Bacteriophages (“phages”), or bacterial viruses, are the most abundant biological entity on the planet, and the microbial world is shaped by these predators and parasites. The ability of bacteriophages to specifically target and kill their prey is being explored as an alternate therapy to antibiotics against various bacterial diseases. Dr. Graham Hatfull is a professor at the University of Pittsburgh who studies Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis, and the phages that...
Aug 19, 2019•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 55
Frequent urges to go “number one” can be the symptom of a urinary tract infection (UTI), one of the most common types of bacterial infections in humans. Usually the treatment of UTIs is quick and effective, but sometimes the organisms causing the infection can get into the kidneys and cause serious and even fatal disease. Dr. Harry Mobley is a professor at the University of Michigan who studies UTIs caused by Escherichia coli and Proteus mirabilis . Mobley talks about the mystery of why some peo...
Aug 05, 2019•44 min•Ep. 54
Summer brings warm beach weather, and with it come gruesome news reports of “flesh eating disease” that people catch from the ocean. Vibrio vulnificus is a marine bacterium that prefers warmer seawater, and it can infect wounds and cause necrotizing fasciitis, also known as “flesh eating disease”, that can rapidly turn into a fatal infection. Dr. Karla Satchell is a professor at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University who studies the toxins made by V. vulnificus and other Vibr...
Jul 22, 2019•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 53
One of the more gruesome parasitic infections is that of the guinea worm: these 3 feet long worms typically emerge from painful boils in the feet to release eggs, and have to be slowly wound onto a stick over the course of days to weeks to pull them them out of the infected person’s leg. This debilitating infection afflicted 3.5 million people per year in 1986, when the Carter Center (founded by President Jimmy Carter) took the lead in the effort to eradicate guinea worm disease. Through concent...
Jul 11, 2019•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 52
The earth is warming up, and many aspects of life on earth are changing with the changing climate. Increased global temperature has multifactorial impacts on living organisms, including microbes. Dr. Sanghoon Kang is an assistant professor at Baylor University who studies climate change and its effects on microbial communities. Dr. Kang talks about impacts of climate change on infectious diseases, how increased ocean temperatures lead to increased human infections and destruction of corals, how ...
May 17, 2019•52 min•Ep. 51
Candida albicans is the most common fungal infection of humans. C. albicans can cause superficial infections like thrush or vaginitis when it overgrows within healthy individuals, but it causes much more serious disease when it infects immunocompromised individuals. C. albicans can form a matrix-encased biofilm on indwelling medical devices that serves as a source to seed systemic infections in patients. Dr. David Andes is a professor at the University of Wisconsin and also the chief of Division...
Apr 24, 2019•47 min•Ep. 50
Chlamydia trachomatis is the most common sexually transmitted bacterial disease in the U.S. Chlamydia infections in women can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease, and in the worst cases ectopic pregnancy or sterility. C. trachomatis are obligate intracellular bacteria, which has made studying the genetics of virulence particularly difficult. Dr. Mary Weber is an assistant professor at the University of Iowa who studies C. trachomatis. Dr. Weber talks about some of the difficulties studying this ...
Mar 28, 2019•55 min•Ep. 49
Vibrio cholerae causes a severe gastrointestinal illness that leads to massive fluid loss that can be fatal. These bacteria are normally found in the marine environment, but they can spread rapidly through human populations and cause large epidemics. V. cholerae are able to coordinate their activities by “talking” to each other through quorum sensing, and to eradicate competitors through a harpoon-like appendage that stabs and kills other bacteria. Dr. Brian Hammer is an associate professor at G...
Mar 07, 2019•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 48
Proteus mirabilis is a common cause of Urinary Tract Infections. These bacteria are found within the gastrointestinal tract, but they are sometimes able to ascend the urinary tract and cause bladder infections. One of the amazing attributes of Proteus is its ability to crawl across Petri dishes, referred to as swarming. Dr. Karine Gibbs is an associate professor at Harvard University who studies Proteus mirabilis and its ability to cause urinary tract infections. Dr. Gibbs talks about how the ba...
Feb 20, 2019•54 min•Ep. 47
Dr. Jeff Miller has been studying Bordetella pertussis, the bacterium that causes whooping cough in humans, for over three decades, and he keeps uncovering novel aspects of the pathogenesis of this organism. B. pertussis still causes outbreaks of human disease, and Dr. Miller has unraveled in amazing detail the signal transduction system that leads to whooping cough. Dr. Miller is a professor at the University of California Los Angeles, the director of the California NanoSystems Institute, past-...
