Podcasts about environmental microbiology

40 years ago scientists in Antarctica discovered a hole in the Ozone layer. The world acted quickly, phasing out harmful CFCs or chlorofluorocarbons. Evidence suggests the hole has been getting smaller. But in 2025, there are new pollutants threatening to slow progress. Eloise Marais is Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry and Air Quality at University College London and tells Victoria Gill about her work monitoring the impact of space travel on the Ozone layer.It's the first day of the traditional ‘bathing season' when wild swim spots are regularly tested throughout the UK summer. Victoria asks Professor of Environmental Microbiology and Health at Lancaster University, Roger Pickup to break down the science behind our water quality classifications. And May also means wildflowers. Dr Sarah Scott is pollinator ecologist and toxicologist at Cambridge university. She has a warning that planted in the wrong place, wildflowers could be harming bumble bees.Gareth Mitchell, broadcaster and lecturer in science communication at Imperial College London is in the Inside Science studio to bring Victoria new scientific findings which will shape our future.Presenter: Victoria Gill Producers: Clare Salisbury, Dan Welsh, Jonathan Blackwell Editor: Martin Smith Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

Dev Mittar, Ph.D., Scientific Director of the ASM Health Scientific Unit discusses the use of metagenomic next generation sequencing to develop agnostic diagnostic technology, giving scientists and clinicians alike, a tool to diagnose any infectious disease with one single test. He also discusses how the ASM Health Unit is empowering scientists and leveraging microbial science innovations to address critical global health challenges and improve lives worldwide. Ashley's Biggest Takeaways The Division of Research, Innovation and Ventures is a small entrepreneurial arm of BARDA that takes on early-stage projects with high potential of turning into medical countermeasures. Prior to his role as Scientific Director for ASM Health, Mittar worked as a health scientist and program officer at DRIVe, where he focused on advancing high-impact science. He is particularly passionate about his work to develop agnostic diagnostics—a single test that uses metagenomic next generation sequencing to identify any pathogen from 1 clinical sample. Mittar discusses applications for this technology in surveillance (pandemic preparedness), variant detection, AMR and clinical settings (diagnosing complicated infections where etiology is not clearly defined). He also shares how a recent bout with illness emphasized the value and potential of this technology to save money, time, pain and suffering of the patient. Agnostic diagnostics can also help prevent the overuse/misuse of antibiotics, which are key factors in the spread of antimicrobial resistance. Furthermore, when this technology is coupled with the use of metatranscriptomics, it can provide information about the patient's immune profile that can be helpful in developing personalized treatment strategies, as opposed to a one-size-fits-all approach. ASM is organizing around 3 scientific units, ASM Health, ASM Mechanism Discovery and ASM Applied and Environmental Microbiology. These units will empower researchers and scientists to use science make a difference in the world and provide a forum for them to come together to shape the future of the field. Links for This Episode Learn More About ASM's Scientific Units. Join the Conversation on ASM Connect, our online community platform. Browse Volunteer Opportunities. Become an ASM Member. Register for ASM Microbe 2025.

A new study in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology found sauerkraut may provide substantial benefits to gut health, and the value of U.S. industrial hemp production in 2024 was up 40% over 2023.

Dr. Don - not risky

How do you react when a piece of food you're eating falls to the floor? Some people would throw it away in disgust, while others would still eat it, perhaps after rinsing it under water or blowing on it. Of course, there's those that abide by the five second rule. That's the popular belief that suggests any food is still fit for consumption as long as it hasn't been on the floor for longer than five seconds. So does the time a piece of food spends on the ground affect how likely it is to be contaminated by germs and other bacteria? Back in 2016, researchers from Rutgers University in the United States looked into the matter from a scientific approach, and published their findings in the Applied and Environmental Microbiology journal. How did they test the five second rule? What impact did the surface and food type have? So does eating food that's been on the floor make you sick then? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions! To listen to the last episodes, you can click here: What are the biggest misconceptions on beating heatwaves? What are the health benefits of using sex toys? Which foods should I avoid after their expiry date? A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance. First broadcast: 15/5/2023 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Edward DeLong is a Professor in the Department of Oceanography at the University of Hawai'i Mānoa as well as a Visiting Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT. Research in Ed's lab brings together a variety of disciplines to study microbial communities in the ocean. He is interested in their ecology, evolution, biochemistry, genomics, and their impacts on marine systems. Particularly of interest for Ed are the microscopic organisms that are the primary producers or “forests of the ocean” responsible for releasing oxygen and serving as food for other organisms in marine food chains. When he's not working, Ed loves to be out in nature. He enjoys spending time outside with his family, hiking, kayaking, and snorkeling in the beautiful coral reefs near his house. Ed has also taken up yoga to help him stay limber and relaxed. Ed received his B.S. in Bacteriology from the University of California, Davis and his Ph.D. in Marine Biology from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography. Afterwards, he conducted postdoctoral research at Indiana University. Ed has worked as a research scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, a faculty member at the University of California, Santa Barbara, a research scientist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, and a faculty member at MIT before accepting his current position in Hawai'i. His honors and achievements include the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, the DuPont Young Faculty Award, the Apple Bioinformatics Cluster Award, the Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky Medal of the European Geosciences Union, the Proctor and Gamble Award in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, American Society for Microbiology D.C. White Research and Mentorship Award, the UC Davis College of Biological Sciences Outstanding Alumni Award, A.G. Huntsman Medal for Excellence in Marine Science, and the Moore Foundation Marine Microbiology Investigator Award. Ed is also an Elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Academy of Microbiology. Ed has also been elected as an Associate of the European Molecular Biology Organization and is the Vice President and President Elect of the International Society of Microbial Ecology. In addition, he currently serves as the co-director of the Simons Collaboration on Ocean Processes and Ecology (SCOPE). Ed joined us for a conversation about his experiences in life and science.

Brendan A. Niemira, Ph.D. is a research microbiologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (USDA's ARS) in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania, and a graduate of the University of Chicago and Michigan State University. His research develops and validates cold plasma, pulsed light, radiofrequency energy, and other nonthermal food processing technologies. He has published over 180 peer-reviewed research articles, book chapters, and critical reviews, is the co-editor and author of a well-regarded reference text, and holds one patent. Dr. Niemira is a Fellow of the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) and a past member of the IFT Board of Directors. He currently serves on the Educational Advisory Board for the Food Safety Summit. A member of IFT, the International Association for Food Protection, and the American Society for Microbiology for more than 20 years, he also serves on the editorial boards for the Journal of Food Protection and Applied and Environmental Microbiology. He received the 2016 U.S. Department of Defense Award for Excellence and the 2020 Federal Laboratory Consortium Technology Transfer Innovation Award. In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak with Brendan [22:52] about: The definition of cold plasma technology and how it can be used in the food industry to improve microbial safety The strengths and weaknesses of different forms of cold plasma Types of food for which cold plasma can be used to successfully decontaminate, and why it works best for certain food types Comparisons between cold plasma technology and other thermal and nonthermal decontamination techniques Why cold plasma technology has not yet been scaled up for widespread industry use, and for what applications commercialization could be achieved Factors that affect the energy costs of different cold plasma generation methods The possibility of adapting cold plasma technology to inactivate viruses in foodservice environments Human occupational health and safety considerations in the generation of cold plasma Takeaways from a workshop and session on root cause analysis that took place at the 2023 and 2024 Food Safety Summits, respectively Other research areas Dr. Niemira is working on at USDA-ARS to advance food safety. News and Resources NewsDraft EU Act Would Require WGS Analysis for Foodborne Illness Investigations [5:45]Study Finds GRAS Carcinogenicity Data are Adequate, but Could Use a Standardized Approach [8:57]USDA-FSIS to Begin Routine Monitoring for HPAI in Dairy Cows Under National Residue Program [15:00]Researchers Offer New Tool to Identify Top Microbial Threats to Infant Foods [18:28] ResourcesSUBSCRIBE to Food Safety Magazine and/or FSM eDigestFood Safety Magazine Webinars Sponsored by: CINTAS We Want to Hear from You! Please send us your questions and suggestions to podcast@food-safety.com

How do you react when a piece of food you're eating falls to the floor? Some people would throw it away in disgust, while others would still eat it, perhaps after rinsing it under water or blowing on it. Of course, there's those that abide by the five second rule. That's the popular belief that suggests any food is still fit for consumption as long as it hasn't been on the floor for longer than five seconds. So does the time a piece of food spends on the ground affect how likely it is to be contaminated by germs and other bacteria? Back in 2016, researchers from Rutgers University in the United States looked into the matter from a scientific approach, and published their findings in the Applied and Environmental Microbiology journal. How did they test the five second rule? What impact did the surface and food type have? So does eating food that's been on the floor make you sick then? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions! To listen to the last episodes, you can click here: What are the biggest misconceptions on beating heatwaves? What are the health benefits of using sex toys? Which foods should I avoid after their expiry date? A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance. First broadcast: 15.05.2023 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the most abundant lifeform on Earth: the viruses that 'eat' bacteria. Early in the 20th century, scientists noticed that something in their Petri dishes was making bacteria disappear and they called these bacteriophages, things that eat bacteria. From studying these phages, it soon became clear that they offered countless real or potential benefits for understanding our world, from the tracking of diseases to helping unlock the secrets of DNA to treatments for long term bacterial infections. With further research, they could be an answer to the growing problem of antibiotic resistance.With Martha Clokie Director for the Centre for Phage Research and Professor of Microbiology at the University of LeicesterJames Ebdon Professor of Environmental Microbiology at the University of BrightonAnd Claas Kirchhelle Historian and Chargé de Recherche at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research's CERMES3 Unit in Paris.Producer: Simon TillotsonIn Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio ProductionReading list: James Ebdon, ‘Tackling sources of contamination in water: The age of phage' (Microbiologist, Society for Applied Microbiology, Vol 20.1, 2022) Thomas Häusler, Viruses vs. Superbugs: A Solution to the Antibiotics Crisis? (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006)Tom Ireland, The Good Virus: The Untold Story of Phages: The Mysterious Microbes that Rule Our World, Shape Our Health and Can Save Our Future (Hodder Press, 2024)Claas Kirchhelle and Charlotte Kirchhelle, ‘Northern Normal–Laboratory Networks, Microbial Culture Collections, and Taxonomies of Power (1939-2000)' (SocArXiv Papers, 2024) Dmitriy Myelnikov, ‘An alternative cure: the adoption and survival of bacteriophage therapy in the USSR, 1922–1955' (Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences 73, no. 4, 2018)Forest Rohwer, Merry Youle, Heather Maughan and Nao Hisakawa, Life in our Phage World: A Centennial Field Guide to Earth's most Diverse Inhabitants (Wholon, 2014)Steffanie Strathdee and Thomas Patterson (2019) The Perfect Predator: A Scientist's Race to Save Her Husband from a Deadly Superbug: A Memoir (Hachette Books, 2020)William C. Summers, Félix d`Herelle and the Origins of Molecular Biology (Yale University Press, 1999)William C. Summers, The American Phage Group: Founders of Molecular Biology (University Press, 2023)

