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📣 Episode 183 of Microbe Talk is out now!

On 13–16 April 2026, we hosted the Annual Conference 2026 at ICC Belfast. We’ve turned to social media to look back at some of the highlights!

I am delighted to welcome you all to Annual Conference 2026 in Belfast.

As we approach Annual Conference 2026, where members of our community come together from all over the world, Prokaryotic Division member, Prerna Vohra (University of Edinburgh, UK), reflects on the importance of names.

As the UK’s Covid-19 Inquiry has finished hearing evidence and is starting to issue detailed reports on its various modules, there is an opportunity to reflect on the contribution that members of the Microbiology Society made to the national effort.   

In this month's Microbe Talk, Charlotte Holtum (Head of Engagement & Storytelling) welcomes guests Dr Alicia Demirjian (UK Health Security Agency and Guy’s and St. Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust) and Dr Yoann Personne (bioMérieux), to explore an underdiscussed corner of the antimicrobial resistance conversation: its management with sepsis. They discuss what underpins the real-world relationship of AMR and sepsis, improving antibiotic stewardship in hospitals, and addressing these issues sooner rather than later.

As I write, it has been confirmed that the serious outbreak of meningitis in the United Kingdom is caused by the B capsular type of Neisseria meningitidis.

Our Champions Scheme allows members to promote microbiology and the Society in their local areas by providing funding and resources for a variety of activities. In Autumn 2025, Society Champion Georgios Efthimiou (Hull York Medical School, UK) organised a spooky story competition to coincide with World AMR Awareness Week and promote microbiology to the general public. Below, Georgios reflects on organising the competition.

Our Champions Scheme allows members to promote microbiology and the Society in their local areas by providing funding and resources for a variety of activities. In November 2025, Champion Nkechi Egbe (Nigerian Defence Academy, Nigeria) organised an outreach activity for school children in her local area, to promote World AMR Awareness Week, the Society and our Knocking Out AMR project. Below, Nkechi reflects on organising the activity.

Boris Parra at the Universidad de Las Américas (UDLA) and Universidad de Concepción (UDEC), Chile, takes us behind the scenes of their latest publication 'Isolation, characterization and genomic analysis of a novel lytic bacteriophage EcoPhCCP1, capable of infecting multiple strains of multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli recovered from urinary tract infections', published in the Journal of General Virology.

International Women’s Day takes place annually on 8 March with the aim of forging a gender equal world, free from bias, stereotypes and discrimination. This year, to mark the day, we caught up with a few of our Champions to discuss some of challenges of being a woman in science, as well as their biggest achievements.

Women’s History Month takes place every year throughout March. This year, to mark the occasion, we have an update and request from Champion, Dr Corrado Nai (Indonesia), who is creating a graphic novel about microbiology’s forgotten woman, Fanny Angelina Hesse (1850–1934). Fanny discovered that agar could be used to grow micro-organisms. You can read more about the idea behind the project in Corrado Nai’s previous blog: Creating a graphic novel about microbiology’s forgotten woman. 

There’s a whole new slate of microbial discoveries to share with you all this month from the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology!

In this month's Microbe Talk, Lilly chats with microbiologist Prof Wilhelmina Huston about what science knows so far about the relationship between the vaginal microbiome - the composition of microbes that live on and within the vagina - and sexual health, including her recent research investigating how the microbial composition of the vagina can impact susceptibility to painful conditions, like pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). We also cover current treatments and where the future of treatment of STIs and other sexual health disorders is headed.

For over a century, the cornerstone of modern medicine has been a simple yet profound truth: cleanliness saves lives. Infection control is not merely a hospital policy; it is the fundamental shield that allows complex surgeries and life-saving treatments to occur safely. However, as we move further into the 21st century, we are discovering that this shield is being challenged by the very nature of the microbial world we inhabit. 

One month into 2026 and there’s no shortage of exciting new species at the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology to start our year off the right way!

Dr Valérie Bouchez and Prof Sylvain Brisse at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, France, take us behind the scenes of their latest publication 'No innocent bystanders: pertussis vaccination and evolutionary parallelisms between Bordetella parapertussis and Bordetella pertussis', published in Microbial Genomics.

Peter Katsande at the Central Veterinary Laboratories in Harare, Zimbabwe, take us behind the scenes of their latest publication 'Genetic diversity and antimicrobial resistance profiles of Salmonella enterica in the broiler supply chain in Harare, Zimbabwe: tracking transmission from farm to table', published in Microbial Genomics.

Sergio Morgado and Ana Carolina Vicente at the Oswaldo Cruz Institute in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, take us behind the scenes of their latest publication 'Tracking a misclassified pathogen: genomic and epidemiological features of Vibrio paracholerae', published in Microbial Genomics.