Let's Talk Micro

In January there was an episode about Staphylococcus argenteus, a member of the S. aureus complex. This episode features an interview about a new member of the Staphylococcus aureus complex: Staphylococcus singaporensis. Dr . Jeanette Teo joins the podcast to discuss her study about this organism. How similar is S. singaporensis to S. aureus? Any virulence factors? Tune in to find out.

What is Todd Hewitt broth? Is it the same as LIM broth? What's in it? In this episode I go over Todd Hewitt Broth, and two PCR tests used for the detection of S. agalactiae (GBS).

In this episode I continue going over species of Streptococcus. This week's episode is about Streptococcus agalactiae. What is the Lancefield group of this Strep species? Is it pathogenic?. Tune in to this episode to find the answer to these questions and more.

Wohlfahrtiimonas what? Have you heard about this organism? It is a gram negative rod and it is very unusual. In this episode Dr. Paul Luethy from the University of Maryland School of Medicine comes to the podcast to discuss a case regarding this organism. How is it identified? Does it grow on standard media? What about susceptibilities? Tune in to this episode to find out.

The case was published in the Emergent Infectious Diseases journal from the CDC .

Link: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/27/12/21-0327_article

In this episode I go over three tests used for the detection of S. pyogenes: two antigen based and one PCR. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each one? Do negative results need to be confirmed by a culture? Tune in to find out.

After going over Staph and other gram positive cocci (gpc) in clusters, now is the turn for gram positive cocci in chains. This week's episode is about S. pyogenes or Group A Strep (GAS). What is the clinical significance of GAS? How do we identify it in the lab?. Tune in to this episode to find the answers to these questions and more.

This episode goes beyond Microbiology. It is about Medical Laboratory Sciences. In the episode I talk to Xander Fernandes and Maria Roussakis, two Medical Laboratory Technologists from Ontario, Canada. They talk about their website, medlabscholar.com, which contains great resources for Medical Laboratory Science students and professionals. What can we do to bring more awareness to this profession? Tune in to find out.

In this week's episode I continue going over Coagulase negative Staph. I also go over other gram positive cocci in clusters such as Micrococcus and Aerococcus. Are these pathogenic? How do we identify them in the lab? Tune in to find out.

In this episode I go over Coagulase Negative Staphylococcus or CNS. Are they pathogenic or normal flora? Do we identify them or is a presumptive identification enough? Tune in to this episode to find out.

This episode features an interview with Dr. Robin Patel and Dr. Audrey Schuetz to discuss an article titled "Phenotypic and Genomic Profiling of Staphylococcus argenteus in Canada and the United States and Recommendations for Clinical Result Reporting". They are Co-Directors of the Bacteriology Laboratory at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. Challenges in identifying this organism are discussed. Staphylococcus argenteus is part of the Staphylococcus aureus complex, and is very similar to S. aureus, including morphology, biochemicals and clinical manifestations. See links for the article.