If you work in a clinical microbiology laboratory, you might have worked with bone and joint samples. In this episode we dive deeper into bone and joint infections. Luis is joined by Dr. Joan Gomez-Junyent, an Infectious Diseases physician at Hospital Del Mar in Barcelona, Spain. Dr. Gomez goes over different types of infections. What organisms are typically seen? Is there a typical treatment of choice? How about antimicrobial resistance? Tune in to hear Dr. Gomez go over these questions and more.

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Season 4 is here! Tune in for the first episode. Luis talks to Dr. Paul Hergenrother about lolamicin. Dr. Hergenrother is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Illinois in Urnaba-Champaign. He was previously a guest in the podcast (fabimycin episode) and this time he returns to talk about another potential antibiotic candidate: lolamicin. What is lolamicin? What is the mechanism of action? What organisms does it have activity against? Does it affect the gut microbiota?

Link to Dr. Hergenrother's article: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07502-0

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Have you been in a job or career that you feel is not a good fit for you? Perhaps you want to try something different but do not know how to get there? Sometimes you might be dreading going to work or just feel unhappy. In this episode Luis talks to Dr. Duane Newton. Duane is a microbiologist with extensive training and at one point in his career he describes feeling "miserable". What did he do to change that? Tune in to this episode to listen to how Duane navigated his path to find himself in a happy place. He shares his story and also gives advice on how you can navigate your own path.

Dr. Newton's website: https://dwnconsult.com

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This episode features an interview with Dr. Garcia- Ojeda from the University of California Merced. One of the results of the pandemic was that educators had to adapt to remote teaching. How do they remotely teach students those hands-on skills that are so important in Microbiology? Dr. Garcia Ojeda talks about what he did with his Microbiology laboratory. What was the outcome? How did the students perform? Tune in to find out.

Link to article: https://doi.org/10.1128/jmbe.00328-21

If you have any questions please email Dr. Garcia Ojeda at:

mgarcia-ojeda@ucmerced.edu

In this episode I continue going over S. pneumoniae. This time I go over a popular antigen test, and I also discuss molecular testing, including limitations and the importance of correlating the gram stain with the result. Also, have you heard of Streptococcus pseudopneumoniae?

This week I return to Streptococcus, this time S. pneumoniae. In this episode I go over its virulence, pathogenicity, and more. How do we identify it in the lab? What tests can we use? What is the bile solubility test?Tune in to this episode to find out.

This week's episode features an interview with Dr. Jeniffer Dien Bard and Dr. Amy Leber. Dr. Dien Bard is the Director of Microbiology at the Children's Hospital in Los Angeles, California. Dr. Leber works at the Department of Pathology Laboratory Medicine at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. They join the podcast this week to talk about the shortages of Clinical Medical Laboratory Professionals in Microbiology. Why do we have these shortages? What about training programs? How long does training a professional takes? Tune in to this episode to find out.

Link to original article: https://doi.org/10.1128/jcm.00241-22

Link to certification for laboratory personnel: https://www.ascp.org/content/board-of-certification/get-credentialed

Link for accredited programs: https://www.naacls.org/Find-a-Program.aspx

This episode features an interview with Claire Danielson and Sarah LewAllen form the Medical Laboratory Sciences Program at Michigan Tech University (MTU). They discuss an initiative that has been in place for quite some time: the Summer Youth Program. This program brings awareness to the Medical Lab Science profession by teaching high school students about the laboratory.

In this episode I go two types of media and one PCR test used for the detection of Vancomycin Resistant Enterococcus (VRE). What is this media composed of? How does it detect VRE? What about this PCR test? What is it looking for? Tune in to find out.

In this episode I go over Enterococcus species. What are the most clinically significant species of Enterococcus? Morphology? Biochemicals? Tune in to find out more about these organisms, and why are they so significant in healthcare settings.

In this episode I continue going over tips and suggestions you can use when you don't have supplies or are having difficulty isolating an organism. What if you are out of PEA or CNA? Will Lim broth help? What else can you use Martin Lewis and Modified Thayer Martin for ? How do susceptibilities help you isolate an organism? Tune in to find out.

