
This Week in Microbiology
As a science Professor at Columbia University, Racaniello has spent his academic career directing a research laboratory focused on viruses. His enthusiasm for teaching inspired him to reach beyond the classroom using new media. TWiM is for everyone who wants to learn about the science of microbiology in a casual way.
While there are no exams or pop quizzes, TWiM does encourage interaction with the audience via comments on specific episodes (below), vial email and voicemail at 908-312-0760. Listeners can also use MicrobeWorld to suggest topics for the show by submitting articles or papers to the site and tagging them with "TWiM". Each week Racaniello will view the tagged content and select items for discussion.
TWiM co-hosts include Elio Schaechter, Michael Schmidt, and Michele Swanson.
Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.
Live from the BioThreats 2017 conference, Vincent meets up with Catharine Bosio, Michael Merchlinsky, and Shilpa Gadwal to talk about careers for scientists beyond academia.
Did eukaryotes invent anything? - TWiM 144
Written by Vincent RacanielloHow changes in domestic laundering affect the removal of microorganisms, and assembly of a nucleus-like structure during viral replication in bacteria.
E-scaffolds and receptor transfer - TWiM 143
Written by Vincent RacanielloUsing an electrochemical gradient to eliminate bacterial biofilms, and how phage susceptibility can be transferred by exchange of receptor proteins.
A membrane-thickness caliper - TWiM 142
Written by Vincent RacanielloA story about the lack of resistance to a crop antifungal compound, and how a bacterium uses a molecular caliper to measure membrane thickness.
Nutritional immunity and polymicrobial infections - TWiM 141
Written by Vincent RacanielloJennifer Bomberger talks about how a respiratory virus enhances bacterial growth by dysregulating nutritional immunity.
At the Hamilton, Montana Performing Arts Center, Vincent speaks with three local high school graduates and two high school teachers about how Rocky Mountain Laboratories influenced school science programs and opened up career opportunities.
Frackibacter and sticky fingers - TWiM 139
Written by Vincent RacanielloMicrobial DNA found on ATM machines in New York City, and how hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, alters microbial ecosystems deep in the Earth.
Learning to love uranium and the A-baum - TWiM 138
Written by Vincent RacanielloThe TWiM team brings you a bacterium from a Colorado field site that grows on uranium, and copper resistance in the emerging pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii.
Highlights of the Recent Advances in Microbial Control meeting in San Diego, and expansion of a gut pathogen by virulence factors that stimulate aerobic respiration.
The TWiM team discusses the importance of neutrophils in microbial infections, and evidence that ancient bacteria had two cell walls.