Today Dr. Hannah Ledvina, Assistant Professor in the Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology Department at the University of Michigan joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss how bacteria can protect themselves against predators in unusual ways . . . including a type of armor!

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Hannah Ledvina

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• The "Giant Microbes" website.
• A prompt for my course:  an article on "Animals in a Microbial World," with so many interesting examples.  Here is a summary for novice #Micronauts.
• A prompt for my course:  an article by the late, great Lynn Margulis on the nature of kefir grains and the definition of multicellularity and the organism.
• A prompt for my course:  an article on hyperpolyploidy in bacteria.
• An explanation of "genomic islands."
• A link to a previous guest of #MattersMicrobial, Dr. Laura Williams, discussing Bdellovibrio and undergraduate based research.
• An overview of predatory bacteria. Here is a more recent overview.  
• An overview of the predator Myxococcus.
• A wonderful video showing the predatory process of Myxococcus. 
• A fine review of the predator Bdellovibrio. 
• A video of the life cycle of Bdellovibrio. 
• Some work by Dr. Koval and colleagues suggesting that aspects of the outer cell wall is not involved with resistance to Bdellovibrio.
• Recent VERY exciting work suggesting that there is indeed a receptor on bacteria that Bdellovibrio can recognize. Here is a short summary of that work.  
• Could Bdellovibrio become a "living antibiotic"?
• A reminder from Drs. Kolter and Losick that bacteria in the laboratory can be quite different from their relatives in nature.  
• The article under discussion on this podcast by Dr. Ledvina and colleagues. Here is an editorial summary on the article.  
• An article on curli proteins in bacteria.
• An article on amyloid like proteins in bacteria.
• A video by Dr. Ledvina on the research interests of her group.
• Thoughts on an "immune system" for bacteria.
• Dr. Ledvina's faculty website.
• Dr. Ledvina's research group website.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Today Dr. Jessica Mark Welch, Professor at the ADA Forsyth Institute joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss the complex and interactive microbial communities living unseen within our mouths . . . and what those communities can tell us.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Jessica Mark Welch

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• Here is a link to the very funny Carisa Hendrix's character "Lucy Darling."  I think I made a #Micronaut out of her!
• A link to the wonderful microbiological art of Dr. Lizah van der Aart.
• An overview of FISH technology for visualizing DNA and microbes.
• A reference to R2A medium which helps grow water associated microbes.
• The anatomy of the human tongue.
• The infamous and very interesting article describing how microbes are transmitted between partners via kissing.
• An overview of the oral microbiome.
• The relationship between oral microbiota and blood pressure.
• An article by Dr. Mark Welch and colleagues describing a method for visualizing oral microbial communities.
• An article by Dr. Mark Welch and colleagues about how her techniques can study the kelp microbiome microbiogeography.
• An article by Dr. Mark Welch and colleagues about the oral microbiome.
• An article by Dr. Mark Welch and colleagues about the unusual "corncob" microbes to be found on the human tongue.
• An article by Dr. Jo Handelsman and colleagues describing the THOR soil community, in which even a few members create very diverse responses to the environment.
• An article by Dr. Mark Welch and colleagues about the role of mucus in the oral microbiome.
• An overview of the Forsyth Institute and its mission.
• The Human Oral Microbiome Database website.
• The website for Dr. Mark Welch.
• A fun video snippet with Dr. Mark Welch.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Let's take a deep dive into chemoautotrophy!  Today, Dr. Roxanne Beinart, Associate Professor of Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island, joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss how some marine creatures use bacterial symbioses to provide organic compounds for growth and reproduction. 

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Roxanne Beinart

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• An appreciation of the late Dr. Moselio (Elio) Schaechter from his friends at the blog "Small Things Considered."
• A video from This Week in Microbiology appreciating Elio Schaechter.
• A video describing deep sea symbioses.
• A video by the great Dr. Colleen Cavanaugh about chemoautotrophy/chemosynthesis.
• An overview of chemoautotrophic strategies in the ocean.
• An overview of hydrothermal vents.
• A video review of  thiotrophic (sulfur based) symbiotic associations.
• A video about hydrothermal vent exploration.
• A review of hydrothermal vent communities.
• Alvinella, the extremophilic bristleworm discussed in this episode (includes videos).
• An article by Dr. Beinart and colleagues, describing how a hydrothermal vent community is disrupted by a volcanic eruption.
• A report on the 2020 submarine volcano eruption discussed in this episode.
• An interesting article about studying deep sea symbioses, coauthored by Dr. Beinart. 
• A great video by Dr. Beinart about her research. 
• Dr. Beinart's research team website.
• Dr. Beinart's faculty webpage.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Today Dr. Sean Gibbons, Associate Professor at the Institute for Systems Biology, will chat with us about how the study of host-associated microbial communities can give us insights into evolution, ecology, and even human health.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Dr. Sean Gibbons

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• A wonderful overview of ammonites, extinct so long ago.
• A short biography of the late great Abigail Salyers, and another biography.
• My blogpost remembering Abigail and her fine mentorship of yours truly.
• A surprisingly solid overview of the microbiome.
• A fine video introducing the human microbiome.
• An article describing myths and misconceptions about the microbiome.
• The wood rat - creosote - microbiome study discussed in today's session.
• An introduction to the question, "What is systems biology?"
• The Institute for Systems Biology website.
• Sean Gibbons' faculty page at the Institute for Systems Biology.
• Sean Gibbons' laboratory webpage.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Today Dr. Jack Gilbert, Professor of Pediatrics and of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, chats with us about his MANY interests in microbiology, from human health to marine environments.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Jack Gilbert

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• Marley and Murtle's Etsy shop, which created my glow in the dark needle felted tardigrade.
• My wife Dr. Jennifer Quinn's Wikipedia page and blog.
• Ethan Kocak's fine artwork is found at his website. 
• An overview of the BLAST program used for sequence analysis.
• An overview of RDP Classifier, no longer online, but can be downloaded to your own computer.  
• A brief biography of JBS Haldane, and the story of his wonderful quote about beetles.  
• A nice overview of microbiology and social equity, from the ASM website.
• Dr. Susan Ishaq's working group of microbiology and social equity.  
• A great short video about Dr. Jack Gilbert's interests and philosophy.
• Dr. Jack Gilbert's profile at UC San Diego, and his faculty website at Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
• Dr. Jack Gilbert's laboratory website.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Today Dr. Arash Komeili, professor of plant and microbial biology at UC Berkeley, joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss compartmentalization in bacteria, and the amazing world of living magnets—the magnetotactic bacteria!

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Arash Komeili

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• "Hooked by Bex"'s Etsy page.
• An introduction to Paenibacillus.
• More wonderful information on this fascinating bacterium.
• Another remarkable article on colony pattern formation by this microbe.
• An interesting essay about how Paenibacillus can move other organisms around, from the wonderful Small Things Considered blog.
• Muriwai Beach in New Zealand.
• Magnetic sand in New Zealand article.
• A lovely introductory video about magnetotactic bacteria.
• A video "dance" of the magnetotactic bacteria.
• An introduction to magnetotactic bacteria.
• Techniques to isolate/enrich for magnetotactic bacteria of your own.
• A wonderful article on analyzing magnetotactic microbes from the Komeili lab.
• Dr. Komeili's faculty website.
• Dr. Komeili's laboratory website.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Today Dr. Ruth Isenberg, postdoctoral scholar (and former #DocMartian!) in the Willett Lab at the University of Minnesota, will tell us about her first generation path in science, the squid-Vibrio symbiosis work she did for her PhD, and her current career path.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Ruth Isenberg

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• The Sikhote-Alin meteorite fall.
• An article on Kenyan Sand Boas.
• An article on African Fire Skinks.
• A video reminder about ice nucleation bacteria.  
• An article relating snowflakes to ice nucleation bacteria
• A reminder of the nature of bacterial colonies.
• The laboratory website of Dr. Kat Milligan-McClellan.
• The laboratory website of Dr. Mark Mandel.
• The laboratory website of Dr. Julia Willett. 
• A great place to begin thinking about the squid-Vibrio symbiosis, as well as the microbiome in general.  
• An excellent review article on the squid-Vibrio symbiosis.
• A fun and accessible video from the famed science journalist Ed Yong about the squid-Vibrio symbiosis.
• An article written by Ruth about her work on this symbiosis
• Ruth's excellent claymation video made for my microbiology class about quorum sensing and the squid-Vibrio symbiosis.  Student creativity matters!
• Another #Micronaut's claymation video about Type VI secretory systems.  Student creativity matters!