Feb 08, 2019•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 46
The devastation of the immune system that occurs during AIDS renders patients highly susceptible to a number of infections that a functioning immune system can easily control. One of the most common infections in AIDS patients is Cryptococcosis, caused by a fungus. Cryptococcus neoformans can infect immunocompromised individuals through the lungs and cause a potentially fatal meningitis. Dr. Paul de Figueiredo is an associate professor at Texas A&M University. His research focuses on the int...
Jan 16, 2019•46 min•Ep. 45
Dr. Didier Raoult considers himself a “microbe fisher”, always “fishing” to discover new microbes. He says that in order to fish successfully, you need to first create the correct fishing pole (tools), and then fish in places where no one else is fishing. Dr. Raoult is the Director of the Mediterranean Infection Foundation at the Aix-Marseille University, France, and he has “caught” a number of unique microbes over the course of his career, including giant viruses. He’s also “caught” a number of...
Jan 03, 2019•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 44
Dr. Kat Milligan-Myhre was raised in a remote Alaska Native community above the Arctic Circle, and was the first person from her village to obtain a PhD. in biological sciences. She is now a faculty member at the University of Alaska-Anchorage. Her research focuses on determining the extent that host genes control host-microbe interactions, utilizing the stickleback fish. Dr. Milligan-Myhre talks about the difficulty of maintaining her Native Alaskan cultural identity during her time in the “low...
Dec 18, 2018•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 43
There are increasing numbers of people with immunocompromised conditions that make them more susceptible to a variety of diseases, including fungal diseases. A group of fungi in the order Mucorales can cause a potentially fatal disease called Mucormycosis in immunocompromised and diabetic individuals. This is a rare disease that is difficult to treat and that has a very high fatality rate. Dr. Ashraf Ibrahim is a professor at the University of California Los Angeles and an expert on Mucormycosis...
Dec 03, 2018•47 min•Ep. 42
Many organisms metamorphose from a larvae into an adult, for example a caterpillar metamorphosing into a butterfly, but some animals require bacteria in order to undergo this transition. This amazing bacterial-stimulated morphological transition is fairly widespread among different marine animals, like sponges, corals, and sea urchins, but in most cases it is not understood. Dr. Nick Shikuma is an Assistant Professor at San Diego State University who studies the interaction of the bacterium Pseu...
Nov 05, 2018•53 min•Ep. 41
Cholera is a severe diarrheal disease caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae that can spread among human populations in large epidemics when water quality is poor. Dr. Christine Marie George is an Associate Professor in the department of International Health and Environmental Health Engineering at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health who works to improve health in developing countries, including Bangladesh and the Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as in Native American communities in the U...
Oct 24, 2018•48 min•Ep. 40
The malaria parasite, Plasmodium, is transmitted to people through mosquito bites. The parasite needs to infect humans to undergo the morphologic transitions important for its lifecycle, but it also needs to infect mosquitoes to be able to complete its lifecycle. Dr. Gunnar Mair is an Assistant Professor at Iowa State University who studies mosquito-borne transmission of malaria. Dr. Mair talks about why breaking the transmission cycle by focusing on mosquitoes will help reduce global malaria, h...
Oct 08, 2018•1 hr•Ep. 39
Bacteria talk to each other using molecules that allow them to coordinate group behaviors, which has been termed “quorum sensing”. A number of bacteria utilize quorum sensing to form gangs that coordinate beneficial behaviors such as symbiotic light production, as well as detrimental behaviors such as attacking their host. Dr. Marvin Whiteley is a Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology who studies bacterial chatter. He has developed some innovative means to investigate bacterial chitch...
Sep 25, 2018•59 min•Ep. 38
The magnificent coral reefs of the world are dying! These fantastic underwater living structures that support entire ecosystems are undergoing massive die-offs that have decimated coral reefs all over the globe. Tropical coral reefs rely on a symbiosis between the coral polyp and a photosynthetic algae, and when this symbiosis is disrupted, the coral reef undergoes “bleaching” and ultimately dies. Dr. Rebecca Vega-Thurber is an Associate Professor at Oregon State University who has devoted her r...
Sep 10, 2018•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 37
Earth’s most abundant biological entities are viruses, and they can be found everywhere where there are living organisms, including extreme (hellish) environments with e.g. low pH, high temperature, etc. Dr. Ken Stedman is a professor at Portland State University and one of the founders of the Center for Life in Extreme Environments. Dr. Stedman studies viruses from hellish environments like acidic boiling hot springs at Lassen Volcanic National Park. Dr. Stedman talks about how studying viruses...
