In 2019, a mysterious shape appeared on a petri dish in a Birmingham lab. This contaminant wasn't supposed to be there, but its surprising appearance similar to instant noodles, intrigued researchers to find out more about it. They consulted other scientists online at the time, which sparked an idea to start an online club dedicated to sharing laboratory contaminants.

Now, the team finally publish their research characterising this contaminant as a new species of bacteria, Kocuria rhizophila, in our journal Microbial Genomics. Researchers Rob Moran and Greg McCallum join Communications and Media Officer Lilly Tozer to talk about their journey from discovery to publish.

If you’d like to read the paper, you can do so by following this link: microb.io/47L8aoY

Stay tuned to the Microbiology Society socials to be the first to hear about exciting new research in the world of microbiology.

You can download a full, auto generated transcript of the podcast here: microb.io/3J6DUf3