In the laboratory we have all experienced a shortage of supplies. We have also struggled to isolate and organism. What do we do when this happens? What if you are trying to isolate a gram positive cocci but there is no PEA or CNA? What if you need to isolate a Pseudomonas aeruginosa from a mixed culture? Tune in to this episode to find out.

This episode features an interview with Dr. Alan Wu, a professor of Laboratory Medicine at the University of California in San Francisco and co-Laboratory Director. Dr Wu has made numerous contributions to the laboratory field and is making one more: a television show that accurately depicts the laboratory ! Find out more about Dr Wu's show by tuning in to this episode.

Article about the show: https://zsfg.ucsf.edu/news/lab-director-and-author-create-tv-series-highlighting-unsung-heroes-medical-field

In this episode Luis talks to Grace Leu-Burke, Program Director and professor at the University of Alaska in Anchorage (UAA) Medical Laboratory Sciences Program. She joins the podcast to talk about her career and talks about the MLS program at UAA. She goes over the Microbiology curriculum, the importance of biochemical testing, and more. She also talks about the research that her students are conducting involving moose and stool samples.

Link to UAA MLS program:

https://www.uaa.alaska.edu/academics/college-of-health/departments/school-of-allied-health/medical-laboratory-science/index.cshtml

Questions? Feedback? Send those to letstalkmicro@outlook.com

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In this episode I continue going over beta hemolytic strep: this time Streptococcus anginosus group. What are the species that compose this group? What is the Lancefield group? What about biochemicals and morphology? Tune in to find out.

Questions? Feedback? Send those to letstalkmicro@outlook.com

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This is a special edition episode. In lieu of all the recent information about monkeypox, Dr. Rodney Rohde comes to the podcast to provide us with some information about this virus. Dr. Rohde is an experienced microbiologist and educator. He is program chair and professor in the Clinical Laboratory Science program at Texas State University. Tune in to learn about monkeypox, including signs, symptoms, treatment options, and outbreak information.

Dr Rhode's most recent publication: https://theconversation.com/what-is-monkeypox-a-microbiologist-explains-whats-known-about-this-smallpox-cousin-183499

This week I continue going over beta hemolytic strep: this time Streptococcus dysgalactiae. What Lancefield group is it? What about media, biochemicals and pathogenicity? Tune in to find out the answers.

This episode features an interview with Dr. Lacy Moss, a professor at the University of Utah Medical Laboratory Sciences program. She joins the podcast to discuss an initiative launched by the MLS program and the University: the Summer Immersion Program. In this program high school students will learn about laboratory medicine. How does it work? How does it help the Medical Laboratory Sciences profession? Tune in to find out.

Link to article: https://medicine.utah.edu/pathology/medical-laboratory-science/news/med-lab-sci-summer-immersion-program.php

This episode features an interview with Dr. Andrea Prinzi, an infectious disease medical science liaison and a contributor of many articles published in the American Society for Microbiology website. She comes to Let's Talk Micro to talk about antimicrobial susceptibility testing and breakpoints. Many laboratories are or have been using outdated breakpoints? What is the significance of this? How are breakpoints updated? Tune in to this episode to find out and check out Dr. Prinzi's article on the subject.

Link to article: https://asm.org/Articles/2022/February/Updating-Breakpoints-in-Antimicrobial-Susceptibili

What is BacterioSight? As automation becomes a larger part of Laboratory Medicine, how could it help with urine cultures? This episode features an interview with Dr. Daniel Rhoads from the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. Dr. Rhoades talks about BacterioSight, a deep learning model that was used to interpret images from urine cultures. Other areas of the laboratory already have systems where some results autofile. What if this could be applied to cultures in Microbiology? Tune in to this episode to find out more about BacterioSight and its potential applications.

Link to article: https://academic.oup.com/clinchem/article-abstract/68/4/574/6520601?redirectedFrom=fulltext

This episode features a collaboration between two Microbiology podcasts: The Microbe Moment and Let's Talk Micro. On this episode I am the one being interviewed. Find out what is like being a Medical Laboratory Scientist (MLS) in Microbiology and what teaching is like. What does an MLS do? What are the responsibilities of a supervisor? What about teaching? Find out by listening to this episode.