With the rapid growth of new evidence from astronomy, space science and biology that supports the theory of life as a cosmic rather than terrestrial phenomenon, this book discusses a set of crucial data and pictures showing that life is still arriving at our planet. Although it could spark controversy among the most hardened sceptics this book will have an important role in shaping future science in this area.We are led to believe that modern science is free of all forms of irrational prejudice that plagued science over the centuries. In this book we document an instance when this is far from true in relation to the most fundamental aspects of biology — the question of the origin of life and its cosmic provenance. From the early 1980's evidence in favour of the theory of cosmic life and a version of panspermia, developed by Fred Hoyle and CW has grown to the point that its continued marginalisation, or even outright rejection, is a cause for serious concern. We present here the story of panspermia in which we ourselves have been directly involved…Milton Wainwright, BSc, PhD, FRAS was born in 1950 in the mining village of Fitzwilliam in the West Riding of Yorkshire. He obtained his BSc and PhD from Nottingham University, and after a short period as a National Research Council of Canada Research Fellow became lecturer in Environmental Microbiology at the University of Sheffield. Here, he taught and researched for forty-two years in the Departments of Microbiology and Molecular Biology and Biotechnology. He is an Honorary Professor at the Universities of Cardiff and Buckingham, UK, the University of Ruhuna, Sri, Lanka, and the Slavic University of North Macedonia; he is also a Visiting Professor of King Saud University, Riyadh, and one of the few biologists to be made a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. He has published widely on the history of science, particularly on the germ theory, the history of antibiotics (notably penicillin) and alternative accounts of the history of natural selection and evolution. Nalin Chandra Wickramasinghe, MBE, BSc (Ceylon), MA, PhD, ScD (Cantab), Hon DSc (Sri Lanka, Ruhuna), Hon DLitt (Tokyo, Soka), FRAS, FRSA was born in 1939 in Sri Lanka. He commenced work in Cambridge on his PhD degree under the supervision of the late Sir Fred Hoyle, and published his first scientific paper in 1961 He was awarded a PhD degree in Mathematics in 1963 and was elected a Fellow of Jesus College Cambridge in the same year. In the following year he was appointed a Staff Member of the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge where he remained until 1973. He was formerly a Fellow of Jesus College Cambridge and Staff Member of the Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge; Formerly Professor and Head of the Department of Applied Mathematics and Astronomy, Cardiff University, UK; Director of the Buckingham Centre for Astrobiology, University of Buckingham, UK; Honorary Professor, University of Buckingham; Honorary Professor University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka; Honorary Professor, Sir John Kotelawala Defence University of Sri Lanka; Adjunct Professor, National Institute of Fundamental Studies, Sri Lanka. He has also held visiting Professorial appointment in the US, Canada and Japan and Sri Lanka over the past four decades. Professor Wickramasinghe has published over 350 papers in major scientific journals, some sixty in the journal Nature. Together with the late Sir Fred he pioneered the theory of cometary panspermia the evidence for which has become compelling over the past few years. Finally, he is also the author/co-author of over thirty-five books.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/earth-ancients--2790919/support.

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks of sending a kid to school with a cut apple that has already been to school the day before. Dr. Don - not risky

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks of consuming canned and jarred foods that were exposed to temperatures over 100°F for several days. Dr. Don - not risky

Fungal invasions taking over living hosts is the thing of science fiction, but the humble button mushroom is taken steps to start. Often a fungi will specialize in symbiosis, invading or decomposing. But Mycena are starting to adapt to do all three. Humans, plants and fungi are in a complicated relationship where we influence the development of each other. The complex fungal toxin patulin is dangerous for humans, but can be broken down by microbes in soil. What can we learn from soil to fight back against fungal toxins and keep our fruit safe. Megumi Mita, Rina Sato, Miho Kakinuma, Hiroyuki Nakagawa, Toshiki Furuya. Isolation and characterization of filamentous fungi capable of degrading the mycotoxin patulin. MicrobiologyOpen, 2023; 12 (4) DOI: 10.1002/mbo3.1373 Christoffer Bugge Harder, Emily Hesling, Synnøve S. Botnen, Kelsey E. Lorberau, Bálint Dima, Tea von Bonsdorff‐Salminen, Tuula Niskanen, Susan G. Jarvis, Andrew Ouimette, Alison Hester, Erik A. Hobbie, Andy F. S. Taylor, Håvard Kauserud. Mycena species can be opportunist‐generalist plant root invaders. Environmental Microbiology, 2023; 25 (10): 1875 DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.16398

What is it about fungi that make them an exciting conversation piece in today’s media, movies, and video games? In this episode Anastasia chats Vanessa McPherson all about the natural history of fungi. Vanessa McPherson is a Research Assistant in the Environmental Microbiology and Molecular Analysis Laboratory in the School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University. [...]Read More... from Fungi Unearthed: Digging into the Myco-Mysteries of mushrooms!

How do you react when a piece of food you're eating falls to the floor? Some people would throw it away in disgust, while others would still eat it, perhaps after rinsing it under water or blowing on it. Of course, there's those that abide by the five second rule. That's the popular belief that suggests any food is still fit for consumption as long as it hasn't been on the floor for longer than five seconds. So does the time a piece of food spends on the ground affect how likely it is to be contaminated by germs and other bacteria? Back in 2016, researchers from Rutgers University in the United States looked into the matter from a scientific approach, and published their findings in the Applied and Environmental Microbiology journal. How did they test the five second rule? What impact did the surface and food type have? So does eating food that's been on the floor make you sick then? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions ! To listen to the latest episodes, click here: Why do we get addicted to social media? What are the dangers of using Botox? What is stealth wealth? A Bababam Originals podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance. In partnership with upday UK. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks of eating modern homemade bog butter. Dr. Don - not risky

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks of drinking from a water bottle after the lid has been dropped on an airport carpet. Dr. Don - not risky

Oh boy. This episode may seeeeem crappy but it is certainly not a waste of your time. We're not kidding, while the episode is of course wonderful, mostly thanks to our wonderful guests, it is also certainly about poopy wastewater and what we can all learn from it. About those terrific guests: we mostly speak with Dr. Amy E. Kirby, Ph.D., MPH of the frickin' CDC (yes, that CDC) about the National Wastewater Surveillance System or NWSS. Did you know sewer water is not just a feature of teenage mutant ninja turtle habitats? Epidemiologists have been using the contents of our collectively owned chocolate waterfall to track disease since polio, but it was only in response to COVID-19 that the CDC launched the NWSS “to coordinate and build the nation's capacity to track the presence of SARS-CoV-2.” So we learn a bit about what all that means, as we talk weird waste, medication levels in the water, whether or not “silent but deadly” is flim flam, and more in this absolutely gushing sluicegate of an ep.BUT WAIT. That's not all. We got two little extra guests! First up, your ol' Dadward did a prank call on Amy Narimatsu of Shorerivers.org, so she has a fun little cameo, and we conclude with previous virology guest, Dr. Shannon Bennett, of the California Academy of Sciences to discuss what's happening with COVID these days, and why it's important to stay safe for those who still need protection.It's an absolutely bursting septic tank of an episode so… Hang on to your butts.Follow the CDC on TwitterLearn more about the CDC's National Wastewater Surveillance SystemFollow Dr. Bennett on TwitterA donation was made this week to ShoreRiversSponsors of OlogiesTranscripts and bleeped episodesSmologies (short, classroom-safe) episodesBecome a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a monthOlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, masks, totes!Follow @Ologies on Twitter and InstagramFollow @AlieWard on Twitter and InstagramSound editing by Jarrett Sleeper of MindJam MediaTranscripts by Emily White of The WordaryWebsite by Kelly R. DwyerTheme song by Nick Thorburn

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks of eating homemade cashew cheese. Dr. Don - risky ☣️ Professor Ben - risky ☣️ Merch — Risky or Not? Outbreak Investigation of Salmonella: Jule's Cashew Brie (April 2021) | FDA Nick Dawson on Twitter: “@bugcounter @benjaminchapman got one for ya. I'm vegan & very into fermenting. Been experimenting with cashew-based blue cheese. Starts by using acidophilus to kick start the cashew cream, then penicillium roqueforti. 6 weeks in fridge. Mine has some pinkish hues. Risky or not? https://t.co/7OqE57pFCA” / Twitter Outbreak of S. Weltevreden linked to fermented cashew nut cheese in Victoria, BC Nutritional, Microbial, and Allergenic Changes during the Fermentation of Cashew ‘Cheese' Product Using a Quinoa-Based Rejuvelac Starter Culture Gastroenteritis Outbreak Associated with Unpasteurized Tempeh, North Carolina, USA Fermentation of Aqueous Plant Seed Extracts by Lactic Acid Bacteria | Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks of eating homemade cashew cheese.Dr. Don - risky ☣️ Professor Ben - risky ☣️ Merch — Risky or Not? Outbreak Investigation of Salmonella: Jule's Cashew Brie (April 2021) | FDA Nick Dawson on Twitter: "@bugcounter @benjaminchapman got one for ya. I'm vegan & very into fermenting. Been experimenting with cashew-based blue cheese. Starts by using acidophilus to kick start the cashew cream, then penicillium roqueforti. 6 weeks in fridge. Mine has some pinkish hues. Risky or not? https://t.co/7OqE57pFCA" / Twitter Outbreak of S. Weltevreden linked to fermented cashew nut cheese in Victoria, BC Nutritional, Microbial, and Allergenic Changes during the Fermentation of Cashew ‘Cheese' Product Using a Quinoa-Based Rejuvelac Starter Culture Gastroenteritis Outbreak Associated with Unpasteurized Tempeh, North Carolina, USA Fermentation of Aqueous Plant Seed Extracts by Lactic Acid Bacteria | Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Did you know that there are more organisms in a single teaspoon of soil than there are people on earth? On the latest episode of The Environment Edge podcast, Dr Fiona Brennan Soil & Environmental Microbiology researcher with Teagasc based in Johnstown Castle tells us all about soil health. A quarter of all life can be found in soil, so what actually lives in the soil beneath our feet and have we forgotten how important soil functions are in agriculture in relation to production, water quality, gaseous emissions and biodiversity? How healthy are our soils, are we hindering or helping our soil health and what should we be doing to get the most from our soil in a sustainable manner? For more episodes and information from the Environment Edge, visit the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/environmentedge/

Soil microbes play an essential role in releasing nutrients from the soil in a form that our fruit trees and other plants can access. So, if your soil doesn't have a healthy and diverse microbe population, your fruit trees will not thrive. The problem is that microbes are so tiny that we can't see them with the human eye. How do we know if we have a good microbe population? According to the Soil Conservation Council of Canada all you have to do is bury a pair of 100% cotton underwear in the topsoil of your garden. Leave your undies in the ground for a couple of months. Then, when you dig them up see what they look like. If your soil microbes have been busy digesting and recycling organic matter, then all that will be left is the elastic waist band.  To learn more about this process, I've invited two experts from the University of Guelph to talk about the "Bury Your Briefs Campaign" and about the role soil microbes play in keeping our fruit trees and other plants healthy. They are Cameron Ogilvie, Knowledge Mobilization Coordinator and Kari Dunfield, Canada Research Chair in Environmental Microbiology of Agro-ecosystems.  This month's contest prize: a U of G baseball cap and trowel.

