We are a group of faculty and first year graduate students who are embarking on a travel expedition into the microbial world. Check this site for a description of what we learn and see along the journey. You can also follow us on Twitter! @ClassMicro
We welcome your constructive feedback!
Please Come Back and Degrade This for Me
When humans engineered synthetic polymers that were virtually impossible to break down, we thought we’d achieved a major victory over the pesky microbes that were shortening the shelf lives of our favorite products. But sometimes winning a fight leads to a whole host of unexpected consequences: in this case, an unmanaged plastic waste crisis threatening the health of humans and the planet we live on.
Fleaing the Plague
Vincent Racaniello, Elio Schaechter, Michele Swanson, and Michael Schmidt hosted episode 255 of the podcast “This Week in Microbiology” entitled "Fleaing the Plague.” During the episode, they discussed two papers published in late 2021. The first paper by Kehe et al.
Lavender and Catheters
In Episode 263 of the This Week in Microbiology Podcast, the hosts discussed the recent findings of two 2022 papers.
A Tick's Meal
On episode 258 of the podcast “This Week in Microbiology”, Vincent Racaniello, Elio Schaechter, Michele Swanson, and Michael Schmidt discussed two main topics focused on anti-genetic variation within dengue virus serotypes and how a novel mRNA vaccine could induce antibodies against tick proteins to prevent transmission of Lyme disease.
A Microbe You May Not Know
On this episode of the podcast “This Week in Microbiology” Vincent Racaniello, Elio Schaechter, Michele Swanson, and Michael Schmidt discussed the research paper from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) by Myles et al. titled “Therapeutic responses to Roseomonas mucosa in atopic dermatitis may involve lipid-mediated TNF-related epithelial repair” which discussed the skin microbiome and atopic dermatitis.
A Whiff of Taxonomy – The Apicomplexa by Moselio (Elio) Schaechter
Apicomplexa are a phylum of parasitic alveolates that get their name from the presence of the apical complex. The apical complex consists of many microtubules and secretory organelles, such as the micronemes and the rhoptries.
Turducken antibiotics
In the podcast “This Week in Microbiology” the hosts Vincent Racaniello and Michael Schmidt discussed a scientific paper on a novel synthetic dual drug called sideromycin that is used to combat Gram-negative bacteria.
Let’s Get Our Hands Dirty
The rise of antibiotic resistance constitutes a very real and growing global health threat. Between 2000 and 2020, only 24 new antibiotics were approved by the FDA, an alarming decrease from the 63 antibiotics approved in the preceding twenty years1. However, there is still hope for solutions to this crisis.
TWIM: Exosomes in your nose and in your gut
In the podcast “Exosomes in your nose and in your gut” in the series “This Week in Microbiology”, hosts Michael Schmidt, Michele Swanson, and Vincent Racaniello talk primarily about two recent articles (Schmidt et al., 2019). The first article focuses on the immune response in nasal epithelial cells to invading pathogens.
Circ du RNA
In the “Circ du RNA” episode of the podcast This Week in Virology, Racaniello and colleagues interview Patrick Moore on his investigation into circular RNAs (circRNA) made by Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and Kaposi’s sarcoma herpesvirus (KSHV). Specifically, they delineate functions of the viral circRNAs, how they are formed, and some potential applications in EBV- and KSHV-related cancer diagnostics.