This week Let's Talk Micro is talking virology, specifically about the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). This episode features an interview with Dr. Hsu, a stem cell specialist from the Weill Medical College at Cornell University in New York. She discusses an article about a patient that has been possibly cured from HIV after a stem cell transplant with cord blood cells. What is the CCR5 gene? What is its relationship to HIV? Tune in to find out about this interesting article.

Link to article: https://news.weill.cornell.edu/news/2022/02/patient-possibly-cured-of-hiv-infection-by-special-stem-cell-transplant

This episode features an interview with Dr. Charlene Kahler from the Marshall Centre for Infectious Diseases Research and Training at the University of Western Australia. She discusses and article titled "Neisseria species and their complicated relationships with human health". Tune in to this episode to find out more information about different species of Neisseria and their significance in the human body.

Link to article: https://www.publish.csiro.au/ma/fulltext/ma21024

This episodes features an interview with Dr. Ayesha Khan, one of the authors of a study performed on automated susceptibility testing on S. maltophilia. Three systems were evaluated. How did they perform? Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is a very significant organism that has a high level of intrinsic antibiotic resistance. What are the challenges with breakpoints? Tune in to find out.

As a microbiologist, you might have worked on a project or validation that involved organisms from the AR Isolate Bank. You might have asked where they came from and you were told that they were obtained from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). What is the Antimicrobial Resistance Isolate Bank (AR Bank)? What organisms are part of this bank? What are they used for? In this episode Luis is joined by two guests from the CDC to answer these questions and more.

Links to the AR Isolate Bank website and more:

AR Isolate Bank - https://wwwn.cdc.gov/arisolatebank/

CDC's site on AR Isolate Bank - https://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/resistance-bank/index.html

AR Isolate Bank’s email: ARBank@cdc.gov

The National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria - https://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/us-activities/national-action-plan.html

2023 Breakpoint Implementation Toolkit (2023 BIT) - https://clsi.org/meetings/ast/breakpoints-in-use-toolkit/?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI2-rJ3vqKhAMVXVxHAR1nkACvEAAYASAAEgIi3PD_BwE

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This episode features an interview with Dr. Carey-Ann Burnham, Dr. Daniel Webber and Meghan Wallace from Washington University in St. Louis. They are the authors of a study where disk diffusion testing was performed on isolates that had an incubation time of 6 hours. One of the challenges in Microbiology is time. In Microbiology organisms are incubated for 18 to 24 hours, Tune in to this episode to find out the results of this study.

Link to article is attached.

In January there was an episode about Staphylococcus argenteus, a member of the S. aureus complex. This episode features an interview about a new member of the Staphylococcus aureus complex: Staphylococcus singaporensis. Dr . Jeanette Teo joins the podcast to discuss her study about this organism. How similar is S. singaporensis to S. aureus? Any virulence factors? Tune in to find out.

What is Todd Hewitt broth? Is it the same as LIM broth? What's in it? In this episode I go over Todd Hewitt Broth, and two PCR tests used for the detection of S. agalactiae (GBS).

In this episode I continue going over species of Streptococcus. This week's episode is about Streptococcus agalactiae. What is the Lancefield group of this Strep species? Is it pathogenic?. Tune in to this episode to find the answer to these questions and more.

Wohlfahrtiimonas what? Have you heard about this organism? It is a gram negative rod and it is very unusual. In this episode Dr. Paul Luethy from the University of Maryland School of Medicine comes to the podcast to discuss a case regarding this organism. How is it identified? Does it grow on standard media? What about susceptibilities? Tune in to this episode to find out.

The case was published in the Emergent Infectious Diseases journal from the CDC .

Link: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/27/12/21-0327_article

In this episode I go over three tests used for the detection of S. pyogenes: two antigen based and one PCR. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each one? Do negative results need to be confirmed by a culture? Tune in to find out.

