After a listener made the Omega tau podcast his pick of the week on TWiV129, I sent a note to the show’s author, Marcus Völter. He responded by inviting me on his program. I brought Dickson Despommier with me and we recorded a wide-ranging conversation on viruses, bacteria, and parasites. It is very basic, so if …
Omega tau podcast – viruses, bacteria, and other parasites Read More »
Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Margaret McFall-Ngai, and Elio Schaecter On episode #11 of the podcast This Week in Microbiology, Vincent, Margaret, Michael and Elio review the presence of extended spectrum beta-lactamase genes in chicken meat and in humans, and a beneficial effect of Helicobacter pylori colonization on the development of allergen-induced asthma. [powerpress url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/twimshow/TWiM011.mp3″] Click the arrow above to play, …
This Week in Microbiology (TWiM) #11: Chickens, antibiotics, and asthma Read More »
Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Dickson Despommier, Margaret McFall-Ngai, and Elio Schaecter On episode #10 of the podcast This Week in Microbiology, Vincent, Margaret, Elio, Michael and Dickson discuss the symbiosis between the Hawaiian bobtail squid and the luminous, gram-negative bacterium Vibrio fischeri. [powerpress url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/twimshow/TWiM010.mp3″] Click the arrow above to play, or right click to download TWiM #10 (47 MB, …
Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Margaret McFall-Ngai, Cliff Mintz, Elio Schaecter, and Michael Schmidt. On episode #7 of the podcast This Week in Microbiology, Vincent, Cliff, Elio, Margaret, and Michael discuss programmed cell death in E. coli, and the daily synthesis and degradation of enzymes needed for photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation by cyanobacteria. [powerpress url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/twimshow/TWiM007.mp3″] Click the arrow …
TWiM 7 – Cycles of life and death, light and dark Read More »
A new strain of swine influenza virus has been recently isolated from seven persons in the US. Is it time to break out the swine flu vaccine of 1976? Last week the CDC reported that swine influenza virus had been isolated from two children with respiratory illness in California. The cases were not linked and …
In an NYTimes Op-Ed article called “The Scary Caterpillar”, Jeffrey Lockwood wrote about potential use of a virus as a weapon of bioterrorism: What if a terrorist group announced that their operatives had introduced Rift Valley fever into the United States? This mosquito-borne disease would make West Nile virus look like a case of the …
