Microbe Talk
by Microbiology Society
Microbe Talk is a podcast by the Microbiology Society, which aims to spotlight the voices of scientists and policymakers working in the field of microbiology. Each episode, our host interviews their guest about their work and how it impacts our world. Browse over a hundred exciting episodes here, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Episodes
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Episode 187: Blastocystis: friend or foe?
It's the most abundant eukaryotic microbe in humans… But what role does it play in our bodies? For decades, Blastocystis has been thought of as a parasite just like other protists that lurk within humans, such as Plasmodium or Giardia. But research is increasingly finding the opposite to be true,...
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Episode 186: Breaking down biofilms with gas
This month, Lilly welcomes Dr Jason Brown from the University of Glasgow to discuss his latest research findings using cold atmospheric plasma (CAP), a form of ionised gas, against biofilms in wound infections. Listen in to hear their discussion of what CAP therapy is, how it works, and why this...
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Episode 185: What can we learn from involving the public in microbial genomics research?
📣 Episode 185 is out now! This month, Lilly welcomes Dr Hannah Trivett from the University of Birmingham to the podcast, to discuss her latest publication bringing patient and public involvement (PPI) and microbial genomics research together for the first time ever. Listen in to hear their...
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Episode 184: Building a sense of belonging with the Pride in Microbiology network
This Pride Month, Dr Bruno Francesco Rodrigues de Oliveira and Dr Landon Getz, two of the founders of the Pride in Microbiology network, join Lilly to discuss why their work to harness community and professional development opportunities for LGBTQ+ scientists around the world is as important as...
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Episode 183: Annual Conference 2026: Meet the Panel behind the programme
Ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes planning our flagship Annual Conference? Listen in as Lilly talks to Chairs of the Scientific Conferences Panel during the four day event in Belfast, about the challenges and joys of putting together the exciting programme. Interested in joining? Visit...
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Episode 182: Sepsis, superbugs, and antibiotic stewardship
"I often like to say that we're not the antibiotic police, but we're the antibiotic sommelier. So, you have a bug and we have the drug, and we try to find the best fit." In this month's Microbe Talk, Charlotte Holtum (Head of Engagement & Storytelling) welcomes guests Dr Alicia Demirjian (UK…
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Episode 181: Sexual health and the vaginal microbiome
What does a healthy vaginal microbiome look like? Are store-bought vaginal probiotics backed by science? How do these microbes interact with sexually transmitted infections (STIs)? 🦠Research is uncovering more and more about the relationship between the vaginal microbiome and sexual health.…
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Episode 180: Society Staff Reflect on 2025
In this episode of Microbe Talk, we meet some members of staff at the Microbiology Society to reflect on 2025 and look at ways to get involved in 2026.
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Episode 179: Hidden Companions: how parasites are adapting to a changing world
The relationship between humans and parasites is changing along with the climate crisis, globalisation, and innovations in science. In this month's Microbe Talk, we chat to expert Kinga Kowalewska-Grochowska at the University of Alberta, Canada, about the evolutions in how we look at parasites,...
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Episode 178: The Kocurious case of Noodlococcus: From discovery to community
In 2019, a mysterious shape appeared on a petri dish in a Birmingham lab. Its surprising appearance, similar to noodles, intrigued researchers to find out more about it. They consulted other scientists online at the time, which sparked an idea to start an online club dedicated to sharing…
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Episode 177: Chemical Conversations: Exploring the gut:brain link in bipolar treatments
In this episode of Microbe Talk, Clare talks to An Bui from the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Alberta about their paper published in Microbiology, the first systematic review of the potential effects of psychotropics (the drugs used to treat bipolar disorder) on the gut microbiome...
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Episode 176: From workshop to publication: discussing microbiome safety with Lindsay Hall and Aline Metris
In January 2024, Aline Metris and Lindsay Hall hosted an academic-industry workshop at the Microbiology Society offices to discuss the potential long-term implications of microbiome perturbations. Since then, they’ve published a comprehensive summary of the findings from the workshop in Microbial...
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Episode 175: Dr Beth Mills and Akpan Friday on international collaboration and mentorship
In this episode, Adam discovers how two microbiologists from opposite sides of the world formed a collaboration and mentorship that has greatly benefited them both. When in-person classes were suspended during the 2020 lockdown, Akpan Friday, a student from Nigeria, reached out on social media...