After going over Staph and other gram positive cocci (gpc) in clusters, now is the turn for gram positive cocci in chains. This week's episode is about S. pyogenes or Group A Strep (GAS). What is the clinical significance of GAS? How do we identify it in the lab?. Tune in to this episode to find the answers to these questions and more.

This episode goes beyond Microbiology. It is about Medical Laboratory Sciences. In the episode I talk to Xander Fernandes and Maria Roussakis, two Medical Laboratory Technologists from Ontario, Canada. They talk about their website, medlabscholar.com, which contains great resources for Medical Laboratory Science students and professionals. What can we do to bring more awareness to this profession? Tune in to find out.

In this week's episode I continue going over Coagulase negative Staph. I also go over other gram positive cocci in clusters such as Micrococcus and Aerococcus. Are these pathogenic? How do we identify them in the lab? Tune in to find out.

In this episode I go over Coagulase Negative Staphylococcus or CNS. Are they pathogenic or normal flora? Do we identify them or is a presumptive identification enough? Tune in to this episode to find out.

The next episode of the AMR series is here! Luis and Andrea are joined by Dr. Brandon Hill to talk about the Tetracyclines. What is the mechanism of action of this antimicrobial group? What drugs are part of it? Is there any intrinsic resistance? Tune in for another great episode where we "break down" antimicrobials.

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This episode features an interview with Dr. Robin Patel and Dr. Audrey Schuetz to discuss an article titled "Phenotypic and Genomic Profiling of Staphylococcus argenteus in Canada and the United States and Recommendations for Clinical Result Reporting". They are Co-Directors of the Bacteriology Laboratory at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. Challenges in identifying this organism are discussed. Staphylococcus argenteus is part of the Staphylococcus aureus complex, and is very similar to S. aureus, including morphology, biochemicals and clinical manifestations. See links for the article.

This the last episode of 2021. What is chromogenic agar? In this episode I go over chromogenic agar used to detect MRSA. I also talk about Mannitol salt agar and how it aids in the isolation of Staphylococcus aureus.

On this episode I go over how to identify Staphylococcus aureus from a standard set of agar plates. I also go over a test used to determine if this organism is an MRSA or not.

In this episode I talk about Staphylococcus aureus. This is one of the most common organisms seen in Clinical Microbiology and a very serious one. Tune in to find about more about this organism, including its pathogenicity and significance in health care settings.

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This episode is part two of a two-part episode. What are the limitations of the Vitek MS? In this episode I go over the limitations of the Vitek MS regarding identification of organisms. I also go over the pros and cons of having this system in the laboratory.

What is MALDI-TOF? How is it used in Clinical Microbiology?. This is the first part of a two part episode where I discuss MALDI-TOF, and its applications in Clinical Microbiology.

Instagram follower suggestion: After mentioning on a post that Pasteurella was my favorite, a follower suggested for me to make an episode about it. In this episode I talk about Pasteurella, and why do I like it.

In this episode I continue going over anaerobic bacteria. Is blood agar sufficient to recover anaerobes? Listen to this episode to learn about different media used for the recovery of anaerobic bacteria.

In this episode I continue going over anaerobes. Are all sources acceptable for anaerobic cultures? How do you achieve the anaerobic environment these organisms need to grow? Find out in this episode.

What is anaerobic bacteria? What is a facultative anaerobe? In this episode I introduce anaerobic bacteria and its relationship to oxygen and growth. Some species are mentioned.

Originally released as episode 76, in this episode Luis continues going over Bacillus. Now that we know its groups and what diseases they are implicated on, it's time to talk about media and morphology. What do the colonies look like? What is MYP agar? PEMBA? Tune in to find out.

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Following up Dania's interview, in this episode I go over thioglycolate broth. What is it used for? Is it helpful in cultures? Listen to find out.

This week's episode features Let's Talk Micro's second interview. Dania Casellas is a microbiologist that performs testing on donor organs.

In this episode I continue going over tests and biochemicals for gram negative cocci. In addition I briefly go over different species of gram negative cocci and introduce new agar: Martin Lewis and Modified Thayer Martin.