Aug 29, 2018•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 36
Dr. Steve Mayfield is a professor at the University of California San Diego and the Director of the California Center for Algae Biotechnology. Algae are amazing microorganisms, and Dr. Mayfield says that the more you know about algae, the more you like them. Algae are extremely important to life on earth: they changed the atmosphere of the planet to contain oxygen and allow everything else to live here, they still do the bulk of photosynthesis on earth, converting sunlight and CO2 into biologica...
Aug 14, 2018•59 min•Ep. 35
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is on the front lines of the war against infectious diseases, and Anne Schuchat, M.D. has been the Deputy Director of CDC since 2015. She has been at the CDC since 1988 and has served in a variety of leadership roles, including stints as the acting director in 2017 and 2018. Dr. Schuchat has played key roles in a number of emergency responses by the CDC, including the bioterrorist attacks in 2001, the SARS outbreak in 2003, and the H1N1 outbreak in ...
Jul 31, 2018•50 min•Ep. 34
Kevin Doxzen is a science communications specialist at the Innovative Genomics Institute in Berkeley, CA, associated with Dr. Jennifer Doudna. The Institute specializes in gene editing using CRISPR/Cas. The CRISPR/Cas system evolved as a bacterial defense against virus attack, but it has been exploited primarily to manipulate the genomes of eukaryotes. CRISPR/Cas has already revolutionized gene editing, and has led to the creation of a large number of modified animals, which has led to ethical q...
Jul 13, 2018•52 min•Ep. 33
Puerto Rico suffered a direct hit from the devastating hurricane Maria in September 2017, which destroyed the power grid and caused mass destruction across the island. Recovery has been slow, and Puerto Rican scientists have suffered from the after-effects in their research activities. Dr. Greetchen Diaz is the Director of Educational Programs at Ciencia Puerto Rico, Dr. Bejamin Bolaños is a professor of mycology at the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine, Marcos Ramos Benitez is a Ph.D...
Jul 02, 2018•55 min•Ep. 32
Julie Maresca is an associate professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Delaware. Concrete is the most commonly used building material in the world, and is a very unique dry, high pH environment with special chemical properties. Amazingly, there are microbial communities that live within concrete. Dr. Maresca talks about these trapped communities of microbes, whether they are dormant or growing, whether microbes could be added to make concrete stronger, how some bacte...
Jun 19, 2018•47 min•Ep. 31
Carol Kumamoto is a professor of microbiology at Tufts University. She studies Candida albicans, the most common fungal pathogen of humans. C. albicans is a normal commensal of the human body, and it typically does not cause any harm to people, but rather lives happily among the other microbes e.g. within the intestine. However when the host becomes immunocompromised, C. albicans will invade tissues and cause a life-threatening infection. Dr. Kumamoto talks about how C. albicans’ interactions wi...
May 30, 2018•45 min•Ep. 30
Cherise Rohr-Allegrini is the program director at the Immunization Partnership, whose goal is to improve vaccination rates in San Antonio and across Texas. Every year millions of people suffer and die from vaccine-preventable diseases. The Immunization Partnership strives to increase vaccination rates through education and advocacy. Dr. Rohr-Allegrini talks about how the success of vaccines has ironically contributed to the rise of the anti-vax movement, how the way scientists talk about vaccine...
May 21, 2018•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 29
Ned Ruby is a professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa who pioneered the study of a fascinating bacterial-squid symbiosis. The bacterium Vibrio fischeri colonizes the light organ of the squid Euprymna scolopes and produces light, which helps the squid avoid predation and provides the bacteria a protected place to thrive. Over the course of several decades, Dr. Ruby, along with Dr. Margaret McFall-Ngai, have illuminated the complex and elegant interactions between the bacteria and the squid...
May 08, 2018•53 min•Ep. 28
Sarkis Mazmanian is a professor at California Institute of Technology who studies how the gut microbiome influences the development and function of the nervous system, the “Gut-Brain Axis”. Dr. Mazmanian has discovered that the microbiome influences the development of Parkinson’s Disease (PD), a neurodegenerative disease caused by the loss of dopamine-producing cells in the brain that affects motor function. Dr. Mazmanian talks about the evidence that the gut microbiome influences PD, implicatio...
Apr 23, 2018•1 hr 7 min
Students at Southside High School (San Antonio) sent a microbiology experiment up to the International Space Station (ISS). The experiment was designed to look at growth and spore forming ability of the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in microgravity. B. dendrobatidis causes chytridiomycosis, a devastating disease that has been decimating amphibian populations around the globe. High school students Lydia, Neco, and Carlos were concerned about the health of frogs and salamanders, and wanted...
Apr 09, 2018•52 min•Ep. 26
