Microbe Magazine

Cover ImageCover: Colored transmission electron micrograph of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, among the most widespread and persistent of the bacteria pathogenic to humans (see p. 2). (Image © Dr. Linda M. Stannard, University of Cape Town/Science Source).

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FEATURES

Federal Officials, Congress Seek Ways To Stimulate Antibiotic Development

Author: Jeffrey L. Fox

The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) last September released a report, “Combating Antibiotic Resistance,” along with a strategy for dealing with this public health problem. In addition, the White House issued an Executive Order emphasizing the importance of a... More...

Quorum Sensing and Social Interactions during Infection

Authors: Eric J. G. Pollitt, Freya Harrison, and Stephen P. Diggle

Bacteria engage in diverse communal behaviors, such as forming biofilms, exchanging DNA, coordinating the production and release of enzymes and toxins, and moving in swarms. Scientists working in the branch of evolutionary biology called social evolution recently began to ask why individual cells... More...

Methane Fuels Deep-Sea, Rock-Hosted Ecosystem

Author: Jeffrey J. Marlow

Far beneath the ocean surface, vast quantities of methane percolate through the Earth's crust, following fractures and fissures into the shallow subsurface and frequently into the depths of the sea. These features are marine methane seeps, important components of the planet's climate re... More...

CURRENT TOPICS

Sometimes Baffling Tickborne Microbial Illnesses Continue To Emerge

Author: Shannon Weiman

Genomic analyses are enabling investigators to uncover novel tickborne bacterial diseases that were previously of unknown origin or were misdiagnosed as Lyme, which is caused by Borrelia burgdorferi. These flu-like illnesses include symptoms such as fever, headache,... More...

Host Gene Changes Affect How Bacteria Colonize Those Hosts

Author: Shannon Weiman

Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in genes encoding immune receptors, signaling molecules, and other molecules not classically associated with immune responses can affect how well some bacterial pathogens or commensal species colonize individual hosts, according to several researchers who sp... More...

Several Strategies in Search for Agents To Treat MERS-CoV

Author: Shannon Weiman

Researchers are seeking to identify and develop agents that target the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), which kills about 30% of individuals that it infects. Promising leads are arising from target-based drug development approaches and also from efforts to repurpose drugs ... More...

Progress in Efforts To Harness Yeast for Making Opioid Drugs

Author: Carol Potera

Saccharomyces cerevisiae, more commonly known as baker's yeast, is being developed as a means for producing opioid-based drugs, with the long-term goal of making those drugs from glucose instead of extracting them from poppy plants, according to... More...

Microorganisms in Oceans May Arise Faster than Currents Disperse Them

Author: Barry E. DiGregorio

Marine microorganisms appear to be evolving faster than they can disperse, perhaps accounting for their distinctive geographic patterns across several oceans, according to microbial ecologist Ferdi L. Hellweger from Northeastern University in Boston, Mass., and his collaborators there and at the ... More...

ASM NEWS

ASM Communications Committee Strategic Plan

The ASM Communications Committee has a new strategic plan, which will guide their activities for the next five years. The Committee oversees public outreach and media relations for the Society. Major projects include the MicrobeWorld.org website, the USA Science and Engineering Festival, and work... More...

ASM Speakers' Bureau

ASM initiated a Speakers' Bureau in late 2013 to educate ASM Student Chapters about microbiology-related career opportunities outside of academic research. Many students are interested to know what options are available to them after college, and it is the Speakers' Bureau's goal t... More...

ASM Public Affairs

Education Board

International Affairs

Center for the History of Microbiology/ASM Archives

Authors: Richard Pilch, and Jeff Karr

Obituaries: Edwin E. Geldreich

Authors: Eugene W. Rice, Terry C. Covert, and Martin J. Allen

Edwin. E. Geldreich, Jr., a long time member of ASM and a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, died at age 92 on 7 October 2014. A native Cincinnatian, he received both his undergraduate and masters' degrees in biological sciences from the University of Cinc... More...

Obituaries: David Gibson

Authors: Karen Gibson, Sol Resnick, and Rebecca Parales

David T. Gibson, Professor Emeritus of Microbiology at the University of Iowa, passed away on 24 July 2014 at the age of 76. Dave was a beloved husband, father, and grandfather, a gifted scientist, teacher and lecturer, and a dear friend to so many. Gibson was born in Wakef... More...