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks of using aseptic chicken broth on the counter for 2 days. Dr. Don - not risky

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks of using aseptic chicken broth on the counter for 2 days.Dr. Don - not risky

Denise Akob discusses her studies of microbial communities of contaminated and pristine environments using life science and earth science techniques. She discusses how to figure out “who’s there,” how to optimize select natural microbial activities, and her career path into government research. Julie’s Biggest Takeaways: Biogeomicrobiology straddles the life science and earth science fields. This is a growing area of research in the academic setting as well as in the private sector, where one can contribute to hydrogeology or bioremediation efforts.   What happens on the surface when extracting resources like natural gases? Wastewater from hydraulic shale fracking, or fracking, can contaminate microbes. Preliminary data suggests that microbes that thrive in that wastewater can be a fingerprint for surface contamination, and this is one of the areas of active research in Akob’s lab. Additionally, microbes can respond to contaminants to remove that risk and remediate the spills. One trip to the field can provide samples for years of analysis. From one sample, scientists can conduct: Microbiome studies through amplicon sequencing to understand population structures. Metagenomics studies to understand functional potential. Biochemical studies to understand active metabolic processes. Akob asks how to make natural microbial degraders happy. For example: acetylene, a triple-bonded carbon compound, can inhibit degradation of chlorinated solvents, a potent groundwater contaminant. By studying the microbes that use acetylene as a primary energy source (acetylenotrophs), this removes this inhibition caused by acetylene and the chlorinated solvent-degraders can increase their activity.   Akob studies pristine environments to understand natural microbial communities. A cave she studied in Germany was ‘ultra pristine,’ discovered while building a highway. Understanding natural processes, such as the biomineralization promoted during stalagmite and stalactite formation helps scientists imagine how to use tehse processes in other applications. Links for this Episode: Mumford AC et al. Common Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid Additives Alter the Structure and Function of Anaerobic Microbial Communities. Applied and Environmetnal Microbiology. 2018. Akob DM et al. Acetylenotrophy: a Hidden but Ubiquitous Microbial Metabolism? FEMS Microbial Ecology. 2018. Akob DM et al. Detection of Diazotrophy in the Acetylene-Fermenting Anaerobic Pelobacter sp. Strain SFB93. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 2017. ASM Article: The Microbial World of Caves James J, Gunn AL, and Akob DM. Binning Singletons: Mentoring through Networking at ASM Microbe 2019. mSphere. 2020. HOM Tidbit: Scientists Find Ancient Cave Dwelling Resistant Bacteria ASM Press: Women in Microbiology  

Application of Microorganisms in Environment

Viral diseases in plants offer advantageous platforms for virology work, which is why returning guest Marilyn J. Roossinck pushed her research focus in their direction. Her knowledge of virus, plant, and fungus interactions adds depth to Richard's continued collection of expert views on virus functions and habits in preparation for his book. She discusses Roles viruses have played in evolution to shape us and how evolution and adaptation have shaped viruses; Fascinating examples, such as how insects work in the transmission of plant viruses; and Surprising functions, such as how the cucumber mosaic virus results from three separate viral particles that infect together to form the genome capable of infection. Because plants are inexpensive, abundant, and easy to fit in a blender, they provide an excellent subject for virologists. Therefore, plant pathologist Marilyn J. Roossinck enlightens any attempt to understand virus behaviors. She's a professor of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology at the Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics at the Huck Institute of Life Sciences at Penn State University. After introducing her motivation for embracing this field, she helps Richard along his quest for a bigger picture of virus capabilities. Through examples of symptoms of viral diseases in plants and animals, she discusses topics like the percentage of our genome that was converted from retrovirus RNA; these genes insure mammalian survival, making placental development possible. As she discusses human organisms as holobionts, listeners can get a much better understanding of the intricate beings we and all living organisms really are. For example, some fungal diseases in plants work with viruses for evolutionary adaptations such as the ability to survive heat. She mentions a virus discovered at Yellowstone that, if a fungus is present along with the virus, lends heat tolerance to certain plants. Similarly, the cholera bacteria in humans is only pathogenic when accompanied by a phage. In the midst of these interesting examples, she discusses her thoughts on virus mechanisms for entry and infection, viruses' ability to communicate or signal across cells, and the existence of "helper" viruses with different roles.  For more about her work, see The Roossinck Lab website and search her name in Google. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

Dr. Don and Professor Ben talk about the risks of freezing your jeans instead of washing. Dr. Don - not risky

Learn about why the marijuana classifications of indica and sativa aren’t based in science; how clean your washing machine really gets your clothes; and why researchers staged sword fights to learn about the Bronze Age. Indica and sativa marijuana classifications aren't based in science by Andrea Michelson Naftulin, J. (2020, April 20). There is no difference between the effects of indica and sativa marijuana strains, scientists say - Insider. Insider; Insider. https://www.insider.com/why-theres-no-difference-between-indica-and-sativa-marijuana-strains-2020-4  Lhooq, M. (2020, April 20). How to Get Into Weed While You’re Self-Isolating. Vice; vice. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/939p75/beginners-guide-to-weed-self-isolation-pandemic  Erkelens, J. L., & Hazekamp, A. (2014). That which we call Indica, by any other name would smell as sweet. Cannabinoids 2014; 9 (1): 9-15. https://bedrocan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014-that-which-we-call-indica-by-any-other-name-hazekamp-erkelens.pdf Hillig, K. W. (2005). Genetic evidence for speciation in Cannabis (Cannabaceae). Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution, 52(2), 161–180. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-003-4452-y  How clean are clothes from the washing machine? by Ashley Hamer (Listener question from Kathleen) Schirber, M. (2018). Rinsing is Key to Removing Stains. Physics, 11. https://physics.aps.org/articles/v11/28#c1  Casanova, L. M., Jeon, S., Rutala, W. A., Weber, D. J., & Sobsey, M. D. (2010). Effects of Air Temperature and Relative Humidity on Coronavirus Survival on Surfaces. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 76(9), 2712–2717. https://doi.org/10.1128/aem.02291-09  Curley, C. (2019, October 6). Your Washing Machine Can Be a Home for Bacteria — What You Should Know. Healthline; Healthline Media. https://www.healthline.com/health-news/are-bacteria-hiding-in-your-washing-machine  CDC. (2020, February 11). Cleaning And Disinfecting Your Home. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/disinfecting-your-home.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fcoronavirus%2F2019-ncov%2Fprepare%2Fdisinfecting-your-home.html  Truini, J. (2016, November 29). How To Clean Your Washing Machine. Popular Mechanics; Popular Mechanics. https://www.popularmechanics.com/home/interior-projects/how-to/a23624/how-to-clean-washing-machine/  Researchers staged sword fights to learn how fighters used their Bronze Age swords by Kelsey Donk    Sword-wielding scientists show how ancient fighting techniques spread across Bronze Age Europe. (2020, April 17). Sword-wielding scientists show how ancient fighting techniques spread across Bronze Age Europe. Science | AAAS. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/04/sword-wielding-scientists-show-how-ancient-fighting-techniques-spread-across-bronze-age  ‌Fox, A. (2020, April 21). Scientists Stage Sword Fights to Study Bronze Age Warfare. Smithsonian Magazine; Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/en-garde-scientists-stage-sword-fights-study-bronze-age-warfare-180974705/  ‌Hermann, R., Dolfini, A., Crellin, R. J., Wang, Q., & Uckelmann, M. (2020). Bronze Age Swordsmanship: New Insights from Experiments and Wear Analysis. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-020-09451-0  Subscribe to Curiosity Daily to learn something new every day with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer. You can also listen to our podcast as part of your Alexa Flash Briefing; Amazon smart speakers users, click/tap “enable” here: https://www.amazon.com/Curiosity-com-Curiosity-Daily-from/dp/B07CP17DJY

What kinds of microorganisms can degrade oil? How do scientists prioritize ecosystems for bioremediation after an oil spill? Joel Kostka discusses his research and the lessons from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill that will help scientists be better prepared for oil spills of the future. Links for this Episode: Joel Kostka Lab Website Kostka J. et al. Hydrocarbon-Degrading Bacteria and the Bacterial Community Response in Gulf of Mexico Beach Sands Impacted by the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 2011. Shin B. et al. Succession of Microbial Populations and Nitroget-Fixation Associated With the Biodegradation of Sediment-Oil-Agglomerates Buried in a Florida Sandy Beach. Scientific Reports. 2019. Bociu I. Decomposition of Sediment-Oil-Agglomerates in a Gulf of Mexico Sandy Beach. Scientific Reports. 2019. Overhold W.A. et al. Draft Genome Sequences for Oil-Degrading Bacterial Strains from Beach Sands Impacted by the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Genome Announcements. 2013. Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative ASM Colloquia Report: Microbial Genomics of the Global Ocean System ASM Article: Microbiomes: An Origin Story Joyful Microbe Blog: How to make a Winogradsky column Small Things Considered: How to Build a Giant Winogradsky Column 20% off The Invisible ABCs for MTM listeners! Use promo code: ABC20 at checkout.