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Episode 174: Our miniseries for Annual Conference 2025: Andrew Spicer
We're in Liverpool this week, hosting our annual conference and meeting our members, collaborators and authors. We know that there will be a lot of exciting conversations, interesting presentations and vital networking opportunities happening all over the and wanted to make sure you could keep…
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Episode 173: Our miniseries for Annual Conference 2025: Guilherme Neumann
We're in Liverpool this week, hosting our annual conference and meeting our members, collaborators and authors. We know that there will be a lot of exciting conversations, interesting presentations and vital networking opportunities happening all over the and wanted to make sure you could keep…
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Episode 172: Our miniseries for Annual Conference 2025: Elizabeth O'Gorman
We're in Liverpool this week, hosting our annual conference and meeting our members, collaborators and authors. We know that there will be a lot of exciting conversations, interesting presentations and vital networking opportunities happening all over the and wanted to make sure you could keep…
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Episode 171: Our miniseries for Annual Conference 2025: Phoebe Crossley
We're in Liverpool this week, hosting our annual conference and meeting our members, collaborators and authors. We know that there will be a lot of exciting conversations, interesting presentations and vital networking opportunities happening all over the and wanted to make sure you could keep…
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Episode 170: Microbiome and thermal tolerance: a new frontier in climate resilience?
In this episode of Microbe Talk Clare speaks to Judy Li, author on the latest Microbial Primer: Microbiome and thermal tolerance – a new frontier in climate resilience? Clare and Judy chat about the paper, the relatively new field of study and the possible mechanisms of microbes buffering…
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Episode 169: Coccus Pocus A microbiology inspired scary story competition
In this episode, Adam talks to Dr Georgios Efthimiou from the University of Hull. Georgios has created a nationwide ‘spooky’ short story competition called Coccus Pocus. This project links outreach and Halloween with microbiology. This creative competition has had a clear impact on 12 –...
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Episode 168: Exploring the science of wellness, ageing and death with John Tregoning
For the first episode of Microbe Talk in 2025, we’re bringing you something fascinating and a bit different— non-communicable diseases. In this special episode, Clare chats with Professor John Tregoning, a Professor in Vaccine Immunology, about his new book, 'Live Forever? A Curious Scientist’s...
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Episode 167: Antimalarial drug resistance: current challenges and future solutions
In this episode of Microbe Talk Clare spoke to Adam Aspinall who's Senior Director in the Access and Product Management team at Medicines for Malaria Venture. They discuss Malaria, antimalarial drug resistance and the work that Medicines for Malaria Venture is doing to support new drug discovery....
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Episode 166: World Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week: pediatric AMR
For this episode of Microbe Talk Clare is joined by Dr Sanjay Patel, a paediatric infectious disease and immunology consultant at Southampton Children's Hospital and the National Clinical Advisor for Paediatric Antimicrobial Stewardship at NHS England. Clare and Sanjay discuss paediatric AMR, why...
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Episode 165: Black History Month: Amaka Awayne
The month of October is #BlackHistoryMonth and this year we caught up with Society Champion, Dr Amaka Awayne, on our latest episode of the Microbe Talk podcast. Dr Amaka discusses her insightful experiences as a Black person working in science, as well as how she is contributing to Black History...
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Episode 164: Looking up at space microbiology
In aid of space week Clare is looking up into the sky with Dr Katherine Baxter about the exciting field of space microbiology. They chat about how research in space could help with problems back on earth, how microbes behave in space and how they might be key to survival in future space travel.…
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Episode 163: Investigating invisible culprits with Dr Tim Inglis
Clare is back with another episode of Microbe Talk and this time she’s investigating the topic of Microbial Forensics with Dr Tim Inglis from the University of Western Australia. Tim is the Editor-in-Chief of the Society’s Journal of Medical Microbiology where he published his review on the…
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Episode 162: Roots of resistance: exploring AMR in ancient mouths
For this episode of Microbe Talk Clare was joined by the wonderful Gwyn Dahlquist-Axe and Francesca Standeven, archaeological scientists who study AMR and ancient human oral microbiomes. They're on the podcast to discuss their review into diet, disease and antibiotic resistance from ancient human...
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Episode 161: Knocking Out AMR: fixing the broken innovation pipeline
Yesterday, we released our vision statement for Knocking Out Antimicrobial Resistance, the Society's new cross-disciplinary project. It outlined the key issues faced by the AMR community: the lack of understanding of the urgency of the crisis, a fragmented AMR landscape and a broken innovation...
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Episode 160: Women’s History Month: a conversation with Dr Linda Oyama
Last month was Women’s History Month, taking place annually throughout the month of March. It aims to highlight and reflect on the many, but often over-looked, achievements made by women throughout history – which have paved the way for the women of today. In this episode, to mark the month, we...
