Antimicrobial Resistance

In this episode of Microbe Talk Charlie talks to Dr Fiona Walsh about her team's research into how widespread plasmids carrying antimicrobial resistance genes are around the world, and what we can do about it.

Music:
Leatherbound by Blue Dot Sessions(www.sessions.blue)

A global problem: investigating the spread of antimicrobial resistance genes

In this episode of Microbe Talk, Policy and Engagement Officer Katie talks to Professor Martha Clokie about bacteriophages, how they can be used to treat infection and potentially even combat antimicrobial resistance. 

You can read our full response to the government inquiry on the antimicrobial potential of bacteriophages at https://microbiologysociety.org/resource_library/consultation-responses/inquiry-on-anti-microbial-of-bacteriophage.html   

A full transcript of this episode is available on the Microbiology Society website. 

Music: Blue Dot Sessions 'Blue Latex'

The bacteriophage: is the enemy of our enemy a friend?

This month, inspired by a paper published in Microbial Genomics, Clare takes a deep dive into the method of wastewater monitoring. She speaks to Professor Steve Patterson and Dr Anne Leonard about how wastewater monitoring is a useful tool which helps us understand not only the spread of diseases like COVID-19, but also antimicrobial resistance.

You can read Professor Patterson's paper, published in Microbial Genomics here. https://microb.io/3or9CsS 

Music: pixabay Chill Abstract (Intention) Coma-Media

Chill Abstract (Intention)

A deep dive into wastewater monitoring

In this episode of Microbe Talk, David Walker-Sünderhauf chats with Clare about his paper "Removal of AMR plasmids using a mobile, broad host-range CRISPR-Cas9 delivery tool" published in Microbiology. 




If you'd like to read David's paper, you can find it here https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.001334. You can also follow him on twitter @davvi36. 

Music: Time Technology by Comma-Media from Pixabay

CRISPR - Cas9 Takes On AMR Plasmids

In this episode of Microbe Talk Clare is joined by Rick Mumford, Deputy Chief Scientific Advisor & Deputy Director of Science Evidence & Research at the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA). They chat about research and surveillance of foodborne antimicrobial resistance (AMR), delivering on the 5-year National Action Plan and look to the future of foodborne AMR. 

If you’d like to read Rick’s paper, ‘Foodborne antimicrobial resistance (AMR) research and surveillance in the UK: priorities identified through the Food Standards Agency’s AMR programme review (2023)’ published in Journal of Medical Microbiology, the Society’s interdisciplinary journal for medical, veterinary and dental microbiology, you can do so here https://microb.io/3OaMMiP 

If you’d like to keep up to date with the FSA’s science news, publications and research partnership opportunities you can sign up to their newsletter here https://microb.io/427v99A 

If you’d like to get involved in tackling AMR you can find out more information on our Knocking out AMR project and register your interest on our website https://microb.io/3tIpadW 

Music by Yrii Semchyshyn from Pixabay

Foodborne Antimicrobial Resistance: research and surveillance

In this episode, Adam talks to Dr Georgios Efthimiou from the University of Hull.  Georgios has created a nationwide ‘spooky’ short story competition called Coccus Pocus. This project links outreach and Halloween with microbiology.  This creative competition has had a clear impact on 12 – 18-year-olds who find the competition a good way to discover an interest in microbiology and have had a lot of fun writing the stories.  Join Adam as he learns more about this Microbiology Society-funded project (and you may hear from a few society staff members reading some of this year's winners along the way).

Coccus Pocus: a microbiology inspired scary story competition

In this episode of Microbe Talk Clare speaks to Judy Li, author on the latest Microbial Primer: Microbiome and thermal tolerance – a new frontier in climate resilience? Clare and Judy chat about the paper, the relatively new field of study and the possible mechanisms of microbes buffering organisms against temperature changes. 
 
If you'd like to Judy's paper, published in Microbiology you can do so here https://microb.io/41914pK 
 
Music: Documentary_Tidal by Comma-Media via Pixabay

Microbiome and thermal tolerance: a new frontier in climate resilience?

We're in Liverpool this week, hosting our annual conference and meeting our members, collaborators and authors.

We know that there will be a lot of exciting conversations, interesting presentations and vital networking opportunities happening all over the and wanted to make sure you could keep the excitement going even after the events of the day have finished. 

So, across the four days of annual conference we'll be bringing you mini episodes of Microbe Talk, each featuring a presenter from the programme. 

For the first of our mini-series, Clare spoke to Phoebe Crossley who will be presenting her research 'Multi-omic analysis of the vaginal microenvironment reveals mechanisms of vulvovaginal and sexual health symptoms in women with benign gynaecological conditions' at the Urogenital Microbes in Health and Disease session tomorrow afternoon. 

