Matters Microbial

Matters Microbial #83: Helicobacter — Passing the Acid Test March 19, 2025 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. Mar...

Matters Microbial #82: Melanin, Fungi, and Global Warming March 13, 2025 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. Marti...

Matters Microbial #81: Viruses, Innate Immunity, and Undergraduates March 5, 2025 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 Subscribe: Apple Podcasts ,  Spotify...

Matters Microbial #80: Do Microbes Make the Best Chemists? February 27, 2025 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:...

Matters Microbial #79: How Amoebae Beat the Heat February 20, 2025 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 Subscribe: Apple Podcasts ,  Spotify Become a  patron  of Matters...

Matters Microbial #78: An EXTREME Close Up of the Squid-Vibrio Symbiosis February 13, 2025 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 togeth...

Matters Microbial #77: It's a Germ-Eat-Germ World! February 6, 2025 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: Ma...

Matters Microbial #76:  Marvelous Multicellular Magnetotactic Microbes! January 29, 2025 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 Subscribe: Apple Po...

Matters Microbial #75: Do Gut Microbes Watch their Carbs?   January 22, 2025 Today, Dr. Darrell Cockburn, Associate Professor of Food Science at Penn State, joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss the work his research group has done exploring how starches and other polysaccharides are used by the gut microbiome.  Host: Mark O. Martin Guest:  Darrell Cockburn Subscribe:  Apple Podcasts ,  Spotify Beco...

Matters Microbial #74: Podcasting to Combat Microbial Misinformation January 16, 2025 Today, Dr. Jessica Coates of the Biology Department at Spelman College joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss her work combating microbial misinformation in the classroom and to share her journey to the microbial sciences.   Host: Mark O. Martin Guest:  Jessica Coates Subscribe: Apple Podcasts ,  Spotify Become a  p...

Matters Microbial #73: Seeing the Microbiome January 8, 2025 Today, Dr. Travis Wiles, Assistant Professor of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at the University of California, Irvine, joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss the work he and his research group have done to visualize the changing dynamics of the gut microbiome—including bacteriophages residing there.  Host: Mark O. Martin Guest:  Travis...

Matters Microbial #72: Who is in Your Water? January 2, 2025 Today, Dr. Ameet Pinto, Carlton S. Wilder Associate Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss the microbiome of drinking water and how it can be used to optimize safety and health.  Host: Mark O. Martin Guest:  Ameet Pinto Subscribe: Apple Podcasts ,  Spot...

Matters Microbial #71: Disinfecting the Built Environment December 25, 2024 Ever wonder what's growing on your toothbrush? Today, Dr. Erica Hartmann, Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Northwestern University, joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss how antimicrobial resistance can occur in the built environment we see all around us every day—and why it is vital to learn mor...

Matters Microbial #70: Food Safety and Antibiotic Resistance December 18, 2024 Today, Dr. Dr. Erika Ganda, Assistant Professor of Food Animal Microbiomes in the Department of Animal Science at Pennsylvania State University, joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss the varied interests of her research team studying the intersection of animal husbandry, microbiome studies, and the threat of antimicrobial...

Matters Microbial #69: Can Eating Microbes Make You Healthy? December 11, 2024 Today, Dr. Maria Marco, Professor of Food Science and Technology at the University of California Davis, joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss microorganisms in food, intestinal ecosystems, and the role that lactic acid bacteria can play in health and well-being. Host: Mark O. Martin Guest:  Maria Marco Subscribe: Apple Po...

Matters Microbial #68: Social Evolution in Viruses December 4, 2024 Today, Dr. Sam Díaz-Muñoz, Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, as well as a Faculty Member of the Genome Center at the University of California Davis, joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss how their group, and a growing community of researchers, investigates the social lives of viruses: the many ways that vir...

Matters Microbial #67: Chemical Communication in Microbe Symbioses November 27, 2024 Today, Dr. Marcy Balunas, Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, as well as part of the Department of Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Michigan, joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss how her group investigates the chemical signals—the language—between host and microbe symbioses. Host: Mark O. Ma...

Matters Microbial #66: Digesting the Science of Fermented Foods November 20, 2024 Today, Dr. Ben Wolfe, Associate Professor of Biology at Tufts University, joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss how he and his collaborators study novel food fermentations, helping the public understand more about the gut microbiome, and outreach projects involving microbially-associated food. Host: Mark O. Martin Gues...

Today, Dr. Alex Bisson, Assistant Professor of Biology at Brandeis University, joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss how he and his collaborators use a variety of tools to study the mechanobiology of archaea (such as how some respond to being "squished"), and how those studies can shed light on the evolution of complex eukaryotes like humans. Host: Mark O. Martin Guest:  Alex Bisson Subscribe: Apple...

Today, Dr. Patrick Schloss, Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology in the School of Medicine at the University of Michigan, joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss how the human microbiome is studied, possible pitfalls in such data analysis, and what tools he and his coworkers have developed to lead toward repeatable, hypothesis-driven science. Host: Mark O. Martin Guest:  Patrick...

Matters Microbial #63: A Symphony of Cyanobacteria October 30, 2024 Today, Dr. Nathan Algren, Associate Professor of Biology at Clark University, joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss the centrality of cyanobacteria to our biosphere, the viruses that prey upon them, and his interests in outreach and science-oriented art. Host: Mark O. Martin Guest:  Nathan Ahlgren Subscribe:  Apple Podcasts ,  Spoti...

Matters Microbial #62: Should I Stay, or Should I Go—How Bacteriophage are Released from Host Cells October 23, 2024 Today, Dr. Jolene Ramsey, of the Biology Department of Texas A&M University and Affiliate of the Center for Phage Technology, joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss how bacteriophages release themselves from host cells, her efforts to teach students to work with the primary literature,...

Matters Microbial #61: All In Due Time–How Bacteria Wake from Dormancy October 17, 2024 Today, Dr. Paul Carini, of the Environmental Science department of the University of Arizona, joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss how soil bacteria can become dormant, "wake up," and why that is more relevant than you might suppose. Host: Mark O. Martin Guest:  Paul Carini Subscribe: Apple Podcasts ,  Spotify B...

Matters Microbial #60: Influenza, Epidemics, Pandemics, and Fortunate Mistakes October 9, 2024 Today, Dr. Adam Lauring of the University of Michigan joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss the job of a physician-scientist, RNA viruses, the tricks that influenza uses to create epidemics and pandemics, and the science behind flu vaccines. Host: Mark O. Martin Guest:  Adam Lauring Subscribe: Apple Podcas...

Matters Microbial #59: Some (Microbes) Like It Hot—Discussions with the Thermal Biology Institute October 3, 2024 Today is an unusual episode of the podcast.  I am visiting four microbiologists in the Thermal Biology Institute at Montana State University of Bozeman, Montana.  They discuss their work exploring the unusual microbes and environments to be found in Yellowstone National Park, ranging f...