MicrobeWorld

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Vincent and Dickson reveal... Read More

Alaric writes:

Hello Vince and Dick,

I just found your podcast and I love it! You have some wonderfully witty banter.

I am only on my 4th episode (that's what you call a podcast segment right?), and have a question pertaining to my original reason for ... Read More

Tengo el gusto de anunciarles que mi curso de virologia esta ahora disponible en Español.

Este trabajo se realizó bajo la dirección de la Dra. Susana López, virologa del Departamento de Genética del Desarrollo y Fisiología Molecular del Instituto de Biotecnología de la Universidad Nacional A... Read More

About 2% of the world’s population is chronically infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV). This enveloped, positive-strand RNA virus was discovered in 1989, but serological and phylogenetic evidence indicates that it has been infecting humans for hundreds of years, perhaps as long ago as the 14th ... Read More

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Rich Condit, and Read More

SketchyMicro is a unique and effective way to learn high-yield medical microbiology for the USMLE Step 1.

They take all of the microorganisms, infectious diseases, and random facts that you need to memorize for USMLE Step 1, and weave them into easy-to-remember sketches.

They narrate as th... Read More

This episode: Bdelloid rotifers borrow genetic material from all over the place!

Download Episode (4.5 MB, 4.8 minutes)

Read More

What do microbes have to do with beer? Everything! Because the master ingredient in beer is yeast – a microbe – and every step in the brewing process helps the yeast do its job better. A new freely-available report; "FAQ: If the Yeast Ain’t Happy, Ain’t Nobody Happy: The Microbiology of Beer" ex... Read More

The lethality of avian influenza H5N1 infections in humans has been a matter of extensive debate. The >50% case fatality rate established by WHO is high, but the lethality of the virus might be lower if there are many infections accompanied by mild or no disease. One way to answer this question ... Read More

No bacterium lives alone – it is constantly encountering members of its own species as well as other kinds of bacteria and diverse organisms like viruses, fungi, plants and animals. To navigate a complex world, microbes use chemical signals to sense and communicate with one another... Read More

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Read More

This episode: Discovering what is living in our navels!

Download Episode (3.4 MB, 3.75 minutes)

Read More

The spring semester has begun at Columbia University, which means that it is time to teach my virology course. The fourth annual installment of my virology course, Biology W3310, has begun. This course, which I taught for the first time in 2009, is intended for advanced undergraduates and conven... Read More

Fun science activity for kids!

Have you ever wondered how scientists extract DNA from an organism? All living organisms have DNA, which is short for deoxyribonucleic acid; it is basically the blueprint for everything that happens inside an organism’s cells. Overall, DNA tells an organism how ... Read More

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Read More

El podcast del microbio Nº 378 summarize an article published in Nature communications by Ribeiro-Viana R et al. on the use of Virus-like glycodendrinanoparticles to block viral infection. El podcast del microbio Nº 3... Read More

Both Nature and the New York Times have weighed in on the resumption of influenza H5N1 research. In an editorial from 23 January 2013, Nature opines that “Experiments that make deadly pathogens more dangerous demand the utmost scrutiny”. They call for a quantitative risk-benefit analysis of H5N1... Read More

This episode: Figuring out which bacteria help fecal transplants work so well against C. difficile!

Download Episode (3.5 ... Read More

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, ... Read More

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Vincent and Dickson discus... Read More