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This Week in Microbiology

This Week in Microbiology

Written by: Vincent Racaniello
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This Week in Microbiology is a podcast about unseen life on Earth.Creative Commons Attribution - Noncommercial Biological Sciences Nature & Ecology Science
Episodes
  • 348: The Bark Side of the Microbiome
    Jan 21 2026

    TWiM explains the finding that owning a dog during adolescence alters the microbiota and improves mental health, and the molecular basis for multidrug efflux by an anaerobic-associated resistance-nodulation-cell division transporter.

    Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Michele Swanson and Petra Levin.

    Become a patron of TWiM.

    Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

    Links for this episode
    • Dog ownership and the microbiome during adolescence (iScience)
    • Molecular basis for multidrug efflux (Nat Comm)
    • Take the TWiM Listener survey!

    Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv

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    54 mins
  • 347: At Wound's Edge
    Jan 5 2026

    TWiM explains how S. aureus pathogenicity is a dynamic, niche-specific choreography that constantly recalibrates in response to the host microenvironment, and short chain fatty acids produced by commensal microbiota reduces its competitive fitness.

    Hosts: Michael Schmidt, Michele Swanson and Petra Levin.


    Guest:
    Mark O. Martin

    Become a patron of TWiM.

    Links for this episode:

    • Niche-specific fitness of S. aureus at the wound edge (Nat Comm)

    • Commensal derived short chain fatty acids attenuate S. aureus (mBio)

    • Ditch the term pathogen (Nature)

    Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

    Send your microbiology questions and comments to twim@microbe.tv

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    55 mins
  • 346: Metabolism and Porin Permeability
    Dec 13 2025

    TWiM explains how competition for nutrients anticipates and potentially mitigate drug side effects on the gut microbiota, and metabolic control of porin permeability influences antibiotic resistance.

    Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt and Petra Levin

    Guest: Mark O. Martin

    Become a patron of TWiM.

    Links for this episode:

    • Nutrient competition predicts drug effects on microbiota (Cell)

    • Metabolic control of porin permeability influences antibiotic resistance in E coli (Nat Micro)

    • Santiago Cano-Muniz

    Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

    Send your microbiology questions and comments to twim@microbe.tv

    Show More Show Less
    54 mins
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