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Today Dr. Ken Stedman, Professor of Biology at Portland State University, tells us about the strange and wonderful viruses of heat loving extremophilic archaea—truly viruses from Hell!

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Ken Stedman

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• A popular article about Markus Martin's work as a fossil expert extraordinaire.
• Markus Martin's website.  
• One of Markus Martin's academic articles on trilobites.
• An interesting article on the complexity of colony morphology by Bacillus subtilis.
• An article about Serratia, prodigiosin, and temperature.  
• An article I wrote about educational aspects of the work of the late great Carl Woese.
• An introduction to the diverse and fascinating archaea.  
• An introduction to the viruses of archaea.
• Ken Stedman's fascinating laboratory website.
• Ken Stedman's faculty website.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Today Dr. David Baltrus, Associate Professor of Plant Sciences at the University of Arizona, talks with us about how his laboratory studies bacteria that battle one another; the first rule of this fight club is that EVERYONE talks about Microbial Fight Club.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: David Baltrus

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• Here is a wonderful and easy to read essay about bacterial predators, including Bdellovibrio, from Scientific American.
• "2001:  A Space Odyssey" remains an important motion picture.
• The animated movie "The Iron Giant" is entertaining and has important messages. 
• Kaitlin Kariko, Drew Weissman, and the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine.
• Jo Handelsman's wonderful "Tiny Earth" program, helping students to search for new antibiotic producing bacteria.  
• Elio Schaechter's absolutely essential guide/view of the changing microbial landscape in terms of organizing our knowledge.
• A nice introductory review of tailocins.
• A more exhaustive review of talocins.
• A really interesting article on this topic—and how tailocins might be used in agriculture— from Dr. Baltrus' laboratory.
• Dr. Baltrus' laboratory website can be found here.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Today Sebastian Cocioba, a citizen scientist with myriad interests, talks with us about his path in science, some of the tools he has made for others, and how he views science and scientists. 

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Sebastian Cocioba

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• The article on Carl Woese that I wrote can be found here.
• An article on the felt sculpture of Carl Woese is here.
• The artist who created that sculpture, Amy Wright, has a website here.
• The American Society for Microbiology's moving and informative video about Carl Woese is here.
• A heartwarming snippet from "Ted Lasso" regarding the Walt Whitman quote is here.
• Here is a great interview with Sebastian Cocioba.  
• Sebastian Cocioba's website is here.  
• Sebastian Cocioba's online research notebook is here. 

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Microbes are everywhere and do remarkable things—-like breathing metal! Lauren Seyler joins us today to discuss the microbial mysteries of New Jersey's Pine Barrens.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Lauren Seyler

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• A beautiful essay on tardigrades can be found here.
• Weird and wonderful (mythical?) cryptids around the US described here.  Hallowe'en fun!
• Frivolous Forest's site on Etsy is here.  
• A lovely overview of the Pine Barrens is here.
• Some of the unusual legends of the Barrens can be found here.
• An article about "bog iron" is here.  
• An overview of iron-related microbes is here.
• An abstract of a research talk about bog iron related microbiology from Dr. Seyler's group can be found here.  
• Dr. Seyler's departmental site is here.  
• Dr. Seyler's fascinating lab website is here

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

We exist in a sea of microbes, it is true. We only need to look. And Dr. Elinne Becket of California State University  San Marcos, joins Mark to describe some of the work she and her undergraduate colleagues are doing. And a popular hashtag on social media: #BlueSoup.  Welcome to our quality quorum, Elinne!

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Elinne Becket

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• An essay on gooseneck flasks, Louis Pasteur, and spontaneous generation can be found here. 

• Lizah van der Aart creates wonderful microbiologically oriented pins here.

• Caulobacter is a fascinating organism, as you can see here.

• Here is a short video of the #LuxArt made by my #Bio350 #Micronauts this fall.

• Maggie Middleton creates fabulous science art here.

• A wonderful description of Dr. Becket's #BlueSoup story.

• Another telling of the #BlueSoup tale!

• Dr. Becket's wonderful laboratory website can be found here.

• Dr. Becket's thread on Twitter/X describing the #BlueSoup excitement as it happened is here.  
  

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

It is true that microbes are everywhere, and have impacts and applications that are often unexpected. Today, a true microbial force of nature visits Matters Microbial: Dr. Irene Newton of the Biology Department of the University of Indiana. Irene will tell us about some of her laboratory group's recent research on how microbes interact with honeybees!

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Irene Newton

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• A review of manganese oxidizing bacteria can be found here. 

• An essay on ice nucleating bacteria can be found here.  

• A review of bacterial siderophores can be found here.  

• A press release on the work that Dr. Newton and her research group does can be found here.

• Here is another such press release.  

• A sample publication from Dr. Newton's laboratory is here.  

• Dr. Newton's  faculty website is here

• Dr. Newton's laboratory website can be found here.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Today, Dr. Boo Shan Tseng, Associate Professor at the University of Nevada Las Vegas School of Life Sciences, joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss bacterial biofilms and antibiotic tolerance. 

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Boo Shan Tseng

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• A video overview of biofilms.
• A comprehensive review article on biofilms.
• An article describing the impact biofilms have on disease.
• An article describing the impact of biofilms on implanted medical devices.
• A link to the Center for Biofilm Engineering at Montana State University that has MANY links of interest.
• An overview of biofilm development.
• An overview of confocal laser microscopy.
• Studying biofilms in flow cells.
• An article about the role proteins play in biofilm formation, which intersects with the Tseng group's research.
• The technique of single cell RNA seq.
• The technique of mRNA-FISH.
• An article about porins in bacteria, and how that can relate to antibiotic resistance.
• An article by Dr. Tseng and coworkers on the eDNA and biofilms discussed today.
• A lovely video of Dr. Tseng talking about the research she and her colleagues carry out in the laboratory.
• Dr. Tseng's biography from the American Society for Microbiology.
• Dr. Tseng's laboratory group website with wonderful links and images.
• Dr. Tseng's faculty website.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

It's interesting to think about the microbes in and on us—some of which are vital to our well being—and how we came to possess them. Mark introduces Dr. Anne Estes of Towson University, who will discuss this very topic as it applies to dung beetles.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Anne Estes

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• Microbial fossils—stromatolites—are fascinating.  A description of Gunflint stromatolites can be found here.  
• Rachael Webster (wonderful artist) can be found here. 
• Jane Hartman's wonderful art is found here.
• Dr. Jack Gilbert's book, "Dirt is Good" is described here.
• A video about the life of dung beetles is here.  
• Dr. Estes' faculty website is here.
• Dr. Estes blog can be found here. 
• Here is an article that Dr. Estes wrote: "Brood Ball-Mediated Transmission of Microbiome Members in the Dung Beetle, Onthophagus taurus." 