Taking the fight to bacteria with lasers, metal and insect wings. How can lasers help make a material into a bacteria destroyer? Metal in fantasy has demon slaying properties, but how can it help fight bacteria? What can we learn from insect wings to help make safer implants? What is it about silver that makes it good for killing bacteria (and werewolves). Why are metals so dangerous for bacteria? How can we treat and use metal to make medical devices safer from bacteria? Vidhya Selvamani, Amin Zareei, Ahmed Elkashif, Murali Kannan Maruthamuthu, Shirisha Chittiboyina, Davide Delisi, Zheng Li, Lirong Cai, Vilas G. Pol, Mohamed N. Seleem, Rahim Rahimi. Hierarchical Micro/Mesoporous Copper Structure with Enhanced Antimicrobial Property via Laser Surface Texturing. Advanced Materials Interfaces, 2020; 1901890 DOI: 10.1002/admi.201901890 Asmaa A. Sadoon, Prabhat Khadka, Jack Freeland, Ravi Kumar Gundampati, Ryan H. Manso, Mason Ruiz, Venkata R. Krishnamurthi, Suresh Kumar Thallapuranam, Jingyi Chen, Yong Wang. Silver Ions Caused Faster Diffusive Dynamics of Histone-Like Nucleoid-Structuring Proteins in Live Bacteria. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 2020; 86 (6) DOI: 10.1128/AEM.02479-19 J. Jenkins, J. Mantell, C. Neal, A. Gholinia, P. Verkade, A. H. Nobbs, B. Su. Antibacterial effects of nanopillar surfaces are mediated by cell impedance, penetration and induction of oxidative stress. Nature Communications, 2020; 11 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-15471-x

How can the intricate relationship between soil microbiota and plants be managed for improved plant health? Linda Kinkel discusses new insights into the plant rhizosphere and the ways that some Streptomyces isolates can protect agricultural crops against bacterial, fungal, oomycete, and nematode infections. Julie’s Biggest Takeaways: The soil microbiome is extremely dynamic, with boom-and-bust cycles driven by nutrient fluxes, microbial interactions, plant-driven microbial interactions, and signaling interactions. Finding the source of these boom-and-bust cycles can help people to manage the microbiome communities and produce plant-beneficial communities for agricultural purposes.  Rhizosphere soil is soil closely associated with the root and is distinct from rhizoplane soil that directly touches the root. The endophytic rhizosphere are those microbes that get inside the root. Many scientists view these communities as a continuum rather than sharply delineated. Plants provide necessary carbon for the largely heterotrophic soil microbiota, and these microorganisms help the plants in several ways too:  Microbes mediate plant growth by production of plant growth hormones. Microbes provide nutrients through mechanisms like nitrogen fixation or phosphorus solubilization. Microbes protect the plant from stress or drought conditions. Through a University of Minnesota plant pathology program, potatos were passaged in a field for over 2 decades to study potato diseases. Over time, researchers found fewer diseases in test crops, which led the plot to be abandoned in the late 1970s. In the 1980s, Dr. Neil Anderson planted potatoes to see if they would develop disease, but neither Verticillium wilt nor potato scab developed among the plants. Soil from the field (and on the potatoes) contained Streptomyces isolates that showed antimicrobial activity against bacteria, fungi, nematodes, and oomycetes. This discovery led Neil, new University of Minnesota professor Linda, and their collaborators to study the antimicrobial activity of natural Streptomyces isolates from around the world. Inoculation quickly adds specific microbial lineages to soil microbiome communities. Alternatively, land can be managed by providing nutrients to encourage the growth of specific species, like Streptomyces, within a given plot, but this takes longer to develop. How are soil microbiomes inoculated? Microbes can be: Added to the seed coating before planting.  Placed in the furrow when the seed is planted. Distributed into the irrigation system. Links for this Episode: Linda Kinkel website at University of Minnesota Essarioui A. et al. Inhibitory and Nutrient Use Phenotypes Among Coexisting Fusarium and Streptomyces Populations Suggest Local Coevolutionary Interactions in Soil. Environmental Microbiology. 2020. Schlatter D.C. et al. Inhibitory Interaction Networks Among Coevolved Streptomyces Populations from Prairie Soils. PLoS One. 2019.  Schlatter D.C. et al. Resource Use of Soilborne Streptomyces Varies with Location, Phylogeny, and Nitrogen Amendment. Microbial Ecology. 2013. Small Things Considered blog: Are Oomycetes Fungi or What? International Year of Plant Health HOM Tidbit: Austin-Bourke P.M. Emergence of Potato Blight, 1843-1846. Nature. 1965.  

LYNNE SEHULSTER, PhD, M(ASCP) speaks with ALM Executive Director Linda Fairbanks to clear up some concerns and misconceptions about COVID-19 in laundry facilities. Please visit ALM's COVID-19 page for continually updated information for the textile care industry. Lynne Sehulster has been with the CDC for almost 20 years, working as a Health Scientist in the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion (DHQP) within the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID). Prior to her coming to CDC, she served as an infectious disease epidemiologist for 15 years at the Texas Department of Health (currently known as the Texas Department of State Health Services). Her current area of expertise focuses on environmental infection control, microbial inactivation, and transmission of infectious diseases. She has advised CDC and other federal and state health agencies, healthcare professionals, and the public on issues concerning environmental cleaning, sterilization and disinfection, healthcare laundry issues, prion disease epidemiology, and environmental management of emerging diseases. She is the coordinator of and contributor to the CDC/HICPAC “Guidelines for Environmental Infection Control in Health-Care Facilities” that was released in 2003, and has assisted federal colleagues and other entities in the development of their infection prevention guidelines. She received her PhD and MS in Microbiology from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, completed a postdoctoral appointment in viral immunology at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston TX, and has her certificate as a Microbiologist with the American Society of Clinical Pathologists (M[ASCP]). She also serves as an Editorial Board member for the journals Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology and Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

V dnešnej epizóde Pravidelnej dávky Miro rozpráva o syntetickej biológii a o tom, ako syntetickí biológovia a niektoré zaujímavé spoločnosti v tejto oblasti môžu pomôcť riešiť problémy s klímou, ktorým všetci čelíme.----more----Môžeme upraviť baktérie tak, aby sa dokázali živiť skleníkovými plynmi z ovzdušia? A ako môžeme využiť metódy rastlinného inžinierstva? A čože to vlastne je tá syntetická biológia?  Vybrané Referencie[1] http://sites.bu.edu/climate-change/[2] https://synbiobeta.com/exploring-solutions-to-climate-change-with-synthetic-biology/[3] https://theconversation.com/climate-change-is-making-soils-saltier-forcing-many-farmers-to-find-new-livelihoods-106048[4] Mus, F., Crook, M. B., Garcia, K., Costas, A. G., Geddes, B. A., Kouri, E. D., … Peters, J. W. (2016, July 1). Symbiotic nitrogen fixation and the challenges to its extension to nonlegumes. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. American Society for Microbiology. https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.01055-16[5] Callaway, E. (2019, December 1). E. coli bacteria engineered to eat carbon dioxide. Nature. NLM (Medline). https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-03679-x ***Dobré veci potrebujú svoj čas. Pomohla ti táto dávka zamyslieť sa nad niečím zmysluplným? Podpor tvoj obľúbený podcast sumou 1€, 5€ alebo 10€ (trvalý príkaz je topka!) na SK1283605207004206791985. Ďakujeme! Viac info o podpore na pravidelnadavka.sk/#chcem-podporit  

The most abundant organism on Earth lives in its seas: the marine bacterium SAR11. Steve Giovannoni describes how the origins of SAR11 provided its name, and the ways that studying SAR11 have taught scientists about ocean ecology. He also discusses how the different depths of the ocean vary in their microbial compositions and what his big questions are in marine microbiology. Different depths of the ocean have different habitats, but the microbes vary continuously, based in part on light availability: Surface light facilitates photosynthesis by algal cells. These primary producers fix carbon for the entire ecosystem! Because nutrients are readily available, the cell concentration in surface waters can reach nearly 1,000,000 cells/ml. The twilight zone offers dim light. Microbes in this area mainly use carbon sources generated by the surface-dwelling microbes. Below a few hundred meters, cell concentrations drop to 10,000-100,000 cells/ml. The deep ocean has no light and the microbes that live here have significantly different biochemistries and metabolisms. SAR11 is small in both physical size and genome size (0.37–0.89 µm and 1.3 million base pairs, respectively). It is nevertheless the most abundant organism on the planet, with more than 1028 cells estimated to exist worldwide. These cells convert between 6-37% of the carbon fixed in the oceans daily. SAR11 in different niches have ecotypes with different specialties but look physically similar and have very similar genome sequences. Naturally, the most abundant cells in the ocean have the most abundant parasites: bacteriophages called pelagiphages infect SAR11 all over the world. SAR11 and pelagiphages are under constant evolution, though there doesn’t seem to be a CRISPR system in the Pelagibacter genome; these bacteria largely use other mechanisms to evade phage infection. SAR11 is like a house with the lights on all the time, in that the cells constitutively express most metabolic genes. For example, SAR11 metabolizes dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) into dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and methanethiol (MeSH), which can be produced as soon as the cells are exposed to DMSP. While this may seem energetically expensive, the cells must capitalize on their encounters with this transient resource, often found only at low concentrations, and this capitalization requires the investment of protein production. The cost of metabolic gene regulation outweighs the benefits in this particular case. SAR11 and SAR202 are the poles on the spectrum of heterotrophic marine bacteria. SAR11 is very efficient at accessing and using the organic compounds that come from the phytoplankton (also called the labile organic matter). SAR202, found in the deeper part of the ocean, specializes in hard-to-access carbon compounds that other bacteria can’t access. Links for This Episode MTM Listener Survey, only takes 3 minutes. Thanks! Stephen Giovannoni website at Oregon State University OSU High Throughput Microbial Cultivation Lab Carini P. et al. Discovery of SAR11 Growth Requirement for Thiamin’s Pyrimidine Precursor and its Distribution in the Sargasso Sea. ISME J. 2014. Sun J. et al. The Abundant Marine Bacterium Pelagibacter Simultaneously Catabolizes Dimethylsulfoniopropionate to the Gases Dimethyl Sulfide and Methanethiol. Nature Microbiology. 2016. Moore E.R. et al. Pelagibacter Metabolism of Diatom-Derived Volatile Organic Compounds Imposes an Energetic Tax on Photosynthetic Carbon Fixation. Environmental Microbiology. 2019. HOM Tidbit: Sagan L. On the Origin of Mitosing Cells. 1967. HOM Tidbit: Cellmates (Radiolab podcast episode) ASM Article: The Origin of Eukaryotes: Where Science and Pop Culture Collide  

Many hospital-acquired bacterial infections are also drug-resistant. Amy Mathers describes her work tracking these bacteria to their reservoir in hospital sinks, and what tools allowed her team to make these discoveries. Mathers also discusses her work on Klebsiella, a bacterial pathogen for the modern era. Subscribe (free) on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Android, RSS, or by email. Julie’s Biggest Takeaways Nosocomial infections are a type of opportunistic infection: one that wouldn’t normally cause disease in healthy individuals. Once the immune system is compromised due to other infection or treatment, the opportunist bacteria take advantage of the conditions to grow to higher numbers and cause disease. How are different pathogens transmitted in the hospital? Previously, transmission was considered to occur from one patient to a second patient, perhaps via a healthcare worker. When patients from very different parts of the hospital began to come down with the same resistant strain of bacteria, without interacting through the same space or staff, researchers began to look at a different reservoir: the hospital wastewater. How does the bacteria get from the sink to the patients? The bacteria, existing in a biofilm in the pipe right below the drain, can be transferred in droplets when the water is run. These droplets can fall as far as 36 inches from the drain plate and can contaminate the sink bowl or patient care items next to the sink. Some of the solutions to decrease bacterial dispersion from hospital sinks are very simple: for example, offsetting the drain from the tap, which keeps the water from directly running onto the drain, helps decrease the force with which the water hits the drain and therefore decreases bacterial dispersion. The Sink Lab at University of Virginia couldn’t replicate the bacterial growth patterns seen in the rest of the building; in particular, there were fewer protein nutrients that promoted bacterial growth. By setting up a camera observation of sink stations used in the hospital, the team realized that the waste thrown down the sink (extra soda, milk, soup, etc) was feeding the microbial biofilm. This helps the CRE in the biofilms in the sinks thrive. Links for This Episode MTM Listener Survey, only takes 3 minutes. Thanks! Amy Mathers website at University of Virginia The Sink Lab at UVA Kotay SM et al. Droplet- Rather than Aerosol-Mediated Dispersion is the Primary Mechanism of Bacterial Transmission from Contaminated Hand-Washing Sink Traps. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 2018. Mather AJ et al. Klebsiella quasipneumoniae Provides a Windo into Carbapenemase Gene Transfer, Plasmid Rearrangements, and Patient Interactions within the Hospital Environment. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. 2018. Kotay S et al. Spread from the Sink to the Patient: in situ Study Using Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP)-Expressing Escherichia coli to Model Bacteral Dispersion from Hand-Washuing Sink-Trap Reservoirs. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 2016. Let us know what you thought about this episode by tweeting at us @ASMicrobiology or leaving a comment on facebook.com/asmfan. Send your stories about our guests and/or your comments to jwolf@asmusa.org.  

