MicrobeWorld

Video of my conversation from TWiV 197 with Professor Philip I. Marcus on his development of the single cell cloning technique in the 1950s, using HeLa cells. Read More

Tom writes:

In case this didn’t make the news in the city, I thought you might be interested in this report of Hantavirus in the Adirondacks. It looks like a wooden lean-to was the “scene of the crime” again!

Tom

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2012 saw a surge of West Nile Virus infections, particularly in the central United States. What exactly is West Nile Virus and why do outbreaks occur?

Join us at ASM headquarters to learn more about the biology of this fascinating virus - how it moves between hosts, how the&... Read More

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Rich Condit,  Read More

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and W. Ian Lipkin

Vincent and Ian review a ... 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

I am always looking for microbe-themed art; I keep a list of my findings at Microbe Art. I’ve just discovered a new artist: Jane Hartman of Trilobite Glassworks. From her website: Trilobite Glassworks features stained glass and fused glass decorative as well as functional pieces all designed and... Read More

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

La mayoría de la población se imagina que la Amazonía y otros bosques tropicales son los mayores productores de oxigeno en nuestro planeta; sin e... Read More

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

Clinical microbiologists uncover new and important pathogens, perform the role of sentinels to alert of possible upcoming epidemics, provide statistical and clinical information regarding the pathogens currently on the scene, and spur demands on research to create novel diagnostic tools. In fact... 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

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier,  Read More

[we began be re-reading part of Deena's email from TWiV 193]

Ben writes:

Hello TWIV Crew,

I must first ap... Read More

Prostate cancer is the leading cause of cancer morbidity and the third greatest cause of cancer death among men in developed countries. A major question in cancer research has been whether virus infection plays a role in cancers of the genitourinary tract. Now a team of Swiss investigators has n... Read More

Although Avery, MacLeod, and McCarty showed in 1944 that nucleic acid was both necessary and sufficient for the transfer of bacterial genetic traits, protein was still suspected to be a critical component of viral heredity. Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase showed that this hypothesis was incorrec... Read More

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Vincent and Dickson discus... Read More

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

Thirty years ago this month I arrived in the Department of Microbiology at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons (P&S) to start my own laboratory. Thirty is not only a multiple of ten (which we tend to celebrate), but also a long time to be at one place. It’s clearly time to r... Read More

This episode: Amoebae snag pathogenic bacteria in soil and carry them around as a portable snack!

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