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Everyone thinks microbes are very small, and most of them are. But how to see them? The microscope opened a whole new world to the observer, starting with the Dutch microbiologist Antonie van Leeuvenhoek. But photographs and peering through lenses have limitations. Mark introduces his friend and colleague, Ariane Briegel of the Institute of Biology at Leiden University to Matters Microbial. She discusses how her own work can allow us to see microbes at extremely fine detail using a technique called cryo-electron microscopy (cryEM). She will also discuss her path in science.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Ariane Briegel

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• The Martian meteorite from which my specimen was taken is described here. 
• Custom enamel pins by Hartiful can be found here. 
• The website of the great microbiologist and science artist Lizah van der Aart is here.  
• Here is a video discussing the role played by van Leeuvenhoek in microbial science that is SO worth your time.
• Dr. Briegel's lab website is very interesting.
• An explainer about cryoEM can be found here
• A really fine talk by Dr. Briegel about her work from ASM Microbe a few years ago.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Who are you? Human or a group of microbes? Mark discusses this with this with Dr. Seth Bordenstein of Penn State. Seth teaches Mark about a new word, holobiont, and the most successful pandemic in history (of invertebrates) that may help in the fight against malaria, Wolbachia! Finally, Seth discusses his team outreach efforts to teach critical thinking and STEM in students with Discover the Microbes Within.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Seth Bordenstein

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Spotify

Become a patron of Matters Microbial!

• Maggie Middleton's (the "Vexed Muddler")  art website.
• Seth Bordenstein's lab website.
• Discover the Microbes Within website.
• A useful review of the holobiont concept from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
• A recent and philosophical  review of the holobiont concept from Frontiers in Psychology.
• Another review of the holobiont concept from the American Society for Microbiology.
• Wood rats, creosote, and the microbiome via Kevin Kohl in Frontiers in Microbiology.
• Evidence that the microbiome can impact drug effectiveness in Gut.
•  A review on Wolbachia and the effect it has on hosts in Nature Reviews in Microbiology.
• An article describing how Wolbachia can be used to fight viral diseases in Frontiers in Immunology.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Mark discusses some "shock and awe" concepts about the microbial world that he introduces to his microbiology students, and asks three important questions about microbiology and microbiologists with guest Dr. Mya Breitbart of the University of South Florida.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Mya Breitbart

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• MicrobeTV Discord Server
• Ice nucleation information
• A video of ice nucleation
• A funny video by my students
• Deinococcus radiodurans
• Pink pigmented methylotrophs
• Some wonderful #LuxArt sessions I have done: one, two, three, four
• Dr. Breitbart's faculty website
• Dr. Breitbart's laboratory website
• Dr. Breitbart's visit to This Week in Virology

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

In the first episode of Matters Microbial, Mark introduces himself and his history, talks a bit about his goals for this podcast, then asks three important questions about microbiology and microbiologists with his first guest, Vincent Racaniello.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Vincent Racaniello

Become a patron of Matters Microbial!

• MicrobeTV Discord Server
• Virology blog
• MicrobeTV on YouTube

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Today, Dr. Jean-Marie Volland, Assistant Professor at the University of California in Santa Barbara joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss the discovery and analysis of the (so far) largest bacterium known:  Thiomargarita magnifica, which can be a centimeter long! Definitely #OMG and #WTM!

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Jean-Marie Vollard

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Spotify

Become a patron of Matters Microbial!

• Here is a review article discussing the environmental persistence of antibiotic resistance genes.
• Here is a link to Episode 41 of this podcast, with Dr. Esther Angert, on the wily ways of Epulopiscium.
• A review article regarding "giant bacteria."
• A video explaining the surface area versus volume issue discussed on this podcast.
• An interesting article exploring how much "territory" is within a bacterial cell; this is relevant to bacterial polyploidy.
• A review of Epulopiscium, the first of the giant bacteria described.
• Here is a video of Epulopisicum.  
• An article describing polyploidy in Epulopiscium. 
• A review of Thiomargarita nambiensis, another giant bacterium with an interesting strategy.
• Here is a video of T. nambiensis. 
• An essay from "Small Things Considered" about the very, very strange world of Achromatium, which is so worth your time.
• The first report of Thiomargarita magnifica, the world's largest bacterium (thus far) by Dr. Volland and coauthors.
• Here is a report on this discovery for novice micronauts.
• A great review about giant microbes by Dr. Volland.
• A more recent article on T. magnifica by Dr. Volland and colleagues.
• A video regarding T. magnifica.
• A video by Dr. Volland describing T. magnifica work.
• A lovely essay regarding how Dr. Volland and family trekked California searching for giant microbes. Don't miss!
• The research lab website for Dr. Volland and colleagues, with so much interesting information.
• The faculty website for Dr. Volland at UC Santa Barbara.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Today, Dr. Davida Smyth, Professor of Biology and Deputy Director of the National Center for Science and Civic Engagement at Texas A&M University-San Antonio joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss her impressive work using microbiology to engage students at the intersection of cutting edge research and current events. #MicrobialLiteracy!

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Davida Smyth

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Spotify

Become a patron of Matters Microbial!

• The American Society for Microbiology Carski Award website.
• The American Society for Microbiology Distinguished Lecturer website.
• The concept of "classroom agreements."
• The 10:1 (microbial cells to human cells) story, and a related article.
• The 3-2-1 approach to learning in the classroom.
• Dr. Smyth's "How Toilets Changed the World" class.
• The American Society for Microbiology Curriculum Guidelines.
• The National Science Foundation's "Vision and Change" website describing improvements in biology education.
• The American Society for Microbiology profile for Dr. Smyth.
• A video seminar by Dr. Smyth describing open science in undergraduate education.
• The website for the National Center for Science and Civic Engagement.
• Dr. Smyth's faculty website.
• Dr. Smyth's superb research website.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Today, Dr. Nicole Geerlings from the University of Vienna in Austria joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss some of the wonderful work she and colleagues have carried out studying the wild, weird, and wonderful world of cable bacteria, which can conduct electricity over microbially enormous distances!  Definitely time for #OMG and #WTM!

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Nicole Geerlings

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Spotify

Become a patron of Matters Microbial!

• This just became available:  a wonderful short introduction to day's topic, the cable bacteria, from Asimov Press.  It is an absolute must read for everyone interested.
• Here is a link to the Summer Science Program, a wonderful outreach program for high school juniors.
• An essay about Nobel Prize winning Albert Szent-Györgyi, who stated that life was a matter of electrons finding a place to rest.  Here is a short video introduction to his work.
• A video introduction to microbial metabolism.
• A video introduction to electron transport.  Remember that bacteria and archaea are VERY skilled at using different electron donors and acceptors than eukaryotic life.
• The really fun concept of the "Jagendorf Jump," showing electron transport vs. pH in chloroplasts.
• An overview of the microbial fuel cell concept.  Here is a nice overview I highly recommend.
• A commercial source for you to build your own microbial fuel cell.
• A DIY approach to building a MFC. 
• An ESSENTIAL overview to the idea of electrons in microbial sediments.
• A review article about cable bacteria.  Here is another fine review. This is a third great introduction to cable bacteria. And here is a video overview.  
• An article by Dr. Geerlings and colleagues describing cable bacteria for new #Micronauts.  HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
• An review of stable isotope probing in microbiology. Here is a video seminar using SIP in microbiology.
• An overview of Nano-SIMS and how it is used in microbiology.  Here is another review.  
• A deeply wonderful article by Dr. Geerlings and colleagues suggesting that inactive cells with the "microbial cable" are still conducting electrons!
• Dr. Geerlings postdoctoral scholar website.

Links and References on Cable Bacteria from Dr. Geerlings:

1. Here is a website from the group of Prof. Dr. Filip Meysman from the University of Antwerp, which includes a great video on the electron conductivity of cable bacteria.