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Episode 159: Behind the lecture with Dr Claas Kirchhelle
Dr Claas Kirchhelle from University College Dublin will be giving the Hot Topic Lecture: "Faecal Flows – a very short history of microbiology, sewers, and Britain's rivers (ca.1850-2023)" at this years Annual Conference. Clare spoke to Claas to find out how he's feeling ahead of his lecture and…
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Episode 158: Navigating Academia: a conversation with Professor Iruka Okeke and Professor Judith Armitage
In aid of The International Day of Women and Girls in Science Clare spoke to Professor Iruka Okeke and Professor Judith Armitage to discuss women in science. In this episode they discuss the importance of mentors, promotions in academia and the inequalities of maternity leave and Clare gains...
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Episode 157: Foodborne Antimicrobial Resistance: research and surveillance
In this episode of Microbe Talk Clare is joined by Rick Mumford, Deputy Chief Scientific Advisor & Deputy Director of Science Evidence & Research at the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA). They chat about research and surveillance of foodborne antimicrobial resistance (AMR), delivering on the 5-year...
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Episode 156: Microbe Talk: the best of 2023
It’s the final episode of 2023 so Clare, Katie and Adam got together to discuss their favourite Microbe Talk moments of 2023 and what they’re most looking forward to in 2024. If you want to listen back to any of the podcast episodes mentioned in the podcast you can find these below: The...
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Episode 155: Knocking Out AMR: Dr Tina Joshi and Dr Catrin Moore on the Society’s new project
In this episode of Microbe Talk, Policy and Engagement Officer Katie chats to Dr Tina Joshi and Dr Catrin Moore, the Microbiology Society members leading on the Society’s brand new antimicrobial resistance (AMR) project, Knocking Out AMR. In this episode, Katie, Tina and Catrin talk about what…
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Episode 154: Knocking Out AMR: a conversation with Professor Chloe James
If you are interested in opportunities for organisations to collaborate with the Microbiology Society, please email [email protected] or to register your individual interest please visit the Knocking out AMR webpage. To find out about the latest updates, follow us on Twitter...
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Episode 153: Conversations on Collaboration: Sir Paul Nurse on collaborative working and Horizon Europe
In this episode of Microbe Talk, our Policy and Engagement Officer Katie chats to Sir Paul Nurse, Director of the Francis Crick Institute and former President of the Royal Society. He was awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of protein molecules that control…
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Episode 152: Dr John Munnoch discusses dyslexia
Each year, Dyslexia Awareness Week gives us a chance to take some time to reflect and learn about the everyday challenges people can face when they have dyslexia. In this episode, Adam, (who has dyslexia himself) speaks to Dr John Munnoch, who was diagnosed with dyslexia around the age of 8, to...
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Episode 151: Conversations on Collaboration: Hilary Lappin-Scott on cultivating international partnerships
In this episode of Microbe Talk, Policy and Engagement Officer Katie chats to Professor Hilary Lappin-Scott OBE, President of the Federation of European Microbiological Societies (FEMS) about her career so far, the importance of international collaboration in science and our recent re-association...
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Episode 150: Conversations on Collaboration: Elaine Cloutman-Green on working across microbiology's disciplines
This year the Microbiology Society is hosting FIS (the Federation of Infection Societies (FIS) conference) in partnership with HIS and BIA. FIS is all about fostering cross-disciplinary collaboration, so in this episode of Microbe Talk Clare speaks to Professor Elaine Cloutman-Green , a...
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Episode 149: AI: a useful tool or dangerous unstoppable force?
For this episode of Microbe Talk, Clare is tackling the topic of AI in Microbial Genomics research. So what better time than now, to give AI a chance to generate the description? *The below description was generated by Chat GPT* In this captivating episode of Microbe Talk, your host Clare delves...
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Episode 148: CRISPR-Cas9 Takes on AMR Plasmids
In this episode of Microbe Talk, David Walker Sunderhaulf chats with Clare about his paper "Removal of AMR plasmids using a mobile, broad host-range CRISPR-Cas9 delivery tool" published in Microbiology. If you'd like to read David's paper, you can find it here...
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Episode 147: Getting to grips with industry careers
Are you looking for a microbiology career pick me up? Well look no further! On this special episode of Microbe Talk, Clare sits down with Microbiology Society member Dr Oliver Severn to discuss his experience of working in industry. Music: pixabay 'That science ambient' by Comma Studio.
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Episode 146: A deep dive into wastewater monitoring
This month, inspired by a paper published in Microbial Genomics, Clare takes a deep dive into the method of wastewater monitoring. She speaks to Professor Steve Patterson and Dr Anne Leonard about how wastewater monitoring is a useful tool which helps us understand not only the spread of diseases...
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Episode 145: Annual Conference 2023: Demystifying Science Policy
This episode of Microbe Talk was recorded at