What happens to an infectious agent once it leaves the human body? Well, it ends up in our cars, airplanes, food, water, and soil. If we know how that contagion behaves “in the wild”, then we'll be able to kill it, filter it, or otherwise prevent it from proliferating, and potentially improve the lives of millions of people in the process. This is the study of Environmental Microbiology and it's a topic that today's guest has spent more than 30 years trying to understand. Dr. Syed Sattar is Professor Emeritus of Microbiology at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa. He is also a co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer at CREM CO.  He's a world-renowned expert who regularly advises national and international agencies like the World Health Organization (WHO), and private-sector companies. We're also joined by Bahram Zargar, CEO of CREM CO. This is a company built on top of Dr. Sattar's extensive body of work that aims to speed the assessment, development, and promotion of innovative and sustainable strategies for environmental control of harmful microbes for a safer tomorrow. It blends engineering with environmental microbiology to enable a whole new level of scientific rigor. You'll learn: What happens to infectious agents once they leave the body? What can we do with that knowledge? How air travel and the international food market have eliminated borders in the battle against infectious disease. How engineering can support Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) by enabling scientific rigor and validation. How this science can be used to develop new barrier technologies. What is lacking in today's IPAC efforts and where does it need to go? How disinfectants can lead to their own form of resistance (i.e. bugs resistant to cleaning) and may even contribute to antibiotic resistance. What's the biggest challenge in matching IPAC innovations with potential buyers in the healthcare system? Why we need to enable our “foot soldiers” (i.e. the cleaning staff and environmental services teams at hospitals) with proper training and tools to win this war. Why it's important for innovators and manufacturers to be more scientifically responsible (i.e. don't chase the bug of the month). Why the government needs to increase funding for research and development in IPAC. Why it's so important to stand on the shoulders of the IPAC greats that came before us and build on their work. A few key points that I'd like to highlight: There's very little money set aside by governments for research and development in IPAC. If there's no money, then the best researchers aren't motivated to go after these issues and innovation is starved. We've seen that recently in the U.S with the constant attack on the Prevention and Public Health Fund. We rely on our cleaning staff and Environmental Services (EVS) teams to do a very important job in the hospital, but we don't treat that position with much respect. “If our soldiers are not well trained and ill-equipped for battle, then how do we expect to win the war against the spread of infection?” In a world of increasing antibiotic-resistance and anti-microbial resistance, we must focus on prevention in IPAC.   This episode originally aired on The #HCBiz Sow on May 17, 2017.

Lydia is a PhD Candidate in Soil Science and Environmental Microbiology at the University of Arizona, with a minor in American Indian Policy and emphasis on science communication. Lydia has been running about half her life, and often incorporates soil knowledge into her social media posts to increase awareness about soil science, and Indigenous knowledge about the lands on which we recreate on. She's both a brainiac and talented ultra runner.  More from Lyida @llcooljennings More from me @hilsport55

In this pilot episode, we discuss the importance of collaboration as an evolutionary driver and explore ways that trans-disciplinary teams of scientists can mimic nature, evolving the way research is done. We also unpack the story of why and how Penn State has become a hotbed for this kind of work. Relevant Links:TransdisciplinarityPenn State's Diversity Inspires a Thriving CommunityAlways Adapting: Disease Dynamics in Plant-Pollinator SystemsGuests: Andrew Read – Evan Pugh University Professor of Biology and Entomology, Eberly Professor of Biotechnology and director of the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences at Penn StateNina G. Jablonski – Evan Pugh University Professor of Anthropology at Penn StateCristina Rosa – Assistant Professor of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology at Penn State

Graciela Lorca studies genetic systems to find positive and negative microbial interactions that lead to disease. She talks about her discovery of chemical inhibitors for the citrus greening disease bacterium, Liberibacter asiaticus,and how a specific strain of Lactobacillus johnsoniimodulates the immune system and may help prevent development of diabetes in people. Subscribe (free) on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Android, RSS, or by email. Also available on the ASM Podcast Network app. Julie’s Biggest Takeaways Citrus greening disease, or huanglongbing, is a disease of citrus trees causing a major epidemic among citrus farmers around the world. The disease causes trees to sicken and eventually die, and is best diagnosed by PCR amplification of the bacterial DNA from the bacterium that causes the disease, Liberibacter asiaticus. Because the disease spreads through the tree at different rates, it’s important that many samples be tested for accurate diagnosis. Quarantining the disease has proved difficult, as undiagnosed roots can transmit the disease if they are used to hybridize with canopy plants. The disease becomes even harder to contain under bad weather conditions: the high winds of recent hurricanes can scatter the insect vector, the Asian citrus psyllid, leading to infection of new orchards. Although L. asiaticuscan’t be cultured, Graciela performed a screen on L. asiaticustranscription factors that were produced by E. coli. These were tested for inhibition by a chemical library, and discovered that a common treatment for gout, benzbromarone, inhibited protein activity. This discovery was confirmed using in vivoinfected plants and by expressing the gene in related bacterial species, Graciela and her team predict the protein plays a role in responding to osmotic stress. The protein target of the chemical differs widely between citrus greening disease and gout, but the protein-chemical interaction is similar enough to allow protein inhibition. Is there a link between the microbiome and diabetes? 10 years ago, Lactobacillus johnsoniican rescue animals that are predisposed to diabetes. L. johnsoniiinactivates a host enzyme, IDO, which regulates proinflammatory responses. Activated immune cells can travel to the pancreas and attack beta cells, leading to diabetes. Regulating the proinflammatory response by administering L. johnsoniias probiotics offers the opportunity to control development of diabetes in predisposed people.   Links for This Episode MTM Listener Survey, only takes 3 minutes. Thanks! Graciela Lorca’s lab website Pagliai F.A. et al. The Transcriptional Activator LdtR from ‘Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus’ Mediates Osmotic Stress Tolerance. PLoS Pathogens. April 2014. Lai K.K., Lorca G.L. and Gonzalez C.F. Biochemical Properties of Two Cinnamoyl Esterases Purified from a Lactobacillus johnsonii Strain Isolated from Stool Samples of Diabetes-Resistant Rats. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. August 2009. Marcial G.E. et al. Lactobacillus johnsonii N6.2 Modulates the Host Immune Response: A Double-Blind, Randomized Trial in Healthy Adults. Frontiers in Immunology. June 2017. HOM Tidbit: Hartmann A., Rothballer M., and Schmid M. Lorenz Hiltner, a Pioneer in Rhisophere Microbial Ecology and Soil Bacteriology Research. Plant and Soil November 2008.    

Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink or nutrient for that matter. The Ocean can sometimes be a inhospitable place with barely any nutrients to survive off. Other times it can be home to large ocean spanning algae blooms. The oceans from the Pacific to the Atlantic can hold lots of secrets (even fresh water) beneath the surface. This week we look at 3 different papers which outline strange parts of the ocean, from large algae blooms to hidden aquifers.References: Greta Reintjes, Halina E. Tegetmeyer, Miriam Bürgisser, Sandi Orlić, Ivo Tews, Mikhail Zubkov, Daniela Voß, Oliver Zielinski, Christian Quast, Frank Oliver Glöckner, Rudolf Amann, Timothy G. Ferdelman, Bernhard M. Fuchs. On-Site Analysis of Bacterial Communities of the Ultraoligotrophic South Pacific Gyre. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 2019; 85 (14) DOI: 10.1128/AEM.00184-19 Mengqiu Wang, Chuanmin Hu, Brian B. Barnes, Gary Mitchum, Brian Lapointe, Joseph P. Montoya. The great Atlantic Sargassum belt. Science, 2019; 365 (6448): 83 DOI: 10.1126/science.aaw7912 Chloe Gustafson, Kerry Key, Rob L. Evans. Aquifer systems extending far offshore on the U.S. Atlantic margin. Scientific Reports, 2019; 9 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-44611-7

Studying microbiology in soil and its relationship to plant life. In This Podcast: There was no one person who set Derex Zellars on a path towards being a microbiologist, but through observing his environment that he developed his enthusiasm. He shares why soil microbiology is so fascinating to him, and why the expectations we have about using fertilizers are leading us away from the truth.  Don't miss an episode! Click here to sign up for podcast updatesor visit www.urbanfarm.org/podcast Derex holds a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Sciences from The University of Texas at San Antonio. He has over 13 years of combined experience in the fields of Environmental Microbiology, chemistry and bioremediation. He holds two patents related to these fields and one of his published a journal articles is on the studies of microalgae after herbicide treatments. Go to www.urbanfarm.org/hykreations2 for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Mr. Bloom is releasing a parasite resulting in deaths across Gotham. Can Batman use his knowledge of bacteriology and parasites to save Gotham? Find out on this week's episode of School of Batman! Our guest this week is Eleonora Aquilini, who has a PhD in Environmental Microbiology from the University of Barcelona and is currently a post doc at the University of Montpellier. You can find Eleonora on Twitter: https://twitter.com/EleoAquilini. __________________ Impact Moderato by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-fre…isrc=USUAN1100618 Artist: incompetech.com/ Cool Vibes - Film Noire by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-fre…isrc=USUAN1100863 Artist: incompetech.com/ Mechanolith by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-fre…isrc=USUAN1100879 Artist: incompetech.com/