2. The first paper describing redox half-reactions separated by long-distance electron transport.

Nielsen, L. P., Risgaard-Petersen, N., Fossing, H., Christensen, P. B., and Sayama, M. (2010). Electric currents couple spatially separated biogeochemical processes in marine sediment. Nature 463, 1071–1074. doi: 10.1038/nature08790

3. The paper describing the discovery of cable bacteria. Look into the supplemental material for the excellent experimental set-up to prove that the cable bacteria are the ones doing the long-distance electron transport.

Pfeffer, C., Larsen, S., Song, J., Dong, M., Besenbacher, F., Meyer, R. L., et al. (2012). Filamentous bacteria transport electrons over centimetre distances. Nature 491, 218–221. Doi: 10.1038/nature11586

4. A paper that dives into the conductivity of the cable bacteria network and shows that these fibres can conduct electrons just as well as a copper wire.

Meysman, F. J. R., Cornelissen, R., Trashin, S., Bonné, R., Martinez, S. H., van der Veen, J., et al. 2019. A highly conductive fibre network enables centimetre-scale electron transport in multicellular cable bacteria. Nat. Commun. 10:1–8. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-12115-7

5. This paper describes how cable bacteria activity generates a layer of iron oxyhydroxides on the top of the sediment layer and how this delays the release of sulfide into the water column for several weeks in a seasonally hypoxic basin in the Netherlands.

Seitaj, D., R. Schauer, F. Sulu-Gambari, et al. 2015. "Cable Bacteria Generate a Firewall Against Euxinia in Seasonally Hypoxic Basins." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 112: 13278–13283.

6. This paper describes how the catabolic division of labor is coupled to an anabolic division of labor where cells reducing oxygen cannot grow and therefore provide a "community service" for the rest of the filament.

Nicole M. J. Geerlings, Cheryl Karman, Stanislav Trashin, Karel S. As, Michiel V. M. Kienhuis, Silvia Hidalgo-Martinez, Diana Vasquez-Cardenas, Henricus T.S. Boschker, Karolien de Wael, Jack J. Middelburg, Lubos Polerecky, and Filip J.R. Meysman. Division of labor and growth during electrical cooperation in multicellular cable bacteria. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 117, 5478–5485. Doi: 10.1073/pnas.1916244117

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Today, Dr. Heather Hendrickson from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss the research she and her team are conducting on bacteriophage therapy to protect vulnerable honeybees from bacterial infections.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Heather Hendrickson

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• Here is the website for a former undergraduate research student of mine, Dr. Paula Welander, now a professor and administrator at Stanford University.  Yes, I am proud.
• Here is a link to another former undergraduate research student of mine, Dr. Krista Venecia Edmiston, now a professor at California Health Sciences University.  Yes, I am proud.
• A review on cell shape in bacteria.
• A review on the cytoskeleton of bacteria and archaea.
• I am a great admirer of Dr. John Roth, and his clearheaded and direct approach to microbial genetics.  Here is his academic website with many publications.
• An article about the causative agent of American Foulbrood, Paenibacillus larvae.
• An overview of American Foulbrood's impact on honeybees.
• The honeybee lifecycle.
• Beemites and honeybees.
• A video overview of bacteriophage therapy against bacterial diseases.
• An explainer of bacteriophage plaques.
• A video overview of lytic versus lysogenic bacteriophages.
• Dr. Graham Hatfull and his simply amazing SEAPHAGEs program, teaching so many people about isolating and studying bacteriophages.
• An article from Dr. Hendrickson's laboratory exploring cell shape in bacteria.
• An article from Dr. Hendrickson's laboratory explaining the importance of protecting honeybees from American Foulbrood, and the approach her laboratory uses.
• An article from Dr. Hendrickson's laboratory describing a community based approach to search for bacteriophages of Paenibacillus larvae.
• An article from Dr. Hendrickson's laboratory analyzing the types of Paenibacillus attacking bacteriophages isolated in New Zealand.
• An article from Dr. Hendrickson's laboratory describing an improved method for isolating bacteriophages.
• A truly great video from Dr. Hendrickson some years ago, explaining her research.  This is a "must see."
• Dr. Hendrickson's faculty webpage.
• Dr. Hendrickson's informative research group website.
• This section of Dr. Hendrickson's research group website is devoted to outreach, and so very worth your time.

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Today, Dr. Dianne Newman of Caltech joins the #QualityQuorum live at ASM Microbe in Los Angeles, to discuss the role that Albert Kluvyer played in helping microbial scientists to understand the unity and diversity to be found in microbial metabolism.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Dianne Newman

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• A review article by Roberto Kolter about the history of microbiology.
• An overview of the "Delft School" of microbiology.  Here is another article on that topic.
• The 1924 article by Albert Kluyver that Dr. Newman references—very much worth you time.
• A video overview of microbial metabolism.  Here is a recent article on that topic.
• A short biography of Albert Kluyver. Here is another article on that topic.
• A wonderful 2023 video seminar by Dr. Newman exploring the unity and diversity of microbial metabolism.  Much recommended.
• Dr. Newman's faculty website.
• Dr. Newman's very impressive research group website.

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Today, Dr. John McCutcheon of Arizona State University joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss the work he and his research group do to investigate the strategies by which microbes become symbionts of other cells. After all, the mitochondria and chloroplasts of eukaryotic cells, including yours, were once bacteria!

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: John McCutcheon

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• A video about the symbiosis of Hydra virdissima, which captured my heart when I was young.  Look at those symbiotic algae!  Here is an overview of this topic.
• A video describing the Rhizobium – legume nitrogen fixing symbiosis in all of its glory—by my PhD advisor, the great Dr. Sharon Long.  Here is an overview of this topic.  
• An appreciation of Paul Buchner's very important book, "Endosymbiosis of Animals with Plant Microorganisms."
• A wonderful review by Dr. McCutcheon on how symbioses form.
• A wonderful essay by Ed Yong about an event that made eukaryotic cells possible:  how bacteria became mitochondria.
• A story about an anaerobic protist that lost its mitochondria completely.
• A bacterial symbiont of mitochondria, the "midichlorian."
• The recent discovery of a new integrated symbiont that has become an organelle, the nitrosome.
• The "X-bacteria" and amoebae story.
• A retrospective on endosymbiosis, and Paramecium based on Tracey Sonneborn's work.
• An essay on aphids and bacteria.
• An article on the Moranella/Tremblaya symbiosis.
• An article on "bacteria inside other bacteria" found in several symbioses, written by Dr.McCutcheon and colleagues.
• Genomic instability in bacterial endosymbionts.
• An article on cicadas and bacterial endosymbionts from Dr. McCutcheon and colleagues.
• An article on mealybugs and bacterial endosymbionts from Dr. McCutcheon and colleagues.
• Dr. McCutcheon's thoughts on his career path (so worth reading).
• The Center for Mechanisms of Evolution research institute in which Dr. McCutcheon works.
• Dr. McCutcheon's faculty website.
• Dr. McCutcheon's (and his research team's) wonderful research website.

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Today, Dr. Ari Kozik, Assistant Professor at the University of MIchigan joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss the work she and her research group do to investigate microbes living within the lung and their relationship to health as well as microbiology outreach and representation.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Ari Kozik

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• A wonderful discussion of airway microbes.
• A thought provoking article about microbes in our breath!
• Geography of mouth to lung and relevance to health.
• Relevance and definition of the term "microaspiration."
• Some general characteristics of anaerobic bacteria
• A commercial video explaining the basics of anaerobic chambers
• An article about the airway microbiome
• A video overview about biofilms
• Kombucha sculpture as discussed briefly.
• A relevant article from Dr. Kozik's and coworkers.
• A video from This Week in Virology including Dr. Kozik about representation in the microbial sciences (very important to watch).
• Dr. Kozik's important efforts in science outreach.
• Dr. Kozik's faculty website.
• Dr. Kozik's research group website.

