Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Elio Schaechter, and Michael Schmidt.

On episode #27 of the podcast, Vincent, Elio, and Michael review how inflammation allows Salmonella to compete with fermenting gut microbes, and a riboswitch in bacterial and Archeal species that is triggered by fluoride.

Right click to download TWiM #27 (52 MB, .mp3, 75 minutes).

Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iTunes, Zune Marketplace, via RSS feed, by email or listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app.

Links for this episode:

• Gut inflammation aids Salmonella (PNAS)
• Gut inflammation allows enthanolamine utilization (PNAS)
• Are pathogenic bacteria looking for food (Trends Micro)
• Fluoride-responsive riboswitches (Science)
• Letters read on TWiM #27

Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or call them in to 908-312-0760. You can also post articles that you would like us to discuss at microbeworld.org and tag them with twim.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Elio Schaechter, and Michael Schmidt.

On episode #26 of the podcast, Vincent, Elio, and Michael discuss the finding of Sutterella species in the gut of autistic children, and methods for cultivating oral bacteria.

Right click to download TWiM #26 (54 MB, .mp3, 75 minutes).

Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iTunes, Zune Marketplace, via RSS feed, by email or listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app.

Links for this episode:

• Microbiome in gut of autistic childern (mBio)
• Cultivating oral bacteria (AEM)
• Microbial endocrinology (STC)
• Coxiella escapes from cell! (STC)
• Letters read on TWiM #26

Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or call them in to 908-312-0760. You can also post articles that you would like us to discuss at microbeworld.org and tag them with twim.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Elio Schaechter.

On episode #25 of the podcast, Vincent, Elio, and Michael review bacteria that use the earth’s magnetic field for navigation, and identification of totally drug resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Right click to download TWiM #25 (53 MB, .mp3, 77 minutes).

Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iTunes, Zune Marketplace, via RSS feed, by email or listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app.

Links for this episode:

• Magnetotactic bacteria (FEMS Micro Rev)
• How bacteria break a magnet (Nature)
• Magnetosome chains split by asymmetric septation (Mol Micro)
• Totally drug resistant TB in India (Clin Inf Dis)
• Totally drug resistant TB in Iran (Chest)
• Fitness cost of drug resistance in TB (PNAS)
• India reports totally drug resistant TB (Wired)
• Letters read on TWiM #25

Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or call them in to 908-312-0760. You can also post articles that you would like us to discuss at microbeworld.org and tag them with twim.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Cliff Mintz.

On episode #24 of the podcast, Vincent, Michael, and Cliff review ten compelling microbiology stories from 2011.

Please help us by taking our listener survey.

Ten Microbiology stories from 2011:

Right click to download TWiM #24 (57.5 MB, .mp3, 79 minutes).

Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iTunes, Zune Marketplace, via RSS feed, by email or listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app.

Links for this episode:

• Body odor may explain mosquito preference
• Skin microbiota and attractiveness to mosquitos (PLoS One)
• Letters read on TWiM #24

Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or call them in to 908-312-0760. You can also post articles that you would like us to discuss at microbeworld.org and tag them with twim.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Jo Handlesman, and Elio Schaechter.

On episode #23 of the podcast, Vincent, Jo, Elio, and Michael explain how a swarming bacterium helps disperse a non-motile fungus, and bacterial antibiotic tolerance mediated by hydrogen sulfide and starvation responses.

Please help us by taking our listener survey.

Right click to download TWiM #23 (52.5 MB, .mp3, 76 minutes).

Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iTunes, Zune Marketplace, via RSS feed, by email or listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app.

Links for this episode:

• Paenibacillus carries Aspergillus (PNAS)
• Hydrogen sulfide: a defense against antibiotics (Science)
• Starvation responses to mediate antibiotic tolerance (Science)
• Antioxidant strategies to tolerate antibiotics (Science)
• Eshel Ben-Jacob's Microbial Art
• Submit a topic for ASM GM 2012
• Letters read on TWiM #23

Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or call them in to 908-312-0760. You can also post articles that you would like us to discuss at microbeworld.org and tag them with twim.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Al Sacchetti.

On episode #22 of the podcast This Week in Microbiology, Vincent and Michael speak with Alfred Sacchetti, MD, Chief of Emergency Services at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center, about microbial infections encountered in the emergency room.

Please help us by taking our listener survey.

Right click to download TWiM #22 (48 MB, .mp3, 98 minutes).

Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iTunes, Zune Marketplace, via RSS feed, by email or listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app.

Links for this episode:

• Al Sacchetti wins 2010 ACEP Award
• A pathogen's Swiss army knife (Small Things Considered)
• S. aureus: Superbug, supergenome? (Trends in Micro)
• Letters read on TWiM #22

Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or call them in to 908-312-0760. You can also post articles that you would like us to discuss at microbeworld.org and tag them with twim.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Elio Schaechter.

On episode #21 of the podcast This Week in Microbiology, Vincent and Elio discuss an ancient symbiosis between Alphaproteobacteria and catenulid flatworms, and a toxin from Helicobacter pylori that engages the mitochondrial fission machinery to induce host cell death.

Please help us by taking our listener survey.

Right click to download TWiM #21 (50 MB, .mp3, 68 minutes).

Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iTunes, Zune Marketplace, via RSS feed, by email or listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app.

Links for this episode:

• Paracatenula, an ancient symbiosis (PNAS)
• Review on symbiotic diversity in marine animals (Nat Rev Micro)
• Helicobacter pylori vacuolating cytotoxin A (PNAS)
• Review of H. pylori VacA (Nat Rev Micro)
• Viral desserts (Virus Talk)
• Letters read on TWiM #21

Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or call them in to 908-312-0760. You can also post articles that you would like us to discuss at microbeworld.org and tag them with twim.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Elio Schaechter.

On episode #20 of the podcast This Week in Microbiology, Vincent, Michael, and Elio follow up on the outbreaks of E. coli in Germany and cholera in Haiti, then discuss genes that confer self-identity to Proteus mirabilis.

Please help us by taking our listener survey.

Right click to download TWiM #20 (49 MB, .mp3, 68 minutes).

Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iTunes, Zune Marketplace, via RSS feed, by email or listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app.

Links for this episode:

• German outbreak of E. coli O104:H4 associated with sprouts (NEJM)
• South Asia not Nepal may be source of Haitian cholera strain (mBio)
• Identity gene expression in Proteus mirabilis (J. Bacteriol.)
• Proteus swarm movie (YouTube)
• Proteus moves at a speed of 4 x 10-5 mph
• Education resources at ASM
• Letters read on TWiM #20

Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or call them in to 908-312-0760. You can also post articles that you would like us to discuss at microbeworld.org and tag them with twim.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Elio Schaechter and Jo Handelsman.

On episode #19 of the podcast This Week in Microbiology, Vincent, Michael, Elio, and Jo discuss the genome sequence of Y. pestis from victims of the Black Death, and the effect of diet on gut microbial enterotypes.

Right click to download TWiM #19 (43 MB, .mp3, 60 minutes).

Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iTunes, Zune Marketplace, via RSS feed, by email or listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app.

Links for this episode:

• Yersinia pestis genome sequence from Black Death victims (Nature)
• Black Death genome fished out of East Smithfield (Contagions)
• Brief primer on Yersinia
• Dietary patterns and gut microbial enterotypes (Science)
• The guts of dietary habit (Science)
• Review of human gut microbiome (Ann Rev Micro)
• Letters read on TWiM #19

Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or call them in to 908-312-0760. You can also post articles that you would like us to discuss at microbeworld.org and tag them with twim.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Stanley Maloy and Elio Schaechter.

On episode #18 of the podcast This Week in Microbiology, Vincent, Michael, Elio, and Stanley explain how to make the human intestinal commensal and benign laboratory bacterium Escherichia coli K-12 into an invasive organism, and the
unearthing of century-old spores in New York City.

Right click to download TWiM #18 (54 MB, .mp3, 74 minutes).

Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iTunes, Zune Marketplace, via RSS feed, by email or listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app.

Links for this episode:

• Conversion of E. coli K-12 to an invasive form (mBio)
• Pedigree of E. coli K-12 (pdf)
• Cambridge City Council recombinant DNA hearings
• The facade of E. coli K-12 (Small Things Considered)
• Unearthing of century old bacteria in NYC (ABC News)
• Bacteria in 30,000 year old salt crystals (Geology)
• Old bacteria in ice
• Old, small, cold... (Small Things Considered)
• IP6 mediated autoprocessing of bacterial toxins (PloS Path)
• Letters read on TWiM #18

Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or call them in to 908-312-0760. You can also post articles that you would like us to discuss at microbeworld.org and tag them with twim.