Luis and Andrea return with a new episode of the AMR series. This time, they are joined by Dr. Nikunj Vyas, and they go over glycopeptides. Whether you are a microbiologist, provider or an ID pharmacist, you are familiar with vancomycin. What is the mechanism of action of glycopeptides? Is there intrinsic resistance? How does a difference in minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) affect treatment? Tune in to learn more. Questions? Feedback? Send those to [email protected] Want to support...
Nov 15, 2024•57 min•Season 4Ep. 163
Throwback to a great episode! Have you worked in a veterinary laboratory? What kind of training do you need? Are you able to work in one as an MLS? Have you thought about what a culture from a veterinary specimen might look like? How do you work those up? What about antimicrobials and guidelines? Kelli Maddock and Sarah Gefroh from the North Dakota State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory join the podcast to answer these questions. They are Medical Laboratory Scientists with experience ...
Nov 08, 2024•38 min•Season 4Ep. 162
One of the first episodes published and one of the most downloaded episodes. In it Luis goes over catalase and coagulase. What are biochemicals? How are they useful in the identification of bacteria? In this episode I start going over biochemicals: catalase and coagulase, two of the most commonly used biochemicals in Clinical Microbiology. Questions? Feedback? Send those to [email protected] Want to support the podcast? Here's how: Venmo: https://venmo.com/u/letstalkmicro Buy me a Ko-fi:...
Oct 24, 2024•24 min•Season 4Ep. 161
The first episode! Share it with students and peers, In it Luis talks about agar. What is agar? What do we use it for? Various types of agar are discussed like blood agar and MacConkey along with their uses. Questions? Feedback? Send those to [email protected] Want to support the podcast? Here's how: Venmo: https://venmo.com/u/letstalkmicro Buy me a Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/letstalkmicro...
Oct 17, 2024•22 min•Season 4Ep. 160
A microbicide for Neisseria gonorrhoeae ? In this episode Luis is joined by Dr. María Rendón from the University of Arizona. Dr. Rendón joins the podcast to talk about a novel microbicide that was developed which has activity against N. gonorrhoeae . How does it work? Does it affect commensal Neisseria ? What about methylation signatures? Tune in to learn more about this microbicide. Link to articles referenced in episode: http://microbialcell.com/researcharticles/2019a-so-microbial-cell/ https:...
Oct 10, 2024•25 min•Season 4Ep. 159
Are you familiar with the BioFire system? If you work in microbiology you probably are. How about a joint infections panel for this system? In this episode Dr. Angelica Moran and Jekzaly Arellano join the podcast to talk about a study they did evaluating this panel. Why are joint infections difficult to diagnose? Tune in to learn more. Link to article: https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/jcm.00182-24 Questions? Feedback? Send those to [email protected] Want to support the podcast? Here'...
Oct 03, 2024•24 min•Season 4Ep. 158
This week Luis continues going over gram-positive rods: this time Lactobacillus . What is the morphology of Lactobacillus ? Biochemicals? Which species are typically seen in humans? Is it pathogenic or normal flora? What about susceptibilities? All great questions. Tune in to find out about this genera. Questions? Feedback? Send those to [email protected] Want to support the podcast? Here's how: Venmo: https://venmo.com/u/letstalkmicro Buy me a Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/letstalkmicro...
Sep 26, 2024•24 min•Season 4Ep. 157
If you work with MALDI-TOF MS and you read urine cultures, you probably have seen this organism : Actinotignum schaalii . Is this organism significant? What is the gram stain? Biochemicals? Other questions come up such as we do report it? Do we perform susceptibilities ? Tune in to learn about this emerging pathogen and get answers to all these questions. Questions? Feedback? Send those to [email protected] Want to support the podcast? Here's how: Venmo: https://venmo.com/u/letstalkmicro...
Sep 19, 2024•26 min•Season 4Ep. 156
Those of you that work in the laboratory as Medical Laboratory Scientists know that you need to be certified. How can you get certified in microbiology? Even if you haven't completed a Medical Laboratory Sciences program, is there a way to get certified? In this episode Dr. Amanda Harrington joins Luis to answer questions regarding certification in Microbiology from the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP), including information about the Specialist in Microbiology Certification. Link ...
Sep 12, 2024•42 min•Season 4Ep. 155
Dr. Rodney Rohde returns to the podcast! This time he joins Luis to talk about dengue. You might hear reports about increases in cases in some areas, so it was a good time to talk about it. What is dengue? What type of virus it is? Vectors? Prevention? Is there a vaccine? Tune in to learn more about this virus. Link to Dr. Rohde's dengue article: https://asm.org/articles/2024/august/dengue-is-spreading-is-warmer-weather-to-blame More information about dengue: https://www.cdc.gov/dengue/index.htm...