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Today, Bob Kuhn, biotechnology teacher at the Fulton County Schools Innovation Academy STEM high school in Alpharetta, Georgia joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss his strategies for teaching molecular microbiology skills and concepts to high school students — and why that matters.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Bob Kuhn

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• An article on Mr. Kuhn's original microbiological interest:  salt marsh foraminifera.
• Another interest:  a video of the beautiful organism Volvox.
• An overview of the fantastic world of protists.
• A classroom CURE that Mr. Kuhn uses:  the Tiny Earth program.
• A classroom CURE that Mr. Kuhn uses:  the SEAPHAGES program.
• A classroom CURE that Mr. Kuhn uses:  the Evolving Stem program.
• A classroom CURE that Mr. Kuhn uses:  the Discover the Microbes Within program.
• Mr. Kuhn's classroom received help from the University of Georgia Microscopy Center.
• A video of the Wolbachia Project with which Mr. Kuhn has collaborated for years.
• An overview of wonderful and various isopods, including the "roly polies" used in some Wolbachia work.
• The Journal of Emerging Investigators, in which some of Mr. Kuhn's high school students have published.
• The LTEE program that studies evolution in E. coli.  
• The Experiment.com program that supported some of Mr. Kuhn's students.
• The very inspirational MEGAplate video that demonstrates how quickly antibiotic resistance can occur.
• Innovation Academy STEM program in Georgia, where Mr. Kuhn works with high school students.

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Today Dr. Joshua Shrout, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences at the University of Notre Dame joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss the work of his research team on sociomicrobiology. This includes how bacteria sense a surface, move together in groups, and communicate with one another.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Joshua Shrout

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• Here is a wonderful video about the late great Dr. Esther Lederberg.  Here is another article on that same subject.
• Here is an article about prodigiosin synthesis and Serratia marcescens.  
• An introduction to the concept of sociomicrobiology.
• An overview of bacterial swarming.  Here is a wonderful swarming video.
• An overview of bacterial swimming in liquid.
• An article about group/social motility in Myxococcus.
• A fine video explaining the amazing bacterial flagellar motor.
• An article about Vibrio parahaemolyticus and swarming.
• An overview of quorum sensing.
• Bacteria cultivated in the laboratory undergo mutational changes during "domestication." 
• Pigments produced by Pseudomonas, including pyoverdin and pyocyanin.
• An article from Dr. Shrout's laboratory group describing interactions between Pseudomonas and Enterococcus described in this episode.
• The Type IV pili-based motility system.
• An article from Dr. Shrout's laboratory describing how Pseudomonas can "walk" on one pole during swarming.
• Here is a video from Dr. Shrout's laboratory showing Pseudomonas "walking" on their poles.
• An overview video of the Shrout laboratory's research interests.
• Dr. Shrout's faculty website.
• Dr. Shrout's truly beautiful research website. There are wonderful microbial videos there.  Very much worth your time.

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Today, Dr. Tory Hendry, Associate Professor of Microbiology at Cornell University, joins the #QualityQuorum to tell us about the relationship between plant munching aphids and fluorescent Pseudomonas . . . and why we should care.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guests: Tory Hendry

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• An overview of siderophores in microorganisms.
• An essay about aphid life cycle and characteristics.
• An article describing parthenogenesis in aphids.
• An essay describing aphids and color vision.
• The agricultural costs of aphids as pests.
• An article describing aphids and one type of bacterial symbiont.
• An overview of microbes of the phyllosphere.
• An overview of quorum sensing.
• An overview of pyoverdin, a fluorescent siderophore. 
• An old essay I wrote for the Small Things Considered blog about semiochemicals, bacterial, and insect predation.
• A nice description of the work Dr. Hendry talked about during today's podcast. 
• The actual article by Dr. Hendry and collaborators.
• A preprint by Dr. Hendry's research group, following up on the above research. 
• Dr. Hendry's faculty website.
• Dr. Hendry's research group website (with SO MANY cool projects to think about, including the topic discussed today).

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Today, Dr. Seth Bordenstein and Dr. Nichole Ginnan of Pennsylvania State University join the #QualityQuorum to tell us about their new publication linking One Health to the myriad microbiomes that exist all around us through the lens of the holobiome—and an opportunity to see the world in a different fashion.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guests: Seth Bordenstein and Nichole Ginnan

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• Michele Banks microbially themed art can found at her Etsy site.  Highly recommended!
• The paper under discussion today, with Dr. Ginnan as first author.  You will see that coauthors include Dr. Bordenstein, and two previous visitors to the #MattersMicrobial podcast!  Thank you Erika and Francisco.
• Dr. Bordenstein's first podcast with #MattersMicrobial for those who missed it.
• A review of the One Health concept.
• The One Health Microbiome Center at Penn State.
• A very clear overview of the holobiont concept and biology, authored by Dr. Bordenstein and colleagues.
• Another longer review on this topic.
• The faculty website for Dr. Ginnan.
• The faculty website for Dr. Bordenstein.
• The research website for Dr. Ginnan.
• The research website for Dr. Bordenstein.

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Today's episode was an in-person podcast at the University of Texas Austin!  Dr. Despoina Mavridou, Assistant Professor of Molecular Biosciences, joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss how her research group improves antibiotic effectiveness by impeding protein folding, and why this matters in the fight against antimicrobial resistance.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Despoina Mavridou

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• Here is a link to a wonderful video of the #LuxArt by UT-Austin students during my visit. Please give it watch and enjoy the creativity and positive #MicrobialPR.
• An effective TED talk by science journalist Maryn McKenna describing the threat of AMR in an accessible fashion.
• A CDC report on the growing threat of AMR.
• A review article about antibiotics.
• An overview of how bacteria become resistant to antibiotics. 
• A very recent review of the cell wall of bacteria—often the target of antibiotics.
• A video overview of beta-lactam antibiotics and resistance mechanisms.
• An overview of how protein folding is related to activity of proteins…including AMR gene products.
• A wonderful article by Dr. Mavridou and coworkers, describing how altering protein folding in bacteria can make them more vulnerable to antibiotics.
• A less technical version of the above article; well worth your reading.
• Dr. Mavridou's faculty website.
• Dr. Mavridou's research group website, which is most interesting.

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Today, Dr. Valerie DeAnda Torres, Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Cell Science at the University of Florida (and National Geographic Explorer), joins the #QualityQuorum to tell us about the research her team does, studying the evolution of metabolic pathways in extreme environments . . . and why these are important to geochemical cycling.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Valerie DeAnda Torres

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• The Etsy vendor making the beautiful microbial pins I have mentioned.
•  A link to Sebastian Cocobia's site where the beautiful E. coli strains I referenced can be obtained. 
• The beauty and mystery of Paenibacillus colonies.
• A video showing a colony of Myxococcus consuming a colony of E. coli.
• A fun video of tardigrades singing "Happy birthday" by a former undergraduate student of mine, Dr. Jake Shaffer.
• The National Geographic Explorer program, which includes Dr. DeAnda Torres. 
• The deep sea submersible Alvin, in which Dr. DeAnda Torres has dived! 
• An overview of methanogenesis, one of the pathways that Dr. DeAnda Torres' research group studies.
• A review of biogeochemical cycles in the deep ocean.
• The work of my former undergraduate research student, Dr. Paula Welander, on membrane biosignatures in ancient rocks.
• A recent review of the Asgard archaea, that may be our ancient ancestors.
• Some recent work by Dr. DeAnda Torres and collaborators on the Asgard archaea.
• One of the research cruises in which Dr. DeAnda Torres participated.
• During one cruise that included an Alvin dive to a hydrothermal vent, Dr. DeAnda Torres and scientists working with her described their work in this livestream partially in Spanish.
• Dr. DeAnda Torres will be part of some upcoming collaborative research cruises, seen here.
• Here is an article and video describing some of the collaborative work Dr. DeAnda Torres carries out, studying microbial breakdown of PFAS chemicals in marine sediment.
• A link to the faculty website of Dr. DeAnda Torres.
• A link to the research website of the DeAnda Torres group.

