente forma: Venmo: https://venmo.com/u/letstalkmi...
Jun 04, 2024•43 min•Season 3Ep. 144
Have you been in a job or career that you feel is not a good fit for you? Perhaps you want to try something different but do not know how to get there? Sometimes you might be dreading going to work or just feel unhappy. In this episode Luis talks to Dr. Duane Newton. Duane is a microbiologist with extensive training and at one point in his career he describes feeling "miserable". What did he do to change that? Tune in to this episode to listen to how Duane navigated his path to find himself in a...
May 30, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Season 3Ep. 143
In this episode Luis talks to Grace Leu-Burke, Program Director and professor at the University of Alaska in Anchorage (UAA) Medical Laboratory Sciences Program. She joins the podcast to talk about her career and talks about the MLS program at UAA. She goes over the Microbiology curriculum, the importance of biochemical testing, and more. She also talks about the research that her students are conducting involving moose and stool samples. Link to UAA MLS program: https://www.uaa.alaska.edu/acade...
May 23, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Season 3Ep. 142
As a microbiologist, you might have worked on a project or validation that involved organisms from the AR Isolate Bank. You might have asked where they came from and you were told that they were obtained from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). What is the Antimicrobial Resistance Isolate Bank (AR Bank)? What organisms are part of this bank? What are they used for? In this episode Luis is joined by two guests from the CDC to answer these questions and more. Links to the AR Isola...
May 16, 2024•37 min•Season 3Ep. 141
The next episode of the AMR series is here! Luis and Andrea are joined by Dr. Brandon Hill to talk about the Tetracyclines. What is the mechanism of action of this antimicrobial group? What drugs are part of it? Is there any intrinsic resistance? Tune in for another great episode where we "break down" antimicrobials. Questions? Feedback? Send those to letstalkmicro@outlook.com Want to support the podcast? Here's how: Venmo: https://venmo.com/u/letstalkmicro Buy me a Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/lets...
May 09, 2024•51 min•Season 3Ep. 140
Originally released as episode 76, in this episode Luis continues going over Bacillus . Now that we know its groups and what diseases they are implicated on, it's time to talk about media and morphology. What do the colonies look like? What is MYP agar? PEMBA? Tune in to find out. Questions? Feedback? Send those to letstalkmicro@outlook.com Want to support the podcast? Here's how: Venmo: https://venmo.com/u/letstalkmicro Buy me a Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/letstalkmicro...
May 02, 2024•26 min•Season 3Ep. 139
Originally released as episode 75, in this episode Luis talks about Bacillus and related genera. What are the species that are part of this genus? Which species cause food poisoning? What about endophthalmitis? What are spores? Tune in to find out. Questions? Feedback? Send those to letstalkmicro@outlook.com Want to support the podcast? Here's how: Venmo: https://venmo.com/u/letstalkmicro Buy me a Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/letstalkmicro...
Apr 25, 2024•26 min•Season 3Ep. 138
In this episode Luis continues going over Corynebacterium . In the last episode he mentioned some media that is used to isolate Corynebacterium diphtheriae . Have you heard of cystine tellurite agar? How about Tinsdale agar? What type of testing is there for the diphtheria toxin?What test systems can identify C. diphtheriae ? Tune in to learn more about this organism and how this media works. Questions? Feedback? Send those to letstalkmicro@outlook.com Want to support the podcast? Here's how: Ve...
Apr 18, 2024•25 min•Season 3Ep. 137
Back to the gram-positive rods! This week Luis goes back to gram-positive rods: Corynebacterium this time. The episode starts with an overview: gram stain, biochemicals, morphology, and species. What do you know about Corynebacterium diphtheriae ? Does it always cause diphtheria? What is a pseudomembrane? Tune in and download this episode to learn about this genus that has some species commonly seen in the laboratory. Questions? Feedback? Send those to letstalkmicro@outlook.com Want to support t...
