This Week in Microbiology
This Week in Microbiology is a podcast about unseen life on Earth hosted by Vincent Racaniello and friends. Following in the path of his successful shows 'This Week in Virology' (TWiV) and 'This Week in Parasitism' (TWiP), Racaniello and guests produce an informal yet informative conversation about microbes which is accessible to everyone, no matter what their science background.
- Update frequency
- every 15 days
- Average duration
- 63 minutes
- Episodes
- 341
- Years Active
- 2011 - 2025
TWiM #101: The MRSA in your home
Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Elio Schaechter and Michele Swanson.
The TWiMers discuss how aroma helps disperse yeast cells on insect vectors, and evidence that MRSA is transmitted wit…
TWiM #100: Omnis cellula e cellula
Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Elio Schaechter and Jo Handelsman.
The TWiM team celebrates 100 episodes with a Talmudic question, and discussion of how a single mutation alters bacteri…
TWiM #99: Careers in Biodefense
Hosts: Vincent Racaniello
Guests: Maria Julia Marinissen, Edward H. You, and David R. Howell
Vincent meets up with Maria, Edward, and David at the ASM Biodefense and Emerging Infections Research meet…
TWiM #98: Bacteria and eukaryotes get horizontal
The TWiM crew ponders the question of how a bacterium finds its middle when dividing, then divulge the transfer of interbacterial antagonism genes to eukaryotes, where they may function in innate d…
TWiM #97: There’s gold in them hills
The TWiM team reveal how bacteria in a shipworm’s gills help digest wood in the gut, and an approach that identifies a new antibiotic from the soil.
Links for this episode:
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Gill bacteria enable…
TWiM #96: A lean, mean sequencing machine
Hosts: Vincent Racaniello.
Special guest: Rob Knight
Vincent meets up with Rob Knight to talk about the technology that has fueled his drive to sequence the Earth and its inhabitants.
Check out the M…
TWiM #95: A microbe lover in San Diego
Hosts: Vincent Racaniello.
Special guest: Stanley Maloy
Vincent meets up with Stan Maloy on the campus of San Diego State University to talk about his career in microbiology and his work as Dean of S…
TWiM #94: Nitrochondria
Vincent, Elio, and Michael discuss a symbiosis between a nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria and a single-celled eukaryotic alga.
Links for this episode:
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Unicellular cyanobacterium and alga symbiosis…
TWiM #93: Worming in on bacteria
Vincent, Elio, and Michael reveal that a soil-dwelling nematode can recognize and respond to a bacterial quorum sensing molecule through a sensory neuron.
TWiM #92: Flying biofilms
Vincent, Elio, Michael and Michele discuss the possible eradication of wild poliovirus type 3, and how microsporidian parasites prevent locust swarming behavior.
TWiM #91: Rats, viruses, and bacteria
Vincent, Elio, and Michele review a study of the viruses and bacteria in commensal rats in New York City.
Visit microbeworld.org/twim for complete show notes. Thanks for listening!
TWiM #90: Think globally, act locally
Vincent meets up with Laurene and David at the Annual Meeting of the Southern California Branch of the American Society for Microbiology, where they discuss how the Los Angeles County Department of…
TWiM #89: Microbial handoffs
Vincent, Michele, and Michael discuss how a gene from bacteria protects a tick from plant cyanide poisoning, and enhanced transmission of Streptococcus pneumoniae by influenza virus co-infection in m…
TWiM #88: A century of excellence in microbiology
Michele speaks with members of the Department of Bacteriology at the University of Wisconsin - Madison, on the occasion of its designation as a Milestones in Microbiology site, where they discuss how…
TWiM #87: Avogadro, archaeal fossils, and ICAAC
Vincent, Elio, and Michael explore the fossilization of archaeal lipids, and highlight the recent ICAAC in Washington, D.C.
TWiM #86: Blurring the line between organelle and endosymbiont
Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Elio Schaechter and Michele Swanson.
Vincent, Elio, Michael, and Michele consider whether our eating behavior is manipulated by gastrointestinal microbiot…
TWiM #85: Oscillation in the ocean and a Verona integron
Vincent, Elio, Michael, and Michele discuss the diel transcriptional rythmns of bacterioplankton communities in the ocean, and extensively drug resistant Pseudomonas in Ohio.
TWiM #84: Microbiology Down Under
In Melbourne, Australia Vincent speaks with David, Melanie, and Adam about their work on group A Streptococcus, Helicobacter pylori, and infections of Koalas with Chlamydia.
TWiM #83: Illuminating tuberculosis and cryptococcosis
Vincent, Michael, Elio and Michele review a new fluorogenic diagnostic test for tuberculosis bacteria, and the role of a metalloprotease in helping a fungus invade the central nervous system.
TWiM #82: Betrayal and compromise
Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Elio Schaechter and Michele Swanson.
Vincent, Michael, Elio and Michele discuss how an endosymbiont betrays its aphid host to alert plant defenses, and a n…