Obituaries: Wilhelmus Nicolaas Konings

Authors: A. J. M. Driessen, B. Poolman, H. R. Kaback, and J. E. Walker

On 5 July 2014, Wilhelmus Nicolaas Konings (known as Wil), Emeritus Professor of Molecular Microbiology at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, passed away unexpectedly at the age of 77. Konings received his Ph.D. from the University of Groningen in 1969. From 1969 to 1971 he wo... More...

NEW FROM ASM

Engineered Chestnut Withstands Blight but Spares Fungi at Its Roots

Author: David C. Holzman

Chestnut trees that are genetically engineered to resist the pathogenic fungus Cryphonectria parasitica remain good hosts for symbiotic fungi that grow along their roots, according to William A. Powell of the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) ... More...

New Method Rapidly Determines Species and Susceptibility in Bacterial Infections

Overprescription of antibiotics is selecting for antibiotic resistance, contributing to one of the great medical problems of our time. Diagnosis of bacterial infections, and determination of antibiotic susceptibility profiles are slow and tedious, and consequently, patients may frequently receive... More...

Compounds Targeting DNA Packaging Enzymes Show Promise against Malaria Parasite

Malaria afflicts around 200 million people annually, killing more than 600,000, mostly in Africa, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Now Nicholas A. Malmquist of the Pasteur Institute, Paris, France, et al. show that compounds derived from inhibitors of the histone-modif... More...

Some Flu Viruses Potentially More Dangerous Than Others

Certain subtypes of avian influenza viruses have the potential to cause more severe disease in humans than do others. Jeffery K. Taubenberger of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease et al. show that viruses expressing the avian H1, H6, H7, H10, or H15 hemagglutinins led to rap... More...

Restrooms: Not as Unhealthy as You Might Think

Microbial succession in a sterilized restroom begins with bacteria from the gut and the vagina, and is followed shortly by skin microbes. “We hypothesized that while enteric bacteria would be dispersed rapidly due to toilet flushing, they would not survive long, as most are not good competitors i... More...

Sleeping Sickness: Research Suggests Potential Novel Intervention Strategy

Approximately 60 million people live at risk for sleeping sickness, caused by trypanosomes, notably T. brucei, while livestock infections, which cause wasting disease, account for significant economic hardship in some of the most impoverished regions of the planet. ... More...

DEPARTMENTS

To Speciate or Not, That is the Question

Authors: Lars F. Westblade, and David H. Pincus

We have observed in the microbiology community, in particular the clinical microbiology community, that there is often confusion regarding the correct use of the noun speciation and the verb “speciate.” The Oxford Dictionaries website (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us; accessed 14 September 2... More...

MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry in Clinical Labs

Author: Arthur P. Guruswamy

I wish to respond to the excellent article by Scott A. Cunningham and Robin Patel of the Mayo Clinic entitled “MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry in a Clinical Lab Setting” in the August 2014 issue of Microbe (p. 328–333). This particular article addresses a very important issue in the clinical m... More...

TB or Not TB?

Author: Bernard Dixon

I felt vaguely unwell during some important exams at school, but attributed this to anxiety, having done very little work beforehand. Then, the following Saturday, just I was getting ready to go out dancing, I suddenly found myself coughing up warm, frothy blood—spurting, trickling, then gushing ... More...

Reviews and Resources

Authors: Dharanesh Gangaiah, and Margaret E. Bauer

Application Deadlines

Mäkelä – Cassell Travel Award for Early Career Scientists. Named in honor of ASM past president Dr. Gail Cassell and FEMS past president Dr. Helena Mäkelä, this award is offered jointly by ASM and the Federation of European Microbiology Societies (FEMS) o support the exchan... More...

ASM Meetings Calendar

9–11 February 2015.

Small Things Considered

Author: Gemma Reguera

The almost permanent frozen state of many northern soils—the permafrost—limits microbial activity and the turnover of organic matter, contributing to the storage of approximately 25% of all of the planet's soil organic matter. But do not be fooled by the frozen state: the permafrost harbors ... More...

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Microbe Magazine

January 2015

FEATURES

CURRENT TOPICS

ASM NEWS

NEW FROM ASM

DEPARTMENTS

MINI TOPIC

Volumes & Issues