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Today, Dr. Emily Davenport, Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology and Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences at Penn State University, joins the #QualityQuorum to tell us about the research her team does, studying how our own genes impact our microbiomes.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Emily Davenport

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• A description of GWAS ("Genome Wide Association Study").  Here is an introductory video about the concept.
• An explainer on organoids.
• An essay about the diversity of the host microbiome (i.e. is there a "healthy" microbiome?).
• An article of the work of Dr. Sarkis Mazamian on how individual host genes and bacterial genes can impact the microbiome.
• A nice write up for Dr. Mazamian's work showing how host genes and bacterial genes can work together…or not.
• An oldish video of how the infant microbiome develops over time by Dr. Rob Knight's research group.
• An article on the same topic from Dr. Ruth Ley.
• An essay on the mucosal microbiota, rather than the fecal microbiome.
• An interesting member of the human microbiome, Akkermansia that might be related to obesity.
• Another interesting member of the human microbiome, Bifidobacterium, which appears to be associated with host lactose metabolism.  Yes, there is a Giant Microbes plush toy.
• An overview of the impact of host genetics on the microbiome by Dr. Davenport.
•  A definition of heritability.
• An overview of the Hutterites and how their study has advanced genetics.
• An explainer of the power of twin studies in genetics.
• A fascinating article about ancient dental plaque microbiome by Dr. Davenport and others.
• Dr. Davenport's faculty website.
• Dr. Davenport's research group website.

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Today, Dr. Francisco Dini Andreote, Assistant Professor of Phytobiomes at Penn State, joins the #QualityQuorum to tell us about the microbiome of plants and the soil, and how understanding that relationship can improve agriculture.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Francisco Dini Andreote

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• An overview of the Type 6 Secretory System of bacteria—almost like a microbial switchblade knife.
• A wonderful video of the T6SS made by a student in my own microbiology course some time ago.
• A video introduction to the Rhizobium-legume symbiosis and why you should care about it (by my PhD advisor from long ago, Dr. Sharon Long).
• A more comprehensive review article on the Rhizobium-legume symbiosis. 
• The chemical signal of geosmin, and how it might be used by other organisms.
• Ecological succession in the development of sauerkraut.
• A must read essay by Carl Zimmer likening the human body to a number of ecological niches.
• The developing field of agroecology. 
• A reminder about the "One Health" concept.
• Mycorrhizae and plant nutrition.
• Chemical communication within the soil.
• A fun remembrance of Norman Borlaug, who urged us to "listen" to plants.
• An overview of the root microbiome.
• The "superorganism" concept versus the "holobiome" concept..
• Striga, a parasite of crop plants.
• Chemical communication and Striga. 
• An interesting and relevant publication from Dr. Dini Andreote's research group, describing how the root microbiome could help agriculture. 
• Dr. Dini Andreote's faculty website.
• Dr. Dini Andreote's very wonderful research team website.

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Today, Dr. Amir Mitchell, Associate Professor of Systems Biology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss using artificial intelligence to develop new and effective antibiotics in our endless battle against drug-resistant microbes.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Amir MItchell

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• An article exploring the impact of the microbiome on drug effectiveness.
• A blog post discussing the relationship between the gut microbiome and creosote metabolism in wood rats.
• An essay about the threat of antibiotic resistance.
• A more scholarly article on this topic.
• A CDC report of the rise of antibiotic resistance.
• A very moving TED talk on this topic.
• An overview of antibiotic resistance mechanisms.
• A video from Dr. Michael Baym's laboratory demonstrating how rapidly antibiotic resistance can occur.
• An essay discussing the use of artificial intelligence in the search for new antibiotics. 
• An article from Dr. Mitchell's research group discussing his approach to identity new antimicrobial compounds.
• Dr. Mitchell's faculty website.
• Dr. Mitchell's very interesting research team website.

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Today, Dr. Reed Stubbendieck, Assistant Professor of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics at Oklahoma State University joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss how microbes and the host communicate with one another in the cystic fibrosis lung.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Reed Stubbendieck

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• An overview of cystic fibrosis as a disease with a genetic link.
• A review of the microbiome of the cystic fibrosis lung.
• An overview of biofilms.
• An interesting role for extracellular DNA itself as a "building block" of biofilms.
• An overview of polymicrobial communities.
• Life in mucus—an interesting essay.
• An overview of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
• Pseudomonas and the siderophore pigment pyoverdin which is not only about iron, but also bacterial conflict and cooperation.  
• An interesting overview of microbe-microbe interactions, often called "sociomicrobiology," and an introductory article on this topic.
• A review of the nasal microbiome.
• The organism Rothia, understudied and of interest to Dr. Stubbendieck's research group. 
• Some work from Dr. Stubbendieck's group describing how Rothia is helpful in inhibiting some disease causing bacteria.
• The organism Dolosigranulum pigrum, also understudied and of interest to Dr. Stubbendieck's research group.
• More work from Dr. Stubbendieck's group with another possibly probiotic bacterium,  Dolosigranulum pigrum, that may protect against disease causing microbes.
•  Dr. Stubbendieck's faculty website.
• Dr. Stubbendieck's very interesting research group website. 

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Today, Dr. Manuel Kleiner, Associate Professor of Microbiomes and Complex Microbial Communities at North Carolina State University,  joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss how diet can influence the microbiome in fascinating ways.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Manuel Kleiner

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• An overview of "pink pigmented facultative methylotrophs," which can lead to wonderful "leaf prints."
• Gnotobiotic versus "germ-free" animals.
• A solid review of the gut microbiome and the relationship to health.
• An article describing how proteins are digested by the microbiota.
• A description of glycan degrading enzymes and the gut microbiome.
• An overview of mucin.
• Description of metaproteomics by Dr. Kleiner.
• Description of metagenomics.
• Gut microbiota and dysbiosis.
• An overview of inflammatory bowel disease.
• An overview of Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron.
• An overview of Akkermansia muciniphila.
• The possibility of microbes "farming" us for mucus!
• The wide ranging and deeply fascinating website for Dr. Kleiner's research group.
• Dr. Kleiner's faculty website.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

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Today, Dr. Karen Lloyd, Professor of Earth Science at the University of Southern California,  joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss her upcoming book Intraterrestrials (Princeton University Press). Dr. Lloyd will describe the 25 year journey she and her coworkers have had exploring microbial life deep underground, and even less likely places.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Karen Lloyd

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• The upcoming book, Intraterrestrials, by Dr. Lloyd.
• Definition of the term "intraterrestrial."
• An interesting review article on intraterrestrial microbes.
• An video overview of extremophiles.
• An overview of the new field of geomicrobiology.
• A definition of "SLiME"s (subsurface lithoautotrophic microbial ecosystem).
• An article on microbial communities found deep underground.
• An article on "just underground" microbial communities that was just published.
• Remembering Dr. Katrina Edwards.
• Microbial communities in New Zealand hot springs.
• Radiolytic microbial communities.
• Photosynthesis by cyanobacteria via deep infrared light at hydrothermal vents (without sunlight).
• Microbes living under extreme acidic conditions:  the famed "snottites."
• Microbes living under extreme alkaline conditions:  NPL-UPL2.
• How slowly can microbes divide?
• A fascinating video by Dr. Lloyd.
• Introducing Dr. Lloyd in her new position at the University of Southern California (an excellent overview of her work).
• Dr. Lloyd's faculty website.
• Dr. Lloyd's research group website.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