Our miniseries for Annual Conference 2025: Phoebe Crossley

We're in Liverpool this week, hosting our annual conference and meeting our members, collaborators and authors.

We know that there will be a lot of exciting conversations, interesting presentations and vital networking opportunities happening all over the and wanted to make sure you could keep the excitement going even after the events of the day have finished.

So, across the four days of annual conference we'll be bringing you mini episodes of Microbe Talk, each featuring a presenter from the programme.

For the second episode of our miniseries for Annual Conference Clare spoke to Elizabeth O’Gorman about her research titled ‘Adaptation of Campylobacter to Sodium Chloride Alters Phenotypes Associated with Human Disease’ which she will be presenting at the infection forum tomorrow afternoon. 

Elizabeth and Clare chat about food safety and how consumer trends might be altering the of bacteria on our meat.

Our miniseries for Annual Conference 2025: Elizabeth O'Gorman

We're in Liverpool this week, hosting our annual conference and meeting our members, collaborators and authors.

We know that there will be a lot of exciting conversations, interesting presentations and vital networking opportunities happening all over the and wanted to make sure you could keep the excitement going even after the events of the day have finished.

So, across the four days of annual conference we'll be bringing you mini episodes of Microbe Talk, each featuring a presenter from the programme.

For the penultimate episode of our miniseries for annual conference Clare spoke to Guilherme Borba Neuman about his research titled ‘Characterizing Retroviral Integrations and Their Impact on Koala Populations: Implications for Health and Conservation’ which he presented earlier today at our Annual Conference in Liverpool. 

Listen to find out how Guilherme is able to see the results of his research come to fruition in captive Koala populations. 

Our miniseries for Annual Conference 2025: Guilherme Neumann

We're in Liverpool this week, hosting our annual conference and meeting our members, collaborators and authors.

We know that there will be a lot of exciting conversations, interesting presentations and vital networking opportunities happening all over the and wanted to make sure you could keep the excitement going even after the events of the day have finished.

So, across the four days of annual conference we'll be bringing you mini episodes of Microbe Talk, each featuring a presenter from the programme.

We’re closing up with a chat with Andrew Spicer who is looking at the algae Chlorella in a new light. His invited talk ‘Reimagining Chlorella as a food and beverage ingredient suited for everyday foods’ was on Tuesday afternoon at the Annual Conference in the Microbes to meals session.

Our miniseries for Annual Conference 2025: Andrew Spicer

In this episode, Adam discovers how two microbiologists from opposite sides of the world formed a collaboration and mentorship that has greatly benefited them both.

When in-person classes were suspended during the 2020 lockdown, Akpan Friday, a student from Nigeria, reached out on social media seeking support to continue his and his classmates’ learning. Dr Beth Mills from the University of Edinburgh responded to the call and began delivering free online lectures to the students.

Although they have yet to meet in person, their relationship has developed into a mentor–mentee partnership, and both were delighted to share their story.

Music: Instant Crush – Corbyn Kites 


Dr Beth Mills and Akpan Friday on international collaboration and mentorship

In January 2024, Aline Metris and Lindsay Hall hosted an academic-industry workshop at the Microbiology Society offices to discuss the potential long-term implications of microbiome perturbations. 

Since then, they’ve published a comprehensive summary of the findings from the workshop in Microbial Genomics. We invited them back to the Microbiology Society offices to chat with Clare about their experiences hosting the workshop and share their insights from the paper. 

If you’d like to read the review in Microbial Genomics you can do so by following this link https://microb.io/3TkLCn3 

Stay tuned to the Microbiology Society socials to be the first to hear about Lindsay and Aline’s further work and our other projects on the microbiome. 

A full, auto generated, transcript of the podcast is available on our website here https://microb.io/4l4aZ92

From workshop to publication: discussing microbiome safety with Lindsay Hall and Aline Metris

In this episode of Microbe Talk, Clare talks to An Bui from the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Alberta about their paper published in Microbiology, the first systematic review of the potential effects of psychotropics (the drugs used to treat bipolar disorder) on the gut microbiome of treated and untreated bipolar individuals.

A full transcript of the recording is available on our website: https://microbiologysociety.org/blog/microbe-talk-exploring-the-gut-brain-link-in-bipolar-treatments.html

Chemical Conversations: Exploring the gut:brain link in bipolar treatments

In 2019, a mysterious shape appeared on a petri dish in a Birmingham lab. Its surprising appearance, similar to noodles, intrigued researchers to find out more about it. They consulted other scientists online at the time, which sparked an idea to start an online club dedicated to sharing laboratory contaminants.

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

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

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

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

The Kocurious case of Noodlococcus: From discovery to community

The Microbiology Society is a membership organisation for scientists who work in all areas of microbiology.

Foodborne Antimicrobial Resistance: research and surveillance

Microbiology Society

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