Accurate AST results are the backbone of diagnostic stewardship, yet routine quality control (QC) might be missing subtle shifts that skew your hospital's annual antibiogram. By examining a real-world "silent failure" in daptomycin testing, we explore how lab-driven data is essential to the AMR crisis response and why the human eye—and traditional QC bugs—aren't always enough to catch technical drifts. This session breaks down the importance of LIS rules, alert fatigue, and the future of automated susceptibility testing.

• Laurel J. Glaser, M.D., Ph.D.
• Rebekah Dumm, Ph.D. D(ABMM)

• Leveraging patient data to detect systematic shifts in daptomycin susceptibility testing associated with reduced prescribing

This episode of Editors in Conversation is brought to you by the Journal of Clinical Microbiology and hosted by JCM Editor in Chief, Romney Humphries, Ph.D., D(ABMM) and Elitza (Elli) Theel, Ph.D., D(ABMM).

Visit journals.asm.org/journal/jcm to read articles and/or submit a manuscript.

Become an ASM member to receive up to 50% off publishing fees when you publish in JCM or any of the ASM journals. Sign up at asm.org/joinasm.

In this episode, a fascinating new bacteriophage, JS1. While most contractile phages (which inject DNA like a spring-loaded syringe) are rigid and straight, JS1 sports a curved, flexible tail that may help it navigate the complex "canyons and valleys" of the bacterial cell wall.

Watch this episode: https://youtu.be/eDGta8xc4_0

• Sabrina Suhani, Ph.D., Graduate Student, Monash University, Australia
• Trevor Lithgow, Ph.D., Professor, Monash University's Biomedical Discovery Institute.

• Staphylococcus species infected by a bacteriophage with a tail that is both curved and contractile

This episode of Editors in Conversation is brought to you by mBio® and hosted by mBio Editor in Chief, Marvin Whiteley, Ph.D.

Visit journals.asm.org/journal/mbio to read articles and/or submit a manuscript.

Receive up to 50% off fees when you publish in mBio® or any of the ASM journals by becoming an ASM member. Sign up at asm.org/joinasm.

Is the future of cervical cancer screening non-invasive? Sharmila Manjeshwar, Ph.D. and Jeffrey Klausner M.D. MPH, discuss a breakthrough in HPV diagnostics: urine-based testing. While vaccination and clinical screening have reduced cervical cancer rates, participation has stalled due to barriers like healthcare access and the invasive nature of traditional clinician-collected samples. This conversation explores how novel high-volume urine concentration technology is changing the landscape, making screening more accessible, private, and efficient.

Watch this episode: https://youtu.be/am7NvL1Y0g4

• Sharmila Manjeshwar, Ph.D.
• Jeffrey Klausner M.D. MPH

• Performance of a novel, urine-based test for the detection of cervical human papillomavirus infection

This episode of Editors in Conversation is brought to you by the Journal of Clinical Microbiology and hosted by JCM Editor in Chief, Romney Humphries, Ph.D., D(ABMM) and Elitza (Elli) Theel, Ph.D., D(ABMM).

Visit journals.asm.org/journal/jcm to read articles and/or submit a manuscript.

Become an ASM member to receive up to 50% off publishing fees when you publish in JCM or any of the ASM journals. Sign up at asm.org/joinasm.