microTalk

Vibrio cholerae causes a severe gastrointestinal illness that leads to massive fluid loss that can be fatal.

These bacteria are normally found in the marine environment, but they can spread rapidly through human populations and cause large epidemics. V. cholerae are able to coordinate their activities by "talking" to each other through quorum sensing, and to eradicate competitors through a harpoon-like appendage that stabs and kills other bacteria.

Dr. Brian Hammer is an associate professor at Georgia Institute of Technology who studies V. cholerae and its ability to coordinate activities with its friends and kill off its enemies.

Dr. Hammer talks about how he uses zebrafish to study V. cholerae within the gastrointestinal tract, the advantages of utilizing a transparent fish that can be immobilized under a microscope, how bacteria coordinate social behaviors through quorum sensing, how the metabolic flexibility of bacteria will allow them to survive regardless of what humans do to mess up the planet, and how being stabbed by his brother led to his career in microbiology.

The microCase for listeners to solve is about Nick O'Lodeon, an organic dairy farmer in Groton Connecticut who comes down with a mysterious illness that sends him to the emergency room.

Participants: Karl Klose, Ph.D. (UTSA) Brian Hammer, Ph.D. (Georgia Institute of Technology) Janakiram Seshu, Ph.D. (UTSA) Daniel Montelongo Jaregui (UTSA) Eliza Parker (UTSA) Madison Harrison (UTSA)

Proteus mirabilis is a common cause of Urinary Tract Infections. These bacteria are found within the gastrointestinal tract, but they are sometimes able to ascend the urinary tract and cause bladder infections. One of the amazing attributes of Proteus is its ability to crawl across Petri dishes, referred to as swarming. Dr. Karine Gibbs is an associate professor at Harvard University who studies Proteus mirabilis and its ability to cause urinary tract infections. Dr. Gibbs talks about how the bacteria interact with their neighbors using both a sword to kill adversaries as well as a handshake to communicate with friends, how bacteria can recognize their own progeny and coordinate social behaviors, why Harvard is like a candy store for scientists, and how a high school summer research program led her to a career in science. The microCase for listeners to solve is about Rosetta Stone, a Peace Corps volunteer who comes down with a mysterious illness while on assignment in Tanzania.

• Karl Klose, Ph.D. (UTSA)
• Karine Gibbs, Ph.D. (Harvard University)
• Janakiram Seshu, Ph.D. (UTSA)
• Jesus Romo, Ph.D. (UTSA)

Dr. Jeff Miller has been studying Bordetella pertussis, the bacterium that causes whooping cough in humans, for over three decades, and he keeps uncovering novel aspects of the pathogenesis of this organism.

B. pertussis still causes outbreaks of human disease, and Dr. Miller has unraveled in amazing detail the signal transduction system that leads to whooping cough.

Dr. Miller is a professor at the University of California Los Angeles, the director of the California NanoSystems Institute, past-president of the American Society for Microbiology, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Miller talks about diversity generating retroelements in Bordetella bacteriophages and how these allow tropism switching, why we still need to study Bordetella for vaccine research, how science communication is important to combat the anti-vaxx movement, how the NanoSystems Institute aims to push technologies toward translational applications, and how being ASM president (twice!) was a labor of love.

microTalk recorded this discussion with Dr. Miller during a live podcast at the American Society for Microbiology Microbe 2018 meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, and it includes questions from the audience.

The microCase for listeners to solve is about John Deer, who comes down with a life-threatening infection while waterskiing

Participants:

Karl Klose, Ph.D. (UTSA) Jeff Miller, Ph.D. (University of California Los Angeles) Janakiram Seshu, Ph.D. (UTSA) Jesus Romo, Ph.D. (UTSA)

The devastation of the immune system that occurs during AIDS renders patients highly susceptible to a number of infections that a functioning immune system can easily control. One of the most common infections in AIDS patients is Cryptococcosis, caused by a fungus. Cryptococcus neoformans can infect immunocompromised individuals through the lungs and cause a potentially fatal meningitis. Dr. Paul de Figueiredo is an associate professor at Texas A&M University. His research focuses on the interaction of host cells with microbial pathogens, including Cryptococcus neoformans. Dr. de Figueiredo talks about why AIDS patients are susceptible to infections by this fungus, how working with fruit flies can help in the fight against Cryptococcus, why the fungus is found in pigeon droppings, and his path from religious scholar to scientist.

