Editors in Conversation

An outbreak of Ebola disease caused by the Bundibugyo virus remains in a period of intense transmission, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Since it's first detection in May, 6757 cases have been confirmed across 6 provinces of the DRC, along with 20 cases in Uganda and one in France (as of September 8). A crude case fatality ratio of 48% underscores the severity of the disease and the ongoing challenges towards case detection, clinical care and, ultimately, interruption of transmission. Unchecked transmission of Bundibugyo in the DRC heightens the risk of exportation across international borders. Furthermore, healthcare workers recovering from the disease have been medically evacuated to both Germany and France for enhanced care. Is your laboratory prepared to handle a potential case?

Watch this episode: https://youtu.be/zIDFuwflo8Q

Guests: Daniel Rhoads, M.D., Zoe Weiss, M.D., Beverley Orr, MT(ASCP), Nicholas Heger, Ph.D.

In this episode of Editors in Conversation mBio edition, Marvin Whiteley speaks with Macy Pell and Shannon Manning about how group B Streptococcus (GBS) responds to antibiotics given during childbirth to prevent newborn infections.

GBS can cause serious neonatal disease, and intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis has greatly reduced early-onset infections. But some GBS strains persist after treatment.

The conversation explores a recent mBio study comparing GBS isolates collected from the same individuals before and after antibiotic treatment and childbirth. Rather than simply acquiring new resistance genes, persistent strains accumulated mutations associated with adaptation, including the emergence of strains with unusually high mutation rates.

Pell and Manning discuss what these findings reveal about bacterial persistence, evolution under antibiotic pressure, and why understanding GBS survival may require looking beyond antibiotic resistance alone.

Relevant links:

Genomic adaptation in group B Streptococcus following intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis and childbirth https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mbio.03966-25 (Macy E. Pell, Heather M. Blankenship, Jennifer A. Gaddy, H. Dele Davies, Shannon D. Manning.)

Guests:

Macy E. Pell, PhD Department of Microbiology, Genetics, and Immunology Michigan State University

Shannon D. Manning, PhD Department of Microbiology, Genetics, and Immunology Michigan State University

Equitable access to healthcare, and more specifically diagnostic testing, remains elusive globally, negatively impacting the health and wellbeing of all people. A not-so-distant illustration was access to testing during the COVID-19 pandemic, when testing sites globally, including here in the United States, underserved the very populations who bore a disproportionate burden of COVID-19 cases and deaths. There is a tremendous opportunity for research on diagnostic access, as well as the epidemiology and diseases that impact underrepresented groups, in clinical microbiology.

In 2026, JCM launched a new section, entitled "Diagnostic Access and Equity". In today's episode of Editors in Conversation, I'm joined by the Editor overseeing this section, Dr. Ellie Theel, and one of our editorial board members, Dr. Shawn Lockhart of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to discuss diagnostic access, equity and what the clinical microbiology community is doing to move the needle on these issues.

• Elitza Theel, Ph.D., D(ABMM)
• Shawn Lockhart, Ph.D., D(ABMM)

• Remote regions, rapid recognition: performance and timeliness of BIOFIRE FilmArray BCID2 for diagnosing bloodstream infection in remote northern Australia

This episode is brought to you by the Journal of Clinical Microbiology.

Visit asm.org/jcm to browse issues and/or submit a manuscript.

If you plan to publish in JCM, ASM Members get up to 50% off publishing fees. Visit asm.org/joinasm to sign up.

Multidrug-resistant Gram-negative infections remain one of the most urgent public health challenges worldwide, with some infections approaching the limits of available treatment options. In this special edition of Editors in Conversation, we celebrate the remarkable 10-year tenure of Dr. Laurent Poirel, whose pioneering work has profoundly shaped our understanding of antimicrobial resistance. Through his unique perspective, we will explore the evolving landscape of resistance in Gram-negative organisms, reflect on the major advances and challenges of the past decade, and discuss what the future may hold for this rapidly changing field.

View this episode: https://youtu.be/3OuzU4HjZcY

• The most important events in Gram-negative resistance in the last 10 years
• How the antibiotic pipeline has responded to the challenge of Gram-negative resistance
• How the field would move in the next 10 years.

• Laurent Poirel, Ph.D. Senior Researcher, Medicine Section. University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland, Editor AAC 2016-2026.

This episode is brought to you by the Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy Journal.

Visit asm.org/aac to browse issues and/or submit a manuscript. If you plan to publish in AAC, ASM Members get up to 50% off publishing fees. Visit asm.org/joinasm to sign up.

New imaging and measurement approaches are revealing previously hidden aspects of microbial life, challenging long-held assumptions and creating opportunities to answer questions that were once out of reach. Marvin Whiteley, Heran Darwin and Jeffrey Moffitt talk about how technological innovation is transforming microbiology.

