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This Week in Microbiology

This Week in Microbiology

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
  • 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.

    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

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    54 mins
  • TWiM 345: Faster than rocks!
    Nov 22 2025

    TWiM explains a biological mechanism that links sulfur and iron cycling in anoxic environments, and "swashing," a form of surface movement in which bacteria migrate without active propulsion.

    Hosts: Michael Schmidt, Michele Swanson, and Petra Levin

    Guest: Mark O. Martin

    Subscribe to TWiM (free) on Apple Podcasts, RSS, or by email.

    Links for this episode
    • Sulfur and iron cycling in anoxic environments (Nature)
    • Bacterial surface migration by swashing (J Bacteriol)

    Become a Patron of TWiM!

    Music used on TWiM is by Ronald Jenkees.

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

    Show More Show Less
    54 mins
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