The microCase for listeners to solve is about Cal Naughton Jr, who comes down with a mysterious illness while on a Royal Beluga Caribbean cruise with his family.

• Karl Klose, Ph.D. (UTSA)
• Paul de Figueiredo, Ph.D. (Texas A&M University)
• Janakiram Seshu, Ph.D. (UTSA)
• Jesus Romo, Ph.D. (UTSA)

Subscribe to microTalk via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Android, Email or RSS and never miss an episode!

Dr. Didier Raoult considers himself a "microbe fisher", always "fishing" to discover new microbes. He says that in order to fish successfully, you need to first create the correct fishing pole (tools), and then fish in places where no one else is fishing.

Dr. Raoult is the Director of the Mediterranean Infection Foundation at the Aix-Marseille University, France, and he has "caught" a number of unique microbes over the course of his career, including giant viruses.

He's also "caught" a number of bacteria responsible for various diseases, including the causative agent of Whipple's disease, and he even has two bacteria named after him.

Dr. Raoult talks about what is special about giant viruses, how he found the bacterium that causes Whipple's disease, the challenges of trying to get uncultured bacteria like Rickettsia to grow in the lab, and how he would be sailing if he weren't a microbiologist.

microTalk recorded this discussion with Dr. Raoult at the American Society for Microbiology Microbe 2018 meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, and we're pleased to be joined by ASM's Meet the Microbiologist host Julie Wolf.

The microCase for listeners to solve is about Laguna Beech, a yoga instructor whose young son comes down with a life-threatening illness while she's at a yoga ashram in India.

Participants: Karl Klose, Ph.D. (UTSA) Didier Raoult, M.D., Ph.D. (Aix-Marseille University) Janakiram Seshu, Ph.D. (UTSA) Jesus Romo, Ph.D. (UTSA) Julie Wolf, Ph.D. (ASM) Mylea Echazarreta (UTSA)

Dr. Kat Milligan-Myhre was raised in a remote Alaska Native community above the Arctic Circle, and was the first person from her village to obtain a PhD. in biological sciences. She is now a faculty member at the University of Alaska-Anchorage.

Her research focuses on determining the extent that host genes control host-microbe interactions, utilizing the stickleback fish. Dr. Milligan-Myhre talks about the difficulty of maintaining her Native Alaskan cultural identity during her time in the "lower 48" studying microbiology, why stickleback fish are a great model for understanding how the host shapes the microbiota, how "code switching" allows her to communicate effectively with both her cultural and scientific communities, how Native Alaskans are at the forefront of experiencing climate change, and the coldest stretch of weather she has ever experienced.

This podcast was recorded during the Society for the Advancement of Chicano and Native American Scientists (SACNAS) annual meeting in San Antonio TX.

The microCase for listeners to solve is about Cindy Lou Who, a veterinary student who comes down with a mysterious illness while on a summer fellowship in Peru.

Participants:

• Karl Klose, Ph.D. (UTSA)
• Kat Milligan-Myhre, Ph.D. (University of Alaska Anchorage)
• Janakiram Seshu, Ph.D. (UTSA)
• Daniel Montelongo-Jaregui (UTSA)
• Mylea Echazarreta (UTSA)

Subscribe to microTalk via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Android, Email or RSS and never miss an episode!

There are increasing numbers of people with immunocompromised conditions that make them more susceptible to a variety of diseases, including fungal diseases.

A group of fungi in the order Mucorales can cause a potentially fatal disease called Mucormycosis in immunocompromised and diabetic individuals. This is a rare disease that is difficult to treat and that has a very high fatality rate.