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Today Dr. Petra Levin, the George and Irene Freiberg Professor of Biology at Washington University in St. Louis joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss her work with bacterial cell size, environmental stress on bacteria, and antibiotic resistance.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Petra Levin

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• An overview of the periplasm, found in Gram negative bacteria.
• An overview of beta-lactam antibiotics.
• The field of quantitative microbiology.
• An overview of B. subtilis. 
• An overview of E. coli. 
• An overview of Klebsiella. 
• The biography of Barbara McClintock, "A Feeling for the Organism."
• A video explanation of the lac operon of E. coli.
• The LTEE program (Long Term Evolution Experiment) founded by Dr. Rich Lenski.
• The nomenclature of monoderm and diderm bacteria.
• A video explanation of peptidoglycan in bacteria.
• Penicillin binding proteins (PBP) and antibiotic resistance.
• A video about cell division in E. coli.
• A famous article coauthored by Dr. Elio Schaechter that describes cell growth and cell size in bacteria.
• A related article by Dr. Levin and colleagues.
• An overview of ESKAPE bacteria.
• An article from Dr. Levin's research group describing the relationship between pH and antibiotic resistance.
• An article about persister cells and their relevance to antibiotic resistance.
• Dr. Levin's faculty website.
• Dr. Levin's very interesting laboratory website.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Today, Dr. Rosie 'Anolani Alegado of the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa  joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss how weather, climate, and human intervention impact the microbiota to be found in human related seascapes around Hawai'i.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Rosie 'Anolani Alegado

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• An overview of how Hawai'i was settled from Polynesia.
• An essay describing indigenous Hawai'ian culture and its collaborative relationship to the land and sea.
• A must read book "Coral Reefs in a Microbial Sea," by the late Merry Youle, Forest Rohwer, and Derek Vosten.
• Here are several links related to the work of Dr. Isabella Abbott, including this one from Pacific Science.  Again, well worth your reading.
• An overview of the field of ethnobotany, championed by Dr. Abbott.
• Dr. Alegado's previous research was with the fascinating choanoflagellates, which can tell us about the evolution of complex life.  Here is a video about these ancient relatives of us all.  Here is a article from Dr. Alegado describing a bacterial role in the development of this fascinating organism.
• An overview of the "One Health" concept linking human interactions, animals, plants, the land, and the ocean.
• A focus of Dr. Alegado's group research involving the indigenous Hawai'ian  fishponds.
• An overview of community restoration of these ancient structures.
• The role of taro in ethnobotany.
• A fine description of indigenous Hawai'ian mariculture.
• The concept of dysbiosis.
• Tropical storm Wali, which impacted the Hawai'ian Islands.
• An overview of alpha diversity and beta diversity in microbiome studies.
• A fine book about Dr. Barbara McClintock, "A Feeling for the Organism."
• Here is a wonderful video in which Dr. Alegado describes the work of her research group and her interests in the fishponds of Hawai'i.
• Dr. Alegado's faculty website.
• Dr. Alegado's very interesting research group website.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Today, Dr. Rachel Poretsky, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Illinois Chicago joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss how examining wastewater (and related water) can give insights into the presence of pathogen antimicrobial resistance genes and even microbial ecology.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Rachel Poretsky

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• A link to demonstrate the wonders of the Marine Biological Laboratories' Microbial Diversity course, which I know for a fact is life changing.
• Recommended by David Ranada, an article about water bottles and microbes.  
• An essay about the Chicago River and cholera, which led to the necessity of effective waste water treatment.
• An overview of the complexities of waste water treatment.  Here is a video on that topic.  
• An essay by Carl Zimmer about the microbial ecology of lakes…and human beings.
• How "recreational water quality" is determined.
• An article describing the microbiota associated with human biological waste with an amusing name (scroll down).
• How qPCR can be used to determine the prevalence of specific microbes.
• A recent article from Dr. Poretsky's research group, investigating how antimicrobial resistance genes can move through a hospital waste water system.
• A link to the Bacterial-Viral Bioinformatics Resource Center, for which Dr. Poretsky is a Principle Investigator.
• The Illinois state wastewater surveillance dashboard.  Fascinating!
• A Discovery Channel documentary on virus hunting and surveillance that includes Dr. Poretsky.
• Dr. Poretsky's faculty webpage.
• Dr. Poretsky's webpage for her research group.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Today, Dr. Karen Ottemann, Professor and Chair of the Department of Microbiology and Environmental Toxicology at the University of California Santa Cruz joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss the fascinating strategies of Helicobacter pylori, which can cause gastric ulcers and even stomach cancer in people.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Karen Ottemann

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• An overview of Helicobacter pylori and its relationship to gastric ulcers and gastric cancer.
• A video on the relationship between Helicobacteri pylori and gastric diseases.
• The story of how Helicobacter pylori was finally demonstrated to be responsible for gastric ulcers and gastric cancer.
• The prevalence of Helicobacter pylori world wide.
• When Helicobacter pylori does not cause disease:  a possible theory.
• The mechanism by which Helicobacter pylori causes gastric ulcers.
• The mechanism by which Helicobacter pylori causes gastric cancer.
• An overview of gastric cancer.
• An overview of inflammation and cancer.
• One of the articles from Dr. Ottemann's research group discussed in this episode:  "Bacterial flagella hijack type IV pili proteins to control motility."
• Another of the articles from Dr. Ottemann's research group discussed in this episode:  "Helicobacter pylori cheV1 mutants recover semisolid agar migration due to loss of a previously uncharacterized Type IV filament membrane alignment complex homolog."
• Dr. Ottemann's faculty website.
• Dr. Ottemann's research website.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Today, the impressive Dr. Arturo Casadevall of Johns Hopkins University returns to the podcast to discuss how fungal disease is a looming threat on our warming planet, and how these organisms can use pigmentation to adapt to human-associated environments . . . and increase their chances of causing disease.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Arturo Casadevall

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• A video overview of the understudied world of fungi.
• A CDC overview of fungal diseases.
• A hopeful study:  fungi, frogs, and purple bacteria.  A less scholarly but highly recommended essay is here.
• Dr. Casadevall's earlier visit to #MattersMicrobial.
• The story of Alexander Fleming, a stray fungal spore, and penicillin.
• The story of fungi and cyclosporins, which help with organ transplantation in humans.
• A recent New York Times article on fungal networks.
• An article about mass extinctions and "fungal overgrowth."
• A review of the structure and function of melanin.
• An overview of how melanin can be used to turn various forms of radiation into energy.
• A review of high body temperatures versus fungal infections.
• One of the articles discussed today, from Dr. Casadevall's group:  "Impact of Yeast Pigmentation on Heat Capture and Latitudinal Distribution."
• Another article from Dr. Casadevall's group discussed today:  "The hypothermic nature of fungi."
• A really fascinating preprint from Dr. Casadevall's group discussed today:  "Thermal and pigment characterization of environmental fungi in the urban heat island of Baltimore City"
• Dr. Casadevall's faculty website.
• The research website for Dr. Casadevall's group.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Today, Dr. Brianne Barker, Associate Professor of the Biology Department at Drew University, joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss how her undergraduate research group studies how innate immune mechanisms of cells recognize viral invasion.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Brianne Barker

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• A video describing the immune system, both innate and adaptive.
• More of a focus on mechanisms of innate immunity, the focus for today.
• A description of basic immune cells.
• An introductory video describing the viral reproductive cycle in general.
• A description of PRRs (pattern recognition receptors) and MAMPs (microbially associated molecular patterns)
• An overview of interferons and disease.
• An introductory video overview of programmed cell death, called apoptosis.
• The role that retroviruses play in producing blue eggs in chickens.  Here is a very introductory summary.  
• The role that retroviruses play in placental mammals, including humans.
• How do cells recognize invading DNA during viral infection?
• A research paper by Dr. Barker's research group.
• Dr. Barker on This Week in Virology.
• Dr. Barker's faculty website.
• Dr. Barker's research group website.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Today, Dr. Marc Chevrette, Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Cell Science at the University of Florida, joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss how his research group can study novel metabolites and even interactions via study of microbial genomes! Dr. Chevrette reminds us all that microbes are the best chemists!

