Let's Talk Micro

This is a special edition episode. In lieu of all the recent information about monkeypox, Dr. Rodney Rohde comes to the podcast to provide us with some information about this virus. Dr. Rohde is an experienced microbiologist and educator. He is program chair and professor in the Clinical Laboratory Science program at Texas State University. Tune in to learn about monkeypox, including signs, symptoms, treatment options, and outbreak information.

Dr Rhode's most recent publication: https://theconversation.com/what-is-monkeypox-a-microbiologist-explains-whats-known-about-this-smallpox-cousin-183499

This week I continue going over beta hemolytic strep: this time Streptococcus dysgalactiae. What Lancefield group is it? What about media, biochemicals and pathogenicity? Tune in to find out the answers.

This episode features an interview with Dr. Lacy Moss, a professor at the University of Utah Medical Laboratory Sciences program. She joins the podcast to discuss an initiative launched by the MLS program and the University: the Summer Immersion Program. In this program high school students will learn about laboratory medicine. How does it work? How does it help the Medical Laboratory Sciences profession? Tune in to find out.

Link to article: https://medicine.utah.edu/pathology/medical-laboratory-science/news/med-lab-sci-summer-immersion-program.php

This episode features an interview with Dr. Andrea Prinzi, an infectious disease medical science liaison and a contributor of many articles published in the American Society for Microbiology website. She comes to Let's Talk Micro to talk about antimicrobial susceptibility testing and breakpoints. Many laboratories are or have been using outdated breakpoints? What is the significance of this? How are breakpoints updated? Tune in to this episode to find out and check out Dr. Prinzi's article on the subject.

Link to article: https://asm.org/Articles/2022/February/Updating-Breakpoints-in-Antimicrobial-Susceptibili

What is BacterioSight? As automation becomes a larger part of Laboratory Medicine, how could it help with urine cultures? This episode features an interview with Dr. Daniel Rhoads from the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. Dr. Rhoades talks about BacterioSight, a deep learning model that was used to interpret images from urine cultures. Other areas of the laboratory already have systems where some results autofile. What if this could be applied to cultures in Microbiology? Tune in to this episode to find out more about BacterioSight and its potential applications.

Link to article: https://academic.oup.com/clinchem/article-abstract/68/4/574/6520601?redirectedFrom=fulltext

This episode features a collaboration between two Microbiology podcasts: The Microbe Moment and Let's Talk Micro. On this episode I am the one being interviewed. Find out what is like being a Medical Laboratory Scientist (MLS) in Microbiology and what teaching is like. What does an MLS do? What are the responsibilities of a supervisor? What about teaching? Find out by listening to this episode.

This week on Let's Talk Micro, we're tackling a remarkable story in virology—the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and a patient who may have been cured. Dr. Jingmei Hsu, a stem cell specialist from Weill Cornell Medical College, joins the podcast to break down a fascinating case involving a cord blood stem cell transplant. What's the role of the CCR5 gene in HIV resistance? Don't miss this compelling conversation.

Link to article: https://news.weill.cornell.edu/news/2022/02/patient-possibly-cured-of-hiv-infection-by-special-stem-cell-transplant

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This episode features an interview with Dr. Charlene Kahler from the Marshall Centre for Infectious Diseases Research and Training at the University of Western Australia. She discusses and article titled "Neisseria species and their complicated relationships with human health". Tune in to this episode to find out more information about different species of Neisseria and their significance in the human body.

Link to article: https://www.publish.csiro.au/ma/fulltext/ma21024

This episodes features an interview with Dr. Ayesha Khan, one of the authors of a study performed on automated susceptibility testing on S. maltophilia. Three systems were evaluated. How did they perform? Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is a very significant organism that has a high level of intrinsic antibiotic resistance. What are the challenges with breakpoints? Tune in to find out.

This episode features an interview with Dr. Carey-Ann Burnham, Dr. Daniel Webber and Meghan Wallace from Washington University in St. Louis. They are the authors of a study where disk diffusion testing was performed on isolates that had an incubation time of 6 hours. One of the challenges in Microbiology is time. In Microbiology organisms are incubated for 18 to 24 hours, Tune in to this episode to find out the results of this study.

Link to article is attached.