Public health laboratories do a great deal of work that impacts the daily lives of everyone in America. Do you know exactly how much they’re doing? The first episode produced by members of the Emerging Leader Program cohort 10 looks at some of the work performed by public health lab scientists. (*indicates ELP cohort 10 member) Water Quality Testing Interviewer: *Amanda Hughes, program manager of ambient air quality monitoring, State Hygienic Lab at the University of Iowa Experts: Michael Schueller, assistant director of operations, State Hygienic Lab at the University of Iowa Nancy Hall, program manager, Environmental Microbiology, State Hygienic Lab at the University of Iowa Water quality testing at the State Hygienic Lab at the University of Iowa   Alcohol Testing Interviewer: *Gitika Panicker, microbiologist, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Expert: Laura Bailey, director, Office of Alcohol Testing, Arkansas State Public Health Laboratory Alcohol testing at the Arkansas State Public Health Laboratory   Influenza Testing Interviewer: *Shondra Johnson, laboratory information management system administrator, Missouri State Public Health Laboratory Expert: Jessica Bauer, molecular unit manager, Missouri State Public Health Laboratory Seasonal influenza testing at the Missouri State Public Health Laboratory   Bioterrorism Interviewer: Avi Singh, food lab lead microbiologist, Washington State Public Health Laboratory Expert: *Denny Russell, bioterrorism coordinator, Washington State Public Health Laboratory   Foodborne Outbreak Linked to Flour Interviewer: *Rebecca Lindsey, Whole Genome Sequence Project lead, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Experts: Heather A. Carleton, bioinformatics team lead, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Samuel J. Crowe, National Outbreak Reporting System team lead, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) E. coli outbreak linked to flour (CDC) Shiga Toxin–Producing E. coli Infections Associated with Flour      

The advent of modern technology within deeply misguided institutions and cultures has accelerated the near-demise of the biosphere. Our guest today argues that coupled with a deep awareness of ecological realities, visionary technology can benefit nature and society, and perhaps even help avert a worst-case climate disaster. Dr. Shearer is co-founder and CEO of Full Circle Biochar. Prior to launching Full Circle Biochar, Dr. Shearer was Chief Scientist at California Environmental Associates and Principal Environmental Scientist at AeroVironment Inc., where he worked in the next-generation transportation, energy, carbon mitigation, and information technology space. In addition to his private sector activities, Dr. Shearer has directed groundbreaking work in both public policy and philanthropic investment for climate change mitigation. Dr. Shearer sits on several nonprofit and educational boards including SkyTruth and Black Rock Labs (formerly Black Rock Solar). He has a Ph.D. in Environmental Epidemiology and a M.S. in Environmental Microbiology from the University of California, and B.S. in Biology from the University of Oregon.

Dr. Edward DeLong is a Professor in the Department of Oceanography at the University of Hawai’i Manoa as well as a Visiting Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT. When he’s not working, Ed loves to be out in nature. He enjoys spending time outside with his family, hiking, kayaking, and snorkeling in the beautiful coral reefs near his house. Ed has also taken up yoga to help him stay limber and relaxed. Research in Ed’s lab brings together a variety of disciplines to study microbial communities in the ocean. He is interested in their ecology, evolution, biochemistry, genomics, and their impacts on marine systems. Particularly of interest for Ed are the microscopic organisms that are the primary producers or “forests of the ocean” responsible for releasing oxygen and serving as food for other organisms in marine food chains. Ed received his B.S. in Bacteriology from the University of California, Davis and his Ph.D. in Marine Biology from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography. Afterwards, he conducted postdoctoral research at Indiana University. Ed has worked as a research scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, a faculty member at the University of California, Santa Barbara, a research scientist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, and a faculty member at MIT before accepting his current position in Hawai’i. His honors and achievements include the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, the DuPont Young Faculty Award, the Apple Bioinformatics Cluster Award, the Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky Medal of the European Geosciences Union, the Proctor and Gamble Award in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, American Society for Microbiology D.C. White Research and Mentorship Award, the UC Davis College of Biological Sciences Outstanding Alumni Award, A.G. Huntsman Medal for Excellence in Marine Science, and the Moore Foundation Marine Microbiology Investigator Award. Ed is also an Elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Academy of Microbiology. Ed has also been elected as an Associate of the European Molecular Biology Organization and is the Vice President and President Elect of the International Society of Microbial Ecology. In addition, he currently serves as the co-director of the Simons Collaboration on Ocean Processes and Ecology (SCOPE). Ed joined us for a conversation about his experiences in life and science.

Dr. Don Schaffner is an amazing food safety scientist who’s the best in class. In fact, let me name youa  few of his amazing awards: You can read his amazing biography here What’s also super cool, is that Don and his co-host Ben do a whole lot of extracurricular activities to promote food safety and one of their favorite things to do is podcasting. For over 4 years, they’re been doing discussions of food safety and post them online for everyone to enjoy and they do have quite a following. If you are in food safety or are considering food safety, you have to listen to this interview. Don gives you valuable advice on how to really be a star player in food safety and some amazing resources such as Barfblog, Food Safety News, and the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports About Don Dr. Donald W. Schaffner is Extension Specialist in Food Science and Distinguished Professor at Rutgers University. He has authored more than 150 peer-reviewed publications and educated thousands of Food Industry professionals through short courses and workshops in the United States and around the world. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Food Technologists and the American Academy of Microbiology. He has served as an Editor for the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology since 2005.  Dr. Schaffner was the president of the International Association for Food Protection in 2013-2014. In his spare time he co-hosts a food safety podcast at foodsafetytalk.com. Sponsor - FoodGrads This episode is sponsored by FoodGrads, an interactive platform for the Food & Beverage Industry, which focuses on closing the gap between students and employers with a broader mission to attract and retain people to a meaningful career in food. From Food Scientists to Farmers, Chefs to Plant Managers, QA Technicians to Dieticians, or Marketing and Sales, no matter what your passion--there's something for everyone in Food—and they will help you find it. Join FoodGrads for support, mentorship and guidance to start your career. Just go to foodgrads.com Sponsor - Steviva Ingredients Has marketing ever asked you to pull a rabbit out of a hat? I know they have with me. They want clean-label sugar reduction because that’s the trend. And in addition to clean label, we need to follow the ever-changing FDA laws, meet low cost parameters AND create a product that tastes EXCELLENT – with no aftertaste issues. They want us to make magic happen. Who do they think we are - Houdini? Let me tell you who the real magicians are. Steviva Ingredients. Steviva has more than two decades of experience in R&D and clean-label sugar reduction in a variety of applications: beverage, baked goods, fillings, frostings, condiments. Give em a call. They’ll create a solution for you. If they can help me, they can help you. Go check them out at stevivaingredients.com. Housekeeping If you like what you heard, like us on facebook or write a review on itunes. It helps wonders. I am also inviting you to sign up on our email list at myfoodjobrocks.com. I am doing this new thing called the 5 course meal where I send you 5 pieces of hand picked content and deliver it every Friday morning. Like a meal kit… If you have any questions or suggestions on how to improve the podcast, don’t be afraid to email me at podcast@myfoodjobrocks.com Knowledge Bombs What is an extension specialist? What are extensions? If you want a career in food science, think about Food Science and Quality because boy we have a lot to do How Don met Darin Detwiler Official Job title: Distinguished Professor – Distinguished Professor and Extension Specialist How long have you worked in Rutgers?: Over 25 years! Extension course: they’ve always existed, but not widely visible What’s the best skill can you have in Food Safety and Quality: You need to keep learning. The knowledge you have today will be outdated by next year Don’t think what you know today is going to necessarily be known tomorrow. You always have to keep up with new outbreaks and keep on changing your mind What resources do you use to keep you up to date?: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports published by the CDC Barfblog: Doug Powell and Ben Chapman. What’s making people barf! Food Safety News by Bill Marler Food Safety Talk with Ben Chapman. 2 PhDs in Food Safety talk about food safety. A director’s commentary of what’s in the food safety news How did Food Safety Talks start?: Howard Stern Terrestrial Radio 100th anniversary of IAFP. NPR people came over and Don met Ben and then they talked and then they made a podcast Dan Benjamin: 5 by 5. How to do podcasting articles How long has Food Safety Talks been on?: 5 years! Why Does Your Food Job Rocks?: I love everything about my job. (Literally everything) What advice can you give a 24 year old on having the achievements that you have?: Give it time, You don’t get ahead on focusing on regrets on the past. It’s just not relevant Don’t focus on the past, focus on the present. Don’t let setbacks set you back. Food Technology: Whole Genome Technology. The radar the CDC is using is getting more sensitive. Also, mimicking norovirus What do you think the biggest challenge the food industry has to face?: Integration of FSMA What’s one thing in the food industry you’d like to know more about?: Why people aren’t complying to rules Favorite Quote: Prediction is very difficult especially about the future. Favorite Book: DiscWorld by Terry Prachett Favorite Kitchen Item: Digital Scale What kind of advice would you give a fresh graduate?: Do the right thing. Life is too short that don’t take food safety and quality seriously. Where can we find you?: Food Safety Talk podcast. Don Schaffner from Rutgers. Bug Counter on twitter. Emails (don’t do emails) Other Links Penn State Ice Cream Course Texas A and M Extrusion Course Better Process Control Course Cyclospora Norovirus Preventative Controls Rule: a training is required Produce Safety Rule Supplier Verification Programs Irrigation of Water Provisions of the fresh produce rule Foreign Supplier Training University of Georgia American Greed: Peanut Corporation Story Core (never launched, but we have them at Food Safety Talks) Dr. Darin Detwiler FSMA webinars