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Marc Chevrette

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•  An overview of how quickly the field of microbial genomics has advanced.
• How secondary metabolites can be important to antibiosis, cell signaling, and even communication.
• An overview of genome mining, along with another review.
• The program antiSMASH that analyzes genomes for genes involved with secondary metabolites.
• A video describing how antiSMASH can be used to search for possible biosynthetic gene clusters.
• An essay about Dr. Julian Davies.
• An article by Dr. Davies' group suggesting that antibiotics can serve as chemical signals between microbes.
• The idea of "parvomics," studying the role of small molecules in how microbes communicate and interact.
• A great article from Dr. Chevrette and colleagues about how to look for biosynthetic diversity using genome mining.
• An article by Dr. Chevrette and colleagues exploring how groups of microbes can interact in remarkable ways.
• Dr. Chevrette's faculty website.
• Dr. Chevrette's research website.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Today, Dr. Angela Oliverio, Assistant Professor in the Biology Department at Syracuse University, joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss what her research group has been learning about extremophilic single-celled eukaryotes!

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Angela Oliverio

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• An overview of protists.  
• A wondrous video of the types of protists to be found seemingly everywhere.
• A video about amoebae and how YOU can find them.  
• A video about the testate amoebae mentioned in this podcast.
• An essay about the testate amoebae.
• A very old article on temperature limits to eukaryotic life.
• A more modern article on this topic.
• An article from Dr. Oliverio's group on the temperature limits to eukaryotic life.
• The Mullin laboratory at UCSF does remarkable visualization.
• Genomics and the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory.
• How mycoplasma move, with remarkable videos.
• A member of Dr. Oliverio's lab creates beautiful glass art at this Etsy shop.
• A wonderful local news report on Dr. Oliverio and coworker's research.
• A nice overview of Dr. Oliverio's research interest in extremophilic protists.
• An article from Dr. Oliverio's group explaining why we should all care about extremophilic eukaryotes.
• Dr. Oliverio's research website (and SO worth your time)
• Dr. Oliverio's faculty website.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Today, Dr Ariane Briegel, Professor and head of the Integrative Structural Cell Biology research unit at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, France, joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss some of the exciting findings of her research group studying how bacteria and the ever-popular Hawaiian bobtail squid work together at a  molecular level—using cutting-edge cryo-electron  tomography!

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Ariane Briegel

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• The (somewhat venerable) "The Eighth Day of Creation" discussed in this episode.
• A lovely article about the much missed Dr. Esther Lederberg.  Here is another I much enjoyed. 
• A website devoted to Dr. Esther Lederberg.
• A fun video reminder of the symbiosis between Vibrio fischeri and Euprymna scolopes.  
• A review of cryo-electron tomography as applied to the study of bacterial structures.
• A book coauthored by Dr. Briegel on the use of this technology to study cell-microbe interactions.
• A video on the topic of cryo-electron tomography.
• Another video by Dr. Briegel on this topic.  
• An earlier episode of #MattersMicrobial with Dr. Briegel.
• An article by the Moore Foundation that supports the work of Dr. Briegel.
• A article describing how cryo-EM can be applied to whole organisms, like roundworms.  
• Research websites for collaborators on this project, Dr. Edward Ruby and Dr. Margaret McFall-Ngai.
• Dr. Briegel's laboratory website.
• Dr. Briegel's academic website.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Today, Dr Laura Williams, Director of Undergraduate Research at Georgia Institute of Technology, joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss some of the exciting work she did as an associate professor at Providence College with undergraduate students studying predatory bacteria and why we should care about this fascinating topic!

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Laura Williams

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• A quite ancient review article describing the different classes of predatory bacteria by yours truly.
• A very important article on this topic by the late Dr. Lynn Margulis and colleagues.
• An article about my very inspirational first microbiology professor at UCLA, Syd Rittenberg, who did early work on Bdellovibrio.
• Several more up to date review articles on Bdellovibrio.
• The website of Dr. Liz Sockett (where both yours truly and Dr. Williams received some generous training).
• A quite interesting article by Dr. Sockett on Bdellovibrio.
• An article suggesting that predatory bacteria could be used as "living antibiotics."
• An article describing the BALOs concept.
• The article described by Dr. Williams.
• Dr. Williams laboratory group website.
• Dr. Williams current faculty/administrator page.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Today, Dr. George Schaible, Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of California, Santa Barbara, joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss the exciting work he did during his PhD to unravel a fascinating topic:  multicellular magnetotactic microbes!

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: George Schaible

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• What is a postdoctoral scholar in microbiology? 
• A previous #MattersMicrobial podcast about giant bacteria from Dr. Esther Angert.  
• A previous #MattersMicrobial podcast about magnetotactic bacteria from Dr. Arash Komeili.
• A previous #MattersMicrobial podcast about multicellularity in microbes from Dr Will Ratcliff.  
• The transformative Microbial Diversity Course at the Marine Biological Labs at Woods Hole, Massachusetts.
• An article describing the value of the Microbial Diversity Course. 
• I wrote this blog post on Chlorochromatium aggregatum consortium for Small Things Considered many years ago.  
• The "pink berry" consortium at Woods Hole.
• A research paper on genetic interactions within the pink berry consortium, coauthored by a former undergraduate researcher of mine, Dr. Danielle Campbell.  Yes, I am very proud.
• A strategy to easily enrich for magnetotactic bacteria from nature. Here is a video that informs and amuses.  
• An early report of multicellular magnetotactic microbes.
• The research article under discussion in today's podcast.
• A link to Dr. Roland Hatzenpichler's laboratory website (Dr. Hatzenpichler was the originator of this research, all the way back to his own attending the Microbial Diversity Course.).
• The deeply strange genome(s) of Achromatium.
• An introduction to nanoSIMS technology.
• An introduction to stable isotope probing.
• The laboratory website of Dr. Jean-Marie Volland, where Dr. Schaible works at UC Santa Barbara

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Today Dr. Jeff Gralnick, Professor of the Department of Plant and Microbial Sciences at the University of Minnesota joins the #QualityQuorum to tell us a shocking story about how his research group studies the relationship between electrons, microbes, and metals.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Jeff Gralnick

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• An article about Nobel Prize winner Albert Szent-Györgyi.
• The Soudan Formation Iron Mine discussed during the podcast.
• An article on Banded Iron Formations.
• An article about the Oxygen Crisis early in Earth's history.
• An overview of the bacterium Shewanella.
• An overview of the bacterium Geobacter.
• An overview of microbial redox reactions.
• The "bacterial battery" we discussed: the Mudwatt.
• An article on benthic microbial fuel cells.
• An article on extracellular electron transfer by bacteria.
• The laboratory of Dr. Daniel Bond at the University of Minnesota, and colleague of Dr. Gralnick's.
• An essay on microbial nanowires.
• An essay on cable bacteria, which was the topic of #MattersMicrobial podcast #101 with Dr. Nicole Geerlings.
• The new field of electromicrobiology.
• The relationship between Shewanella and fish!  An article by Dr. Gralnick and colleagues on the Shewanella and fish (and bacteriophage) association.
• The article about Jon Beckwith (by Howard Shuman) discussed in the podcast:  "With Toothpicks and Logic."
• Dr. Gralnick's faculty website.
• Dr. Gralnick's laboratory website.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com