TWiM reveals the archaeal roots of eukaryotic life, and a building a gut malabsorption biosensor with bacteria.

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

• The archaeal roots of eukaryotic life (PNAS)
• Building a malabsorption biosensor (Cell)
• Engineering gut biosensors with microbes (Nature)
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Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to [email protected]

TWiM discusses the use of bacteriophage-loaded microneedle patches for targeted and minimally disruptive foodborne pathogen decontamination, and a conjugal gene drive-like system that efficiently suppresses antibiotic resistance in bacteria.

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Links for this episode:

• Bacteriophage-loaded microneedle patches for food (Sci Adv)

• Gene drive to suppress antibiotic resistance (npj antimicrob and resistance)

• CRISPR gene drives (Syntego)

• Bier laboratory

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

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Nancy and Maggie join TWiM to share how and why they created a freely available ebook of TWiM-based science literacy resources and classroom exercises that support teaching across key microbiology and molecular biology topics.

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Links for this episode:

• Podcast annotation and resources in microbiology (Iowa State U)

• Curriculum guidelines for undergraduate microbiology (ASM)

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

Send your microbiology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiM explains how mechano-bactericidal surfaces made from diverse materials and patterned with spikes kill bacteria on contact, and virus-host evolution is reshaped by microgravity aboard the International Space Station.

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Links for this episode:

• Mechano-Bactericidal Surfaces (Adv Sci)

• Piercing pathogens (ASM)

• Natural bactericidal surfaces (Small)

• Virus-host evolution in microgravity (PLoS Biol)

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

Send your microbiology questions and comments to [email protected]

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.

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

• 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 [email protected]

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

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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 [email protected]

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

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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 [email protected]

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

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

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Music used on TWiM is by Ronald Jenkees.

Send your microbiology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiM reveals the bacteria, acids, and enzymes behind yogurt made with ants, and a defined set of microbes that reproduces attributes of fine flavor chocolate fermentation

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Petra Levin

Guest: Mark O. Martin

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Links for this episode:

• Making yogurt with ants (iScience)

• The Alchemist Restaurant

• How to make classic tuiles (MasterClass)

• Defined microbes for chocolate (Nat Micro)

• Microbial chocolatiers of fine flavour (Nat Micro)

• Blind taste every chocolate bar (YouTube)

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

Send your microbiology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiM explores two different ways that bacteria defend against phages through the synthesis of cyclic nucleotides.

Hosts: Michael Schmidt and Mark O. Martin

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Links for this episode:

• Decoy cyclic nucleotides in phage defense (Nature)

• CRISPR defense with nucleotides (Nature)

• A decoy defence molecule to set a trap for viruses (Nature)

• Cyclic oligonucleotide-based antiphage signaling system immunity (Curr Opin Immunol)

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

Send your microbiology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiM explains studies that show that the oral bacterial and fungal microbiome are risk factors for pancreatic cancer, and the gut microbiome and pyruvate metabolism of older adults are a link between sleep quality and frailty.

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

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

Become a patron of TWiM.

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

• Oral microbiome and pancreatic cancer risk (JAMA Oncol)
• 2025 Cancer Facts & Figures (ACS)
• Periodontal Disease: The Good, The Bad, and The Unknown (Front Cell Infect Micro)
• Socransky's disease complexes (Microorg)
• Microbiome, pyruvate metabolism, sleep quality, and frailty (Cell Rep)
• Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (pdf)
• How to score the sleep quality index (pdf)
• Take the TWiM Listener survey!

Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to [email protected]