What happens to an infectious agent once it leaves the human body? Well, it ends up in our cars, airplanes, food, water and soil. If we know how that contagion behaves "in the wild", then we'll be able to kill it, filter it, or otherwise prevent it from proliferating, and potentially improve the lives of millions of people in the process.  This is the study of Environmental Microbiology and it's a topic that today's guest has spent more than 30 years trying to understand. Dr. Syed Sattar is Professor Emeritus of Microbiology at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa. He is also a co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer at CREM CO.  He's a world-renowned expert who regularly advises national and international agencies like the World Health Organization (WHO), and private-sector companies. We're also joined by Bahram Zargar, CEO of CREM CO. This is a company built on top of Dr. Sattar's extensive body of work that aims to speed the assessment, development, and promotion of innovative and sustainable strategies for environmental control of harmful microbes for a safer tomorrow. It blends engineering with environmental microbiology to enable a whole new level of scientific rigor. You'll learn: What happens to infectious agents once they leave the body? What can we do with that knowledge? How air travel and the international food market have eliminated borders in the battle against infectious disease. How engineering can support Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) by enabling scientific rigor and validation. How this science can be used to develop new barrier technologies. What is lacking in today's IPAC efforts and where does it need to go? How disinfectants can lead to their own form of resistance (i.e. bugs resistant to cleaning) and may even contribute to antibiotic resistance. What's the biggest challenge in matching IPAC innovations with potential buyers in the healthcare system? Why we need to enable our "foot soldiers" (i.e. the cleaning staff and environmental services teams at hospitals) with proper training and tools to win this war. Why it's important for innovators and manufacturers to be more scientifically responsible (i.e. don't chase the bug of the month). Why government needs to increase funding for research and development in IPAC. Why it's so important to stand on the shoulders of the IPAC greats that came before us and build on their work. A few key points that I'd like to highlight: There's very little money set aside by governments for research and development in IPAC. If there's no money, then the best researchers aren't motivated to go after these issues and innovation is starved. We've seen that recently in the U.S with the constant attack on the Prevention and Public Health Fund. We rely on our cleaning staff and Environmental Services (EVS) teams to do a very important job in the hospital, but we don't treat that position with much respect. "If our soldiers are not well trained and ill-equipped for battle, then how do we expect to win the war against the spread of infection?" In a world of increasing antibiotic-resistance and anti-microbial resistance, we must focus on prevention in IPAC. Subscribe on iTunes Sign-up for our weekly newsletter! About CREM CO CREM Co is a contract and R&D laboratory uniquely positioned to provide value to the infection prevention and control (IPAC) industry as well as those working in health-related environmental microbiology and molecular biology. CREM Co has the expertise for handling all major classes of pathogens in water, food, air, municipal wastes as well as on animate and inanimate surfaces. It can assess disinfectants and antiseptics using internationally accepted test protocols. Its state-of-the-art aerobiology facilities are designed to study airborne microbes and decontamination of indoor air. Building on the rich history of the Centre for Research on Environmental Microbiology, CREM Co will continue to focus on the assessment, development, and promotion of innovative and sustainable strategies for environmental control of harmful microbes for a safer tomorrow. http://www.cremco.ca/ CREM CO on LinkedIn CANADIAN RESEARCHERS TEST INDOOR AIR DECONTAMINATION APPLIANCES FOR CARS Indoor air as a vehicle for human pathogens: Introduction, objectives, and expectation of outcome And this is a post about the event in Buffalo that we mentioned: Using Chemical Microbicides to Interrupt the Environmental Spread of Pathogens Weekly Updates If you like what we're doing here, then please consider signing up for our weekly newsletter. You'll get one email from me each week detailing: New podcast episodes and blog posts. Content or ideas that I've found valuable in the past week. Insider info about the show like stats, upcoming episodes and future plans that I won't put anywhere else. The question of the week. Plain text and straight from the heart :) No SPAM or fancy graphics and you can unsubscribe with a single click anytime. About the Infection Prevention and Control Series This episode is part of The #HCBiz Show's Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) series. We'd like to thank our partners InfectionControl.tips and the Center of Excellence for Infection Prevention and Control (COE IPAC) for their support and guidance with the series. About InfectionControl.tips InfectionControl.tips is a Pan-Access journal that extends globally and touches locally. www.IC.tips is: Free to Publish. Free to Access and provides Accessible Scientific Services. About Center of Excellence for Infection Prevention and Control (COE IPAC) Center of Excellence for Infection Prevention and Control (COE IPAC) is a collaborative effort to accelerate and support new solutions that hold the promise of significantly advancing infection prevention and control. On a quarterly basis, the Center of Excellence will evaluate at least 3 international innovations – giving them access to independent testing, publication as well as a US commercialization site The #HCBiz Show! is produced by Glide Health IT, LLC in partnership with Netspective Media.   Soundtrack credit: Acid Lounge by FoolBoyMedia

Dr Jack A Gilbert earned his Ph.D. from Unilever and Nottingham University, UK in 2002, and received his postdoctoral training at Queens University, Canada. He subsequently returned to the UK in 2005 to Plymouth Marine Laboratory at a senior scientist until his move to Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago in 2010. Dr Gilbert is Group Leader for Microbial Ecology at Argonne National Laboratory, Associate Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution and the Department of Surgery at University of Chicago, Associate Director of the Institute of Genomic and Systems Biology, and Senior Scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory. Dr. Gilbert uses molecular analysis and sequencing tools to test fundamental hypotheses in ARgone National Labmicrobial ecology. He has authored more than 160 peer reviewed publications and book chapters on metagenomics and approaches to ecosystem ecology (www.gilbertlab.com). He is currently working on generating observational and mechanistic models of microbial communities in natural, urban, built and human ecosystems. He is on the board of the Genomic Standards Consortium is a section editor for PLoS ONE and senior editor for the ISME Journal and Environmental Microbiology. Among other projects, he leads the Earth Microbiome Project Home Microbiome Project Hospital Microbiome Project and co-founded American Gut. In 2014 he was recognized on Crainâ??s Buisness Chicagoâ??s 40 Under 40 List. Dr. Gilbert was mentioned in a few interviews recently when we got into discussions on the microbiome of the built environment. He is a prolific researcher and speaker we are thrilled to have been able to schedule him this week.

Dr Jack A Gilbert earned his Ph.D. from Unilever and Nottingham University, UK in 2002, and received his postdoctoral training at Queens University, Canada. He subsequently returned to the UK in 2005 to Plymouth Marine Laboratory at a senior scientist until his move to Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago in 2010. Dr Gilbert is Group Leader for Microbial Ecology at Argonne National Laboratory, Associate Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution and the Department of Surgery at University of Chicago, Associate Director of the Institute of Genomic and Systems Biology, and Senior Scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory. Dr. Gilbert uses molecular analysis and sequencing tools to test fundamental hypotheses in ARgone National Labmicrobial ecology. He has authored more than 160 peer reviewed publications and book chapters on metagenomics and approaches to ecosystem ecology (www.gilbertlab.com). He is currently working on generating observational and mechanistic models of microbial communities in natural, urban, built and human ecosystems. He is on the board of the Genomic Standards Consortium is a section editor for PLoS ONE and senior editor for the ISME Journal and Environmental Microbiology. Among other projects, he leads the Earth Microbiome Project Home Microbiome Project Hospital Microbiome Project and co-founded American Gut. In 2014 he was recognized on Crainâ??s Buisness Chicagoâ??s 40 Under 40 List. Dr. Gilbert was mentioned in a few interviews recently when we got into discussions on the microbiome of the built environment. He is a prolific researcher and speaker we are thrilled to have been able to schedule him this week.

This week on IAQ Radio we are going to play Part Two of our interview from the Maine IAQ Council 2015 Northeast IAQ and Energy Conference. Bob Krell of Healthy Indoors Magazine and I interviewed some of the speakers at the event and we have both audio and video recordings to play back for our listeners and readers. The conference was a great success and every year they draw some of the top speakers in the industry. For part two this week we will be replaying our interviews with Sam Rashkin, Paula Schenck, MPH, David Shea, P.E. and Jack Springston, CIH, CSP, FAIHA. We will talk some building science, sampling vs. non sampling, mold and health, vapor intrusion and more! For those of you expecting our Brett Singer, PhD interview we had to push that back a week to accommodate a last minute change in Dr. Singer's plans. Sam Rashkin Chief Architect, Building Technologies Office in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of Energy - Washington, D.C. As Chief Architect Mr. Rashkin's work includes leading DOE's world-class research program, Building America, and overseeing the DOE Zero Energy Ready Home voluntary labeling program for leading edge builders. In his prior position, he managed Energy Star for Homes since its start in 1996. He received his Bachelor of Architecture from Syracuse University; completed Masters of Urban Planning studies at New University; York and is a registered architect in California and New York. Paula Schenck, MPH Director of Indoor Environment & Health Programs, UConn Health - Farmington, CT Paula was part of a group that established the Center for Indoor Environments and Health at to UCONN on this objective. She developed multiple initiatives directed at improving indoor environments in schools and offices. At the UCONN Occupational Medicine clinic, Paula is called upon to provide guidance on environmental and/or workplace interventions as part of patient treatment. She also teaches environmental health at UCONN, instructs in the masters in public health program, is a seminar leader on asthma and environment and coordinates segments on occupational health in the medical school. David Shea, P.E. Sanborn Head & Associates - Concord, NH As a Principal Engineer with Sanborn, Head & Associates in Concord, New Hampshire, he is responsible for leading vapor intrusion and environmental remediation projects throughout the US and abroad. He has conducted vapor intrusion and mitigation assessments at sites involving more than hundreds of structures and millions of square feet. He holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Princeton University and a M.S. in Civil Engineering from M.I.T. He is a licensed professional engineer in 13 states. Jack Springston, CIH, CSP, FAIHA TRC Environmental Corporation - New York, NY Jack Springston has over 27 years of experience in industrial hygiene and occupational health. He has been a Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH) since 1993, and is one of only approximately 50 active CIHs who also hold a sub-specialty certificate in Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ). Jack received a BS Degree in Environmental Science and Biology from LIU/Southampton College and a MS Degree in Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences from CUNY/Hunter College. He is a past-Chair of both the American Industrial Hygiene Association's (AIHA) Indoor Environmental Quality committee and the Bio-safety and Environmental Microbiology committee and is an AIHA Distinguished Fellow.

This week on IAQ Radio we are going to play Part Two of our interview from the Maine IAQ Council 2015 Northeast IAQ and Energy Conference. Bob Krell of Healthy Indoors Magazine and I interviewed some of the speakers at the event and we have both audio and video recordings to play back for our listeners and readers. The conference was a great success and every year they draw some of the top speakers in the industry. For part two this week we will be replaying our interviews with Sam Rashkin, Paula Schenck, MPH, David Shea, P.E. and Jack Springston, CIH, CSP, FAIHA. We will talk some building science, sampling vs. non sampling, mold and health, vapor intrusion and more! For those of you expecting our Brett Singer, PhD interview we had to push that back a week to accommodate a last minute change in Dr. Singer's plans. Sam Rashkin Chief Architect, Building Technologies Office in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of Energy - Washington, D.C. As Chief Architect Mr. Rashkin's work includes leading DOE's world-class research program, Building America, and overseeing the DOE Zero Energy Ready Home voluntary labeling program for leading edge builders. In his prior position, he managed Energy Star for Homes since its start in 1996. He received his Bachelor of Architecture from Syracuse University; completed Masters of Urban Planning studies at New University; York and is a registered architect in California and New York. Paula Schenck, MPH Director of Indoor Environment & Health Programs, UConn Health - Farmington, CT Paula was part of a group that established the Center for Indoor Environments and Health at to UCONN on this objective. She developed multiple initiatives directed at improving indoor environments in schools and offices. At the UCONN Occupational Medicine clinic, Paula is called upon to provide guidance on environmental and/or workplace interventions as part of patient treatment. She also teaches environmental health at UCONN, instructs in the masters in public health program, is a seminar leader on asthma and environment and coordinates segments on occupational health in the medical school. David Shea, P.E. Sanborn Head & Associates - Concord, NH As a Principal Engineer with Sanborn, Head & Associates in Concord, New Hampshire, he is responsible for leading vapor intrusion and environmental remediation projects throughout the US and abroad. He has conducted vapor intrusion and mitigation assessments at sites involving more than hundreds of structures and millions of square feet. He holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Princeton University and a M.S. in Civil Engineering from M.I.T. He is a licensed professional engineer in 13 states. Jack Springston, CIH, CSP, FAIHA TRC Environmental Corporation - New York, NY Jack Springston has over 27 years of experience in industrial hygiene and occupational health. He has been a Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH) since 1993, and is one of only approximately 50 active CIHs who also hold a sub-specialty certificate in Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ). Jack received a BS Degree in Environmental Science and Biology from LIU/Southampton College and a MS Degree in Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences from CUNY/Hunter College. He is a past-Chair of both the American Industrial Hygiene Association's (AIHA) Indoor Environmental Quality committee and the Bio-safety and Environmental Microbiology committee and is an AIHA Distinguished Fellow.