• Heran Darwin, Ph.D. - NYU Grossman School of Medicine
• Jeffrey Moffitt, Ph.D. - Boston Children's Research

This episode of Editors in Conversation is brought to you by mBio® and hosted by mBio Editor in Chief, Marvin Whiteley, Ph.D. Visit journals.asm.org/journal/mbio to read articles and/or submit a manuscript. Receive up to 50% off fees when you publish in mBio® or any of the ASM journals by becoming an ASM member. Sign up at asm.org/joinasm.

It starts out with a couple of stomach twinges, maybe a little nausea, maybe some sharp pains, and then… before you know it, you are running to the closest toilet with which you become very, very familiar. Cyclospora causes frequent watery diarrhea with sometime "explosive" bowel movements, but is typically a relatively rare cause of infectious diarrhea. However, the U.S. is in the midst of one of the largest documented cyclosporiasis outbreaks. How does one acquire this parasite? What are the risks? And – most importantly for our audience – how does the lab approach diagnosis?

• Daniel Rhoads, M.D.
• Bobbi Pritt, M.D.
• Marc Couturier, Ph.D., D(ABMM)

This episode is brought to you by the Journal of Clinical Microbiology.

Visit asm.org/jcm to browse issues and/or submit a manuscript. If you plan to publish in JCM, ASM Members get up to 50% off publishing fees. Visit asm.org/joinasm to sign up.

So, you think you want a career in clinical microbiology? This field demands more than technical skill—it's driven by curiosity, growth, and the confidence to lead. From mastering diagnostics to pushing innovation and mentoring the next generation, success comes to those who keep evolving. In this episode, we explore the many paths into the field—and spotlight the Laboratory Director role through a candid conversation between early- and mid-career leaders, sharing the real highs, lows, and advice for those ready to step up.

Watch this episode: https://youtu.be/p992HyDcm-M

• Amanda Roth, Ph.D.
• Janiece Glover, Ph.D., MS

This episode is brought to you by the Journal of Clinical Microbiology.

Visit asm.org/jcm to browse issues and/or submit a manuscript. If you plan to publish in JCM, ASM Members get up to 50% off publishing fees. Visit asm.org/joinasm to sign up.

Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing the world in many ways. One of the most exciting applications of artificial intelligence is in the area of drug discovery. Particularly the discovery of antimicrobial molecules that are in the environment or even hidden within our own body. Today, we discuss some of the uses of artificial intelligence in the discovery of antimicrobials with an outstanding expert in the field.

• How artificial intelligence can help the discovery of new antimicrobial moieties
• Antibiotic discovery and challenges to bring molecules to the clinic
• The implications for artificial intelligence and infectious diseases in particularly in the discovery of antibiotics.

• César de la Fuente, Ph.D., FRSB, Presidential Associate Professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Director, Machine Biology Group.

This episode is brought to you by the Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy journal available at https://asm.org/aac.

If you plan to publish in AAC, ASM Members get up to 50% off publishing fees. Visit https://asm.org/joinasm to sign up.

Visit https://asm.org/aac to browse issues and/or submit a manuscript.

Follow Cesar on twitter at https://twitter.com/SuperBugDoc for AAC updates.

Get the audio only podcast at https://asm.org/eic.

Accurate AST results are the backbone of diagnostic stewardship, yet routine quality control (QC) might be missing subtle shifts that skew your hospital's annual antibiogram. By examining a real-world "silent failure" in daptomycin testing, we explore how lab-driven data is essential to the AMR crisis response and why the human eye—and traditional QC bugs—aren't always enough to catch technical drifts. This session breaks down the importance of LIS rules, alert fatigue, and the future of automated susceptibility testing.

• Laurel J. Glaser, M.D., Ph.D.
• Rebekah Dumm, Ph.D. D(ABMM)

• Leveraging patient data to detect systematic shifts in daptomycin susceptibility testing associated with reduced prescribing

This episode of Editors in Conversation is brought to you by the Journal of Clinical Microbiology and hosted by JCM Editor in Chief, Romney Humphries, Ph.D., D(ABMM) and Elitza (Elli) Theel, Ph.D., D(ABMM). Visit journals.asm.org/journal/jcm to read articles and/or submit a manuscript. Become an ASM member to receive up to 50% off publishing fees when you publish in JCM or any of the ASM journals. Sign up at asm.org/joinasm.

In this episode, a fascinating new bacteriophage, JS1. While most contractile phages (which inject DNA like a spring-loaded syringe) are rigid and straight, JS1 sports a curved, flexible tail that may help it navigate the complex "canyons and valleys" of the bacterial cell wall.

Watch this episode: https://youtu.be/eDGta8xc4_0

• Sabrina Suhani, Ph.D., Graduate Student, Monash University, Australia
• Trevor Lithgow, Ph.D., Professor, Monash University's Biomedical Discovery Institute.

• Staphylococcus species infected by a bacteriophage with a tail that is both curved and contractile

This episode of Editors in Conversation is brought to you by mBio® and hosted by mBio Editor in Chief, Marvin Whiteley, Ph.D. Visit journals.asm.org/journal/mbio to read articles and/or submit a manuscript. Receive up to 50% off fees when you publish in mBio® or any of the ASM journals by becoming an ASM member. Sign up at asm.org/joinasm.