MicrobeWorld

Last week I was at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory to attend a ceremony designating the well-known laboratory on Long Island as a Milestone in Microbiology site. The purpose of this program, which is administered by the American Society for Microbiology, is to recognize institutions that have subs... Read More

This episode: Plant viruses work together to infect better!

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After searching through hundreds of potential chemicals, German immunologist Paul Ehrlich discovers a compound that can selectively kill the parasitic spirochete that causes syphilis. The following year, he sends 65,000 free samples of the drug, now known as the first modern chemotherapy agent, ... Read More

While reading my back issues of Applied and Environmental Microbiology (AEM), I came across an interesting paper that detailed an in-depth study on the effectiveness of hand cleaners to remove Norwalk virus (NV) from intentionally contaminated hands.

Yes that’s right – intentionally contamina... Read More

Howard Goldfine, Professor of Microbiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has authored a new post on Small Things Considered that looks at the interesting evolution of plasmalogens from anaerobes to plant and animal cells.

"Plasmalogens appeared early, but did not survi... Read More

This episode: Bacteria extend little hairs that could help clean up radioactive contamination!

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Today, 24 October 2012, is World Polio Day:

World Polio Day (October 24) was established by Rotary International over a decade ago to commemorate the birth of Jonas Salk, who led the first team to develop a vaccine against poliomyelitis. Use of this inactivated poliovirus vaccine and subseque... Read More

Algae also play an important role as the foundation for the aquatic food chain. All higher aquatic life forms depend either directly or indirectly on microscopic gardens of algae.

Most unicellular algae live in water, some dwell in moist soil, and others join ... Read More

In the past 100 years we’ve learned that each one of us has unique fingerprints, and unique DNA sequences. Now through the Human Microbiome Project, we’re learning that every one of us has a unique and identifiable bacterial community not only inside of us, but also growing on our skin as well.... Read More

This episode: Salmonella strain engineered to induce our cells to immunize us against diseases!

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A new post on the Bulletin for Atomic Scientists website reviews the U.S. Army's revised regulations for its biomedical labs. The updated requirements intends to clarify vague language in civilian biological agents guidelines. In addition, "the new regulations establish stricter controls on t... Read More

In this audio in spanish language from "El podcast del microbio" I made a resume of the article "Direct Extraction of Photosynthetic Electrons from Single Algal Cells by Nanoprobing System" published in "Nano Letters"

En este episodio de "El podcast del microbio" hacemos un resumen del artíc... Read More

"The emergence of the influenza A(H1N1)2009 virus provided a major challenge to health services around the world. However, vaccination rates for the public and for healthcare workers (HCWs) have remained low. We performed a study to review the reasons put forward by HCWs to refuse immunisation w... Read More

Theoretical physicist and futurist Michio Kaku looks at the revolution in genetics and biotechnology, which promises unprecedented health and longevity but also raises fears of a future where we can genetically engineer people. The documwentary asks will we, as transhumanists expect, evolve into... Read More

Russ writes:

Hi Vince and the TWiV crew

I love the podcast. It keeps me in touch with lots of basic research in virology which I would otherwise miss.

I do pediatric infectious diseases and you can imagine how much time we spend dealin... Read More

This is the third annual Week of the Fungi on Small Things Considered, a sporadic undertaking (please excuse the pun).

"Sooner or later, but usually sooner, anyone dealing with fungi will have to deal with the issue of spore dispersal. Many fungi, mushrooms included, are a spore’s way of spre... Read More

This episode: Helicobacter pylori seems not to be more harmful than helpful!

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Virginia Campbell,MD, host of the Brain Science Podcast, has published a very interesting interview with Dr. Paul Offit, author of the book Autism’s False Prophets. In the interview, Campbell and Offit explore "the scientific evidence that vaccines DO NOT cause autism, but also examine why the c... Read More

El podcast del Microbio Nº220 summarize the post on Geobacter bacteria wrote by Suzzane Winter and published in Moselio Sch... Read More

When I was a graduate student at the Medical College of Virginia, many of the microbiologists in my department were very active in the local ASM. Our local ASM provided opportunities to graduate students and postdocs to present their work to an outside audience of scientists from the surroundin... Read More