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New microbes discovered in the Mariana Trench, New Zealand rivers and humans
July 14, 2020
Each month, the Microbiology Society publishes the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology (IJSEM), which details newly discovered species of bacteria, fungi and protists. Here are some of the new species that have been discovered and the places they’ve been found.
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Lockdown science project: identifying Holly's homegrown mould
July 10, 2020
In May, nine-year-old Holly shared with us her impressive lockdown science project, which included four homegrown fungi colonies. In this blog post, we will be going through some responses to Holly’s colonies.
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JMM Editor's Choice: understanding Pseudomonas biofilm growth on endotracheal tubes
July 8, 2020
The Journal of Medical Microbiology (JMM) is a journal published by the Microbiology Society, focused on providing comprehensive coverage of medical, dental and veterinary microbiology and infectious diseases, including bacteriology, virology, mycology and parasitology. This month, Professor Kalai Mathee discusses the paper 'Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm formation on endotracheal tubes requires multiple two-component systems', which was chosen as Editor's Choice for the June issue of JMM.
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Discrimination as a virus
July 6, 2020
There are currently two viruses causing death and destroying lives around the world: one is coronavirus, the other is discrimination. In a previous blog on Microbe Post, featuring my Ted X Talk, I spoke in general about the similarities between viruses and discrimination: neither can be seen with the naked eye yet victims recognise how they sound and feel – they experience the results of the infection; both are highly infectious and can pass from one person to another rapidly, often without recipients being aware that they have been infected; and both can maim and kill, having the potential to affect the life of a victim every day for a lifetime. I also identified the public health strategy to ‘break the chain of infection’ as an approach that could be adopted to effectively tackle discrimination. In this blog, I will develop those ideas focusing on racism and COVID-19 in particular.
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Coronastream: a Churchillian moment
July 2, 2020
In this special blog series, medical microbiologists led by Dr Tim Inglis summarise some of the research that will be essential to inform COVID-19 countermeasures. Find out more about the project in Dr Inglis' Editorial 'Logic in the time of coronavirus', published in the Journal of Medical Microbiology.
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Microbiology Editor’s Choice: a regulatory protein linked to Acinetobacter baumannii virulence
July 1, 2020
Each month, a manuscript published in our flagship journal Microbiology is chosen by a member of the Editorial Board. This month, the paper is titled ‘A response regulator protein with antar domain, AvnR, in Acinetobacter baumannii ATCC 17978 impacts its virulence and amino acid metabolism’ and was chosen by Professor David Grainger.
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Microbe Talk: MicroNews June
June 30, 2020
MicroNews is the sister series of our podcast Microbe Talk, where we discuss microbiology in the news over the last month. As COVID-19 is taking over the news elsewhere, we decided to focus on other stories from the microbial world, including the effect of e-cigarettes on the microbiome, the disease decimating bananas and an incredible discovery inside a fungus.
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Adapting to a virtual word: Virtual Poster Conference 2020
June 25, 2020
In this blog, Emily Speakman discusses the virtual poster conference she and her colleagues at the University of Exeter organised to make up for those missed due to cancellation of events.