Dr. Ashraf Ibrahim is a professor at the University of California Los Angeles and an expert on Mucormycosis. Dr. Ibrahim talks about why Mucormycosis cases are increasing, why there are not very many treatment options, what is the possibility of an immunotherapeutic to treat Mucor infections, how looking at beautiful fungi under the microscope led him into the field of microbiology, and how if he wasn't a microbiologist he'd be playing soccer .

The microCase for listeners to solve is about Anna Nimity, an animal rights activist spending time with her grandparents and comes down with a mysterious illness after trying to save a stray cat.

Participants: Karl Klose, Ph.D. (UTSA) Ashraf Ibrahim, Ph.D. (UCLA) Janakiram Seshu, Ph.D. (UTSA) Jesus Romo, Ph.D. (UTSA)

Many organisms metamorphose from a larvae into an adult, for example a caterpillar metamorphosing into a butterfly, but some animals require bacteria in order to undergo this transition.

This amazing bacterial-stimulated morphological transition is fairly widespread among different marine animals, like sponges, corals, and sea urchins, but in most cases it is not understood.

Dr. Nick Shikuma is an Assistant Professor at San Diego State University who studies the interaction of the bacterium Pseudoalteromonas luteoviolacea with the tubeworm Hydroides elegans.

Dr. Shikuma talks about how the bacteria produce a harpoon-like factor called a tailicin that inject larvae with the correct stimulus to allow them to develop into tubeworms, how the tailicin is related to a bacterial virus injection device, what the benefit, if any, might be to the bacteria to do this, and whether these bacteria may be present at "Dog Poop Beach".

The microCase for listeners to solve is about Rordon Gamsey, a famous foul-mouthed chef who comes down with a gastrointestinal illness while visiting a restaurant in need of his help.

Participants:

• Karl Klose, Ph.D. (UTSA)
• Nick Shikuma, Ph.D. (San Diego State University)
• Janakiram Seshu, Ph.D. (UTSA)
• Jesus Romo, Ph.D. (UTSA)
• Mylea Echazarreta (UTSA)

Cholera is a severe diarrheal disease caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae that can spread among human populations in large epidemics when water quality is poor.

Dr. Christine Marie George is an Associate Professor in the department of International Health and Environmental Health Engineering at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health who works to improve health in developing countries, including Bangladesh and the Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as in Native American communities in the U.S.

Dr. George talks about how the drive to prevent cholera and other enteric diseases in Bangladesh led to increased exposure to arsenic, how an educational intervention program focusing on family members of cholera patients leads to decreased disease, how intervention strategies utilizing mobile phone technology can improve public health, how her friendship with a Navajo studying ground squirrels led her into her field of study, and how her first field study turned into a terrifying situation after a car accident.

The microCase for listeners to solve is about Frauke Farbissina, a college freshman who comes down with a dangerous illness while performing with the Gamma Jammas, her sorority singing group.

Participants: Karl Klose, Ph.D. (UTSA) Christine Marie George, Ph.D. (Johns Hopkins School of Public Health) Janakiram Seshu, Ph.D. (UTSA) Jesus Romo, Ph.D. (UTSA

The malaria parasite, Plasmodium, is transmitted to people through mosquito bites. The parasite needs to infect humans to undergo the morphologic transitions important for its lifecycle, but it also needs to infect mosquitoes to be able to complete its lifecycle.

Dr. Gunnar Mair is an Assistant Professor at Iowa State University who studies mosquito-borne transmission of malaria. Dr. Mair talks about why breaking the transmission cycle by focusing on mosquitoes will help reduce global malaria, how a multi-pronged approach is necessary to eradicate this disease, how public health efforts coordinating drug administration have been effective, some of the hurdles that impede vaccine development, and how his interest in alpine ecology eventually led him to study parasitology.

The microCase for listeners to solve is about Jimmy Chonga, a college football star who comes down with a disease while trying to navigate his multiple girlfriends.

Participants: Karl Klose, Ph.D. (UTSA) Gunnar Mair, Ph.D. (Iowa State University) Janakiram Seshu, Ph.D. (UTSA) Kirsten Hanson, Ph.D. (UTSA Marley Caballero, Ph.D. (UTSA) Lauren Bonnett (UTSA) Shakara Penix (UTSA)