MicrobeWorld

Microbe magazine's Jeff Fox speaks with Michael and Becky Terns of the University of Georgia, who study microbial clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats- better known as "CRISPR"-systems that enable bacteria and archaea to fend off phages and other forms of invasive DNA. The Terns find that this defense also extends to invasive RNA molecules. The Terns are married (to each other) research collaborators who also address some aspects of their personal and professional partnership in this interview.