Apr 11, 2024•26 min•Season 3Ep. 136
What is antimicrobial stewardship ? What is a hospital antibiogram? In this episode Dr. Timothy Gauthier joins the podcast and talks to Luis about antimicrobial stewardship. Dr. Gauthier is a pharmacist and creator of the IDstewardship.com and Learnantibiotics.com websites. He is also the author of a book titled Learn Antibiotics. Luis asks him about what antibiotics are used to treat certain organisms. Don't miss this great episode. Timothy Gauthier's information: X: @IDstwerdship Websites: IDs...
Apr 04, 2024•56 min•Season 3Ep. 135
What is the Doctor in Public Health (DrPH) degree? What kind of work does it prepare you to do? What concentrations does this degree has? In this episode Luis talks to Dr. Jill Roberts, an associate professor at the University of South Florida (USF). Dr. Roberts is the director of the DrPH with a concentration in Public Health and Clinical Laboratory Science and Practice degree program at USF. What are the prerequisites for this degree? What are the career options? Are you able to pursue this de...
Mar 28, 2024•30 min•Season 3Ep. 134
Microbiology in high school ? Must people take biology in high school, but microbiology is not typically an option. Those of you that are microbiology lovers, would you have taken it had there been an option? Well, check out this episode where Meredith Townsend, a high school teacher joins the podcast to talk to Luis about teaching microbiology to her students. She talks about the curriculum, grading, how does it help the students, and more. Want to reach out to Meredith Townsend? See below: mer...
Mar 21, 2024•56 min•Season 3Ep. 133
In this episode Luis continues going over Listeria : testing and media. First he goes over two test systems that can detect Listeria in blood, and then he goes over media. Have you heard of Oxford or Palcalm agar? How about chromogenic agar for Listeria ? Tune in to continue learning about this critical organism. Questions? Feedback? Email those to letstalkmicro@outlook.com
Mar 14, 2024•24 min•Season 3Ep. 132
Luis is talking micro in this episode. We continue our journey over gram-positive rods. This time is about Listeria . What are the virulence factors of Listeria ? What is its morphology? Biochemicals? Tune in to learn about this critical organism, its resemblance to another pathogen, ways of identifying it, atypical presentations, and more. Questions? Feedback? Send those to letstalkmicro@outlook.com
Mar 08, 2024•26 min•Season 3Ep. 131
You requested it and it is here! Dr. Kristen Smith joins the podcast to talk about the American Board of Medical Microbiology (ABMM) certification. What is the ABMM certification? How does it help you professionally ? What are the requirements? CPEP fellowship? Tune in to listen to Dr. Smith answer these questions and more. Link to American Society for Microbiology ABMM information: https://asm.org/certifications/american-board-of-medical-microbiology-abmm Link to ClinMicroNow: https://www.clinm...
Mar 01, 2024•31 min•Season 3Ep. 130
Are you familiar with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Antimicrobial Laboratory Network( AR Lab Network)? How about the ThermoFisher Sensititre? In this episode, Amelia Bhatnagar from the CDC joins the podcast to talk about a study that was performed to evaluate the Sensititre GN7F panel. She discusses the study and explains to the listeners what the AR Lab Network is. Tune in to learn more about this study, the AR Lab network, and the importance of evaluating the performance ...
Feb 23, 2024•52 min•Season 3Ep. 129
The next episode of the AMR series is here! In this episode Luis and Andrea are joined by Dr. Patrick McDaneld to discuss aminoglycosides. We go over mechanism of action, what drugs are part of this class, what organisms does it have activity against, and more. We invite you to check the CLSI M100 and get familiarized with it. Questions? Suggestions? Email those at letstalkmicro@outlook.com
Feb 16, 2024•35 min•Season 3Ep. 128
The field of Microbiology continues to change. Organisms were primarily identified in the clinical laboratory by biochemical testing. Then MALDI-TOF came to the lab and was incorporated to the workflow. Now labs are bringing next-generation sequencing (NGS). What is NGS? How does it work? Have you heard of Nanopore technologies? In this episode Dr. Jose Alexander and Daniel Navas from Advent Health Orlando, join the podcast to talk about NGS. They brought it to their laboratory and discuss the w...
Feb 09, 2024•50 min•Season 3Ep. 127
Have you heard about Variovorax durovernensis ? The field of Microbiology is one that continues to change, sometimes at a fast pace. With MALDI-TOF and whole genome sequencing making rapid advances, we now learn more of existing organisms and discover novel ones. Tune in to learn about how this novel species was discovered, including the testing performed and the reason behind its name. Link to article: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590170223001152 Questions or feedback? Se...
Feb 02, 2024•30 min•Season 3Ep. 126
Are you familiar with the Manual of Clinical Microbiology (MCM)? If you work in a clinical microbiology laboratory you might be familiar with it. Last year the 13th edition was released. What content is in the MCM? Where is the information obtained from? What is new in this edition? Is it available online? Dr. Karen Carroll, one of the editors-in chief joins the podcast to discuss this important resource. Link to ClinMicroNow : https://www.clinmicronow.org Feedback? Suggestions? Please email tho...
Jan 26, 2024•42 min•Season 3Ep. 125
It is 2024. Is your laboratory using current breakpoints? Are you familiar with the requirements? This episode features a collaboration with Breakpoints: The SIDP Podcast. In it I join the podcast along with two other guests to talk about those requirements among other things. Check out the Breakpoints podcast: https://sidp.pinecast.co More information on breakpoints toolkit: https://clsi.org/meetings/ast/breakpoints-in-use-toolkit/...
Jan 19, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Season 3Ep. 124
Originally published as episodes 36 and 37, in this episode I go over Streptococcus agalactiae . I discuss morphology, biochemicals, and testing among other things. What is the Lancefield group of this organism? What is the significance of this organism in neonates? Any organisms that morphologically resemble it? Tune in to find out.
Jan 12, 2024•36 min•Season 3Ep. 123
Originally released as episode 53, in this episode I go over Enterococcus species. What are the most clinically significant species of Enterococcus ? Morphology? Biochemicals? Tune in to find out more about these organisms, and why are they so significant in healthcare settings.
Jan 05, 2024•23 min•Season 3Ep. 122
Originally released as episode 58, in this episode I continue going over S. pneumoniae . This time I go over a popular antigen test. I also discuss molecular testing, including limitations and the importance of correlating the gram stain with the result. Also, have you heard of Streptococcus pseudopneumoniae ?
Dec 29, 2023•23 min•Season 3Ep. 121
The AMR sub-series is back! Dr. Minkey Wungwattana joins Luis and Andrea in the podcast to talk about fluoroquinolones. What is the mechanism of action of this class of antimicrobials? What organisms do they have activity against? What about breakpoints for Salmonella ? Tune in to find out. Link to breakpoints episode that Andrea mentioned: https://rss.com/podcasts/letstalkmicro/475955/
Dec 22, 2023•57 min•Season 3Ep. 120
This episode was originally published as episode 57. In it I go over Streptococcus pneumoniae : gram stain, morphology, diseases, and more. What is optochin? What is the bile solubility test? Tune in to find out.
Dec 15, 2023•23 min•Season 3Ep. 119
This episode features a conversation with Lisa Parlich, an Infection Preventionist, with a background in Medical Laboratory Sciences. Lisa joins the podcast to talk about an order for urinalysis that was implemented in her hospital. This order is the Urinalysis with Hold order panel. Those of you that work in the laboratory might be familiar with the Urinalysis with reflex to culture order, where if an urinalysis meets the positive criteria for a culture, an order for an urine culture is reflexe...
Dec 08, 2023•38 min•Season 3Ep. 118
In this episode, Dr. Pei Zhou from the Duke University School of Medicine joins the podcast to talk about LPC-233. This is a compound that shows bactericidal activity against some gram-negative rods. LPC-233 is an LpxC inhibitor. What is LpxC? How does LPC-233 works? What are some challenges of developing LpxC inhibitors? Tune in to find out. Link to article: https://doi.org/10.1126/scitranslmed.adf5668 Questions? Feedback? Send those to letstalkmicro@outlook.com Want to support the podcast? Her...
Dec 01, 2023•18 min•Season 3Ep. 117