Jennifer Moore-Kucera is an Associate Professor of Soil & Environmental Microbiology in the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences. She discusses soil microorganisms as key players in climate change. Her team samples soils and look at the soil stability and they evaluate the microbial community. She explains how soil stores 2 to 3 times more carbon combined by the atmosphere. 50 to 70 percent was lost but now they have a new technique to keep the carbon in the soil while increasing plant productivity and increase resilience. They are trying to seek funding to shift their management process to help mitigate climate change.

Dr Jack A Gilbert earned his Ph.D. from Unilever and Nottingham University, UK in 2002, and received his postdoctoral training at Queens University, Canada. He subsequently returned to the UK in 2005 to Plymouth Marine Laboratory at a senior scientist until his move to Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago in 2010. Dr Gilbert is Group Leader for Microbial Ecology at Argonne National Laboratory, Associate Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution and the Department of Surgery at University of Chicago, Associate Director of the Institute of Genomic and Systems Biology, and Senior Scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory. Dr. Gilbert uses molecular analysis and sequencing tools to test fundamental hypotheses in microbial ecology. He has authored more than 160 peer reviewed publications and book chapters on metagenomics and approaches to ecosystem ecology (www.gilbertlab.com). He is currently working on generating observational and mechanistic models of microbial communities in natural, urban, built and human ecosystems. He is on the board of the Genomic Standards Consortium is a section editor for PLoS ONE and senior editor for the ISME Journal and Environmental Microbiology. Among other projects, he leads the Earth Microbiome Project Home Microbiome Project Hospital Microbiome Project and co-founded American Gut. In 2014 he was recognized on Crain's Buisness Chicago's 40 Under 40 List. Dr. Gilbert was mentioned in a few interviews recently when we got into discussions on the microbiome of the built environment. He is a prolific researcher and speaker we are thrilled to have been able to schedule him this week. LEARN MORE about what's really happening in our indoor environments this week on IAQ Radio!

Dr Jack A Gilbert earned his Ph.D. from Unilever and Nottingham University, UK in 2002, and received his postdoctoral training at Queens University, Canada. He subsequently returned to the UK in 2005 to Plymouth Marine Laboratory at a senior scientist until his move to Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago in 2010. Dr Gilbert is Group Leader for Microbial Ecology at Argonne National Laboratory, Associate Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution and the Department of Surgery at University of Chicago, Associate Director of the Institute of Genomic and Systems Biology, and Senior Scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory. Dr. Gilbert uses molecular analysis and sequencing tools to test fundamental hypotheses in microbial ecology. He has authored more than 160 peer reviewed publications and book chapters on metagenomics and approaches to ecosystem ecology (www.gilbertlab.com). He is currently working on generating observational and mechanistic models of microbial communities in natural, urban, built and human ecosystems. He is on the board of the Genomic Standards Consortium is a section editor for PLoS ONE and senior editor for the ISME Journal and Environmental Microbiology. Among other projects, he leads the Earth Microbiome Project Home Microbiome Project Hospital Microbiome Project and co-founded American Gut. In 2014 he was recognized on Crain's Buisness Chicago's 40 Under 40 List. Dr. Gilbert was mentioned in a few interviews recently when we got into discussions on the microbiome of the built environment. He is a prolific researcher and speaker we are thrilled to have been able to schedule him this week. LEARN MORE about what's really happening in our indoor environments this week on IAQ Radio!

This week’s special guest is Geoffrey Tolle. We talk research and science. We also talk about Geoffrey’s latest fermentation project. Show notes: Immobilized Microbe Fermentation Kopsahelis, Nikolaos; Panas, Panayiotis; Kourkoutas, Yiannis; Koutinas, Athanasious A. “Evaluation of the Thermally Dried Immobilized Cells of Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus on Apple Pieces as a Potent Starter Culture”. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. V 55, n 24: 9829-9836 (2007). DOI 10.1021/jf0719712. Kourkoutas, Y.; Komaitis, M.; Koutinas, A. A.; Kanellaki, M. “Wine Production Using Yeast Immobilized on Apple Pieces as Low and Room Temperatures”. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. V 49, n 03: 1417-1425 (2001). DOI 10.1021/jf000942n. Easy Trick with Bread Yeast Yeh, Lien-Te; Charles, Albert Linton; Ho, Chi-Tang; Huang, Tzou-Chi. “a Novel Bread Making Process Using Salt-Stressed Baker’s Yeast”. Journal of Food Science. V 74, n 9: 399-402 (2009). DOI 10.1111/j.1750-3841.2009.01337.x. Construction Fermentation Raut, Supriya; Sarode, D. D.; Lele, S. S. “Biocalcification Using B. pasteurii for Strengthening Brick Masonry Civil Engineering Structures”. World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology. V 30: 191-200 (2014). DOI 10.1007/s11274-013-1439-5. (Open Access) - Zamarreño, Dania V.; Inkpen, Robert; May, Eric. “Carbonate Crystals Precipitated by Freshwater Bacteria and their Use as a Limestone Consolidate”. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. V 75, n 18: 5981-5990 (2009). DOI 10.1128/AEM.02079-08. Sources of On-Line Information: Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge Open Access. Journal of the Institue of Brewing Open Access 2012 and earlier) – Journal of the Institute of Brewing. Journal of Fermentation Technology Open Access. Technical but might be helpful. Directory of Open Access Journals Open Access to a lot of On-Line Journals. Using the search function is crude but easiest. National Center for Biotechnology Information Some Open Access. This provides info on US government-funded papers that are supposed to be public access but there are still kinks. It doesn’t have as many fermentation articles as one might like but it’s helpful. You can set up an automatic search and alert. Japan Science and Technology Information Aggregator A Lot of Open Access. A lot in Japanese but still a Lot of Good Stuff that You Can’t Find Elsewhere. Also, just because a journal is behind a pay-wall doesn’t mean, usually, that you can’t take a look at the abstract for it. If you find a couple of articles that you’re interested in, then your state library or state university library may be able to help you get a copy of the article. Brewing & Fermentation Textbooks - CRC Press The CRC Press has a number of very good (and expensive) books on fermentation. You may not be able to afford them but you might be able to borrow them through inter-library loan. Rate us on iTunes. Thanks for your support! Send your feedback to podcast@fermup.com or connect with us on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.

Professor Milton Wainwright is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Sheffield. This talk was given on 27th March 2014. This talk will explore Milton's work as a British microbiologist who became world famous for his claims to have found extra-terrestrial life in the stratosphere. His research interests are in Astrobiology and History of Science. He claimed that the idea of natural selection is not original to Darwin or Wallace theory. Also, he has claimed that the Red rain in Kerala is a biological entity. Wainwright has also written widely about the history of the discovery penicillin (including that Hitler’s life was saved by the drug) and streptomycin and on the theory that bacteria and other non-virus microbes cause cancer. Milton Wainwright is a British microbiologist who became world famous for his claims to have found extra-terrestrial life in the stratosphere. His research interests are in Astrobiology and History of Science. He claimed that the idea of natural selection is not original to Darwin or Wallace theory. Also, he has claimed that the Red rain in Kerala is a biological entity. Wainwright has also written widely about the history of the discovery penicillin (including that Hitler’s life was saved by the drug) and streptomycin and on the theory that bacteria and other non-virus microbes cause cancer. Milton graduated from the University of Nottingham in the field of Botany. He obtained a PhD from the same university in the field of Mycology. Afterwards he went to the National Research Council of Canada as postdoctoral fellow, where he obtained a qualification in Environmental Microbiology. After his postdoctoral fellowship, he went to work at the University of Sheffield.

Please download the corresponding PowerPoint Presentation here: https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B72jWNjNLuDcNDg1YmJiZWItNjgwZi00MzFmLTllMDQtNTRkZTVhOTMxOWRj&hl=en The Marcellus Shale represents one of the largest reservoirs of unconventional natural gas in the world. It holds the potential to provide a source of energy and jobs. Its extraction, however, is non-trivial and if done without proper safeguards can result in the degradation of water and air quality, and loss of land use. John Stolz, Professor of Environmental Microbiology at Duquesne University, will lead a discussion, providing an overview of the industry, the processes involved in extraction, and the environmental impacts of drilling into the Marcellus Shale. Hear the answers to questions like: What chemicals are used in the fracking process? What are the environmental concerns about extracting gas from the Marcellus Shale? Can earthquakes be caused by fracking? These questions and more are covered, including a Q&A session at the end. Recorded on April 26, 2011 at Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, PA.

Has the H1N1 virus got you in a panic?Do you have pressing questions about H1N1?Do you have concerns that you'd like to be put at ease for regarding H1N1?Microbiologist, Jason Tetro will be talking all about the H1N1 Virus and why we don't need to panic or fear the vaccine.We will open the phone lines and Jason will answer YOUR questions and concerns about this virus.This is your chance to get your questions about the H1N1 virus answered by an expert.Jason is adamant that the public NOT panic about this Virus and this is going to be a very positive and powerful evening.Jason A. Tetro has been in the scientific community for over 20 years. He has worked on diagnostic technologies and developed expertise in the food, water and bloodborne fields.After various stints in industry and the government, he returned to research at the Centre for Research on Environmental Microbiology, where he currently acts as a Specialist in Technology Design.At the Centre for Research on Environmental Microbiology, he works to develop novel methods to identify and mitigate infectious disease risks.He has over 20 publications and ruffled more than a few feathers with articles in peer-reviewed journals on such topics as SARS and avian flu, book chapters, position papers for reports and newspaper columns. He also has regular appearances on a local Ottawa television station where he discusses microbiology with the public.Call-in Number: 347-326-9577

Has the H1N1 virus got you in a panic?Do you have pressing questions about H1N1?Do you have concerns that you'd like to be put at ease for regarding H1N1?Microbiologist, Jason Tetro will be talking all about the H1N1 Virus and why we don't need to panic or fear the vaccine.We will open the phone lines and Jason will answer YOUR questions and concerns about this virus.This is your chance to get your questions about the H1N1 virus answered by an expert.Jason is adamant that the public NOT panic about this Virus and this is going to be a very positive and powerful evening.Jason A. Tetro has been in the scientific community for over 20 years. He has worked on diagnostic technologies and developed expertise in the food, water and bloodborne fields.After various stints in industry and the government, he returned to research at the Centre for Research on Environmental Microbiology, where he currently acts as a Specialist in Technology Design.At the Centre for Research on Environmental Microbiology, he works to develop novel methods to identify and mitigate infectious disease risks.He has over 20 publications and ruffled more than a few feathers with articles in peer-reviewed journals on such topics as SARS and avian flu, book chapters, position papers for reports and newspaper columns. He also has regular appearances on a local Ottawa television station where he discusses microbiology with the public.Call-in Number: 347-326-9577