Sep 05, 2024•59 min•Season 4Ep. 154
If you work in a clinical microbiology laboratory, you might have worked with bone and joint samples. In this episode we dive deeper into bone and joint infections. Luis is joined by Dr. Joan Gomez-Junyent, an Infectious Diseases physician at Hospital Del Mar in Barcelona, Spain. Dr. Gomez goes over different types of infections. What organisms are typically seen? Is there a typical treatment of choice? How about antimicrobial resistance? Tune in to hear Dr. Gomez go over these questions and mor...
Aug 29, 2024•38 min•Season 4Ep. 153
Season 4 is here! Tune in for the first episode. Luis talks to Dr. Paul Hergenrother about lolamicin. Dr. Hergenrother is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Illinois in Urnaba-Champaign. He was previously a guest in the podcast (fabimycin episode) and this time he returns to talk about another potential antibiotic candidate: lolamicin. What is lolamicin? What is the mechanism of action? What organisms does it have activity against? Does it affect the gut microbiota? Link to Dr. Hergen...
Aug 22, 2024•27 min•Season 4Ep. 152
Originally published in May 26, 2022, in this episode Luis continues going over beta hemolytic strep: this time Streptococcus anginosus group. What are the species that comprise this group? What is the Lancefield group? What about biochemicals and morphology? Have you heard of Streptococcus pseudoporcinus ? Tune in to find out. Questions? Feedback? Send those to [email protected] Want to support the podcast? Here's how: Venmo: https://venmo.com/u/letstalkmicro Buy me a Ko-fi: https://ko-...
Aug 15, 2024•21 min
Originally published in November 30 2023, in this episode, Dr. Pei Zhou from the Duke University School of Medicine joins the podcast and talks to Luis 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 letsta...
Aug 01, 2024•18 min
Originally published on October 13, 2022, in this episode Luis talks to Dr. Paul Hergenrother from the University of Illinois. Dr. Hergenrother talks about Fabimycin, an antibiotic candidate for gram negative bacteria. What is Fabimycin's mechanism of action? To which bacteria does it show activity against? Any intrinsic resistance? Tune in to find out. Link to article: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acscentsci.2c00598 Questions? Feedback? Send those to [email protected] Want to suppor...
Jul 25, 2024•21 min
A great way to end season 3! In this episode Dr. Cullen Lilley talks to Luis about his textbook : A Concise Review of Clinical Microbiology . Dr. Lilley is a pathology resident, with a Microbiology background, and a Let's Talk Micro listener! Tune in to learn about what is in this microbiology textbook, what is Ace my Path, what are the roles of a pathologist and more. Link to Ace My Path: https://www.acemypath.com Link to textbook: https://a.co/d/gGDiZ8Z Questions? Feedback? Send those to letst...
Jul 18, 2024•33 min•Season 3Ep. 151
In the laboratory we routinely use molecular testing to identify organisms in blood cultures. We also incubate body fluids in blood culture bottles. What if we could use those same tests to identify organisms from body fluids? In this episode Christina Cox and Joel Mortensen join the podcast to talk about this. They performed a study where they used the cobas® eplex system (GenMark) to identify organisms recovered from sterile body fluid cultures. Tune in to hear about the results and the applic...
Jul 11, 2024•38 min•Season 3Ep. 150
Throwback Thurdsday! This week shows an episode originally released in 2022 where Luis talks to Andrea Prinzi about respiratory cultures. What are the types of respiratory cultures? What are the pathogens? What is the significance of yeast in respiratory cultures? Sputum rejection? Tune in to this episode to learn more about these cultures. Link to article about sputum rejection that Dr. Prinzi mentions in the episode: https://journals.asm.org/doi/pdf/10.1128/jcm.16.4.627-631.1982 Questions? Fee...
Jul 04, 2024•42 min
In this episode Luis is joined by Dr. Crystal Icenhour to talk about the microbiome, more specifically, the human microbiome. What organisms typically make up the microbiome? Do they change between areas of the body? What are some applications for the microbiome? Tune in for another great episode. Questions? Feedback? Send those to [email protected] Want to support the podcast? Here's how: Venmo: https://venmo.com/u/letstalkmicro Buy me a Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/letstalkmicro...
Jun 27, 2024•38 min•Season 3Ep. 149
ASM Microbe 2024 took place in Atlanta Georgia from June 13-17. Check out this bonus episode where Luis discusses his two events, favorite posters, and more. Questions? Feedback? Send those to [email protected] Want to support the podcast? Here's how: Venmo: https://venmo.com/u/letstalkmicro Buy me a Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/letstalkmicro...
Jun 25, 2024•30 min•Season 3Ep. 148
Research in MLS? In this episode Grace Leu-Burke, director of the Medical Laboratory Sciences (MLS) program at the University of Alaska in Anchorage, returns to the podcast. She talks to Luis about the research program the MLS students are involved in. They culture scat from moose, bears, and geese, perform identification and susceptibility testing, and more. What kind of antimicrobial resistance is found in this sample population? Tune in to learn more about this research. Link to JAM meeting r...
Jun 20, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Season 3Ep. 147
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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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
