Let's Talk Micro

In this episode Luis talks to Dr. Madeline Barron about urinary tract infections (UTIs). Clinical Microbiologists work closely with urine cultures and recover many organisms and perform susceptibility testing. However some questions come to mind. What causes a UTI ? What organisms are typically seen in UTIs? Any treatment options other than antimicrobials? Tune in to find out. Madeline Barron's ar...

Luis and Andrea are back to talk AMR! This time they are joined by Dr. Alyssa Walker to go over polymyxins . As usual they go over important questions such as mechanism of action, intrinsic resistance, applying the interpretation of one drug to another, and more. What media used in the laboratory has colistin in it? Don't miss another great episode. Questions? Feedback? Send those to letstalkmicro...

Regresa la serie en Español. Luis y Maridaliz discuten la tinción de gram. Cómo se prepara la laminilla? Cúales son los reactivos y el proceso? Qué diferencia hay entre bacterias gran-positiva y gram-negativa? Sintonizen a este episodio para aprender sobre una de las pruebas mas importantes en Microbiología Clínica. Preguntas? Comentarios? Envíen un correo electrónico a letstalkmicro@outlook.com D...

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...

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 con...

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...

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. Questions? Feedback? Send those to letstalkmicro@outlook.com Want to support the...

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. Questions? Feedback? Send those to letstalkmicro@outlook.com Want to support the podcast? Here's how: Venmo: https://v...

Originally released as episode 75, in this episode Luis talks about Bacillus and related genera. What are the species that are part of this genus? Which species cause food poisoning? What about endophthalmitis? What are spores? Tune in to find out. Questions? Feedback? Send those to letstalkmicro@outlook.com Want to support the podcast? Here's how: Venmo: https://venmo.com/u/letstalkmicro Buy me a...

In this episode Luis continues going over Corynebacterium . In the last episode he mentioned some media that is used to isolate Corynebacterium diphtheriae . Have you heard of cystine tellurite agar? How about Tinsdale agar? What type of testing is there for the diphtheria toxin? What test systems can identify C. diphtheriae ? Tune in to learn more about this organism and how this media works. Que...

Back to the gram-positive rods! This week Luis goes back to gram-positive rods: Corynebacterium this time. The episode starts with an overview: gram stain, biochemicals, morphology, and species. What do you know about Corynebacterium diphtheriae ? Does it always cause diphtheria? What is a pseudomembrane? Tune in and download this episode to learn about this genus that has some species commonly se...

What is antimicrobial stewardship ? What is a hospital antibiogram? In this episode Dr. Timothy Gauthier joins the podcast and talks to Luis about antimicrobial stewardship. Dr. Gauthier is a pharmacist and creator of the IDstewardship.com and Learnantibiotics.com websites. He is also the author of a book titled Learn Antibiotics. Luis asks him about what antibiotics are used to treat certain orga...

What is the Doctor in Public Health (DrPH) degree? What kind of work does it prepare you to do? What concentrations does this degree has? In this episode Luis talks to Dr. Jill Roberts, an associate professor at the University of South Florida (USF). Dr. Roberts is the director of the DrPH with a concentration in Public Health and Clinical Laboratory Science and Practice degree program at USF. Wha...

Microbiology in high school ? Must people take biology in high school, but microbiology is not typically an option. Those of you that are microbiology lovers, would you have taken it had there been an option? Well, check out this episode where Meredith Townsend, a high school teacher joins the podcast to talk to Luis about teaching microbiology to her students. She talks about the curriculum, grad...

In this episode Luis continues going over Listeria : testing and media. First he goes over two test systems that can detect Listeria in blood, and then he goes over media. Have you heard of Oxford or Palcalm agar? How about chromogenic agar for Listeria ? Tune in to continue learning about this critical organism. Questions? Feedback? Email those to letstalkmicro@outlook.com

Luis is talking micro in this episode. We continue our journey over gram-positive rods. This time is about Listeria . What are the virulence factors of Listeria ? What is its morphology? Biochemicals? Tune in to learn about this critical organism, its resemblance to another pathogen, ways of identifying it, atypical presentations, and more. Questions? Feedback? Send those to letstalkmicro@outlook....

You requested it and it is here! Dr. Kristen Smith joins the podcast to talk about the American Board of Medical Microbiology (ABMM) certification. What is the ABMM certification? How does it help you professionally ? What are the requirements? CPEP fellowship? Tune in to listen to Dr. Smith answer these questions and more. Link to American Society for Microbiology ABMM information: https://asm.or...

Are you familiar with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Antimicrobial Laboratory Network( AR Lab Network)? How about the ThermoFisher Sensititre? In this episode, Amelia Bhatnagar from the CDC joins the podcast to talk about a study that was performed to evaluate the Sensititre GN7F panel. She discusses the study and explains to the listeners what the AR Lab Network is. Tune in t...

The next episode of the AMR series is here! In this episode Luis and Andrea are joined by Dr. Patrick McDaneld to discuss aminoglycosides. We go over mechanism of action, what drugs are part of this class, what organisms does it have activity against, and more. We invite you to check the CLSI M100 and get familiarized with it. Questions? Suggestions? Email those at letstalkmicro@outlook.com

The field of Microbiology continues to change. Organisms were primarily identified in the clinical laboratory by biochemical testing. Then MALDI-TOF came to the lab and was incorporated to the workflow. Now labs are bringing next-generation sequencing (NGS). What is NGS? How does it work? Have you heard of Nanopore technologies? In this episode Dr. Jose Alexander and Daniel Navas from Advent Healt...

Have you heard about Variovorax durovernensis ? The field of Microbiology is one that continues to change, sometimes at a fast pace. With MALDI-TOF and whole genome sequencing making rapid advances, we now learn more of existing organisms and discover novel ones. Tune in to learn about how this novel species was discovered, including the testing performed and the reason behind its name. Link to ar...

Are you familiar with the Manual of Clinical Microbiology (MCM)? If you work in a clinical microbiology laboratory you might be familiar with it. Last year the 13th edition was released. What content is in the MCM? Where is the information obtained from? What is new in this edition? Is it available online? Dr. Karen Carroll, one of the editors-in chief joins the podcast to discuss this important r...

It is 2024. Is your laboratory using current breakpoints? Are you familiar with the requirements? This episode features a collaboration with Breakpoints: The SIDP Podcast. In it I join the podcast along with two other guests to talk about those requirements among other things. Check out the Breakpoints podcast: https://sidp.pinecast.co More information on breakpoints toolkit: https://clsi.org/meet...

Originally published as episodes 36 and 37, in this episode I go over Streptococcus agalactiae . I discuss morphology, biochemicals, and testing among other things. What is the Lancefield group of this organism? What is the significance of this organism in neonates? Any organisms that morphologically resemble it? Tune in to find out.

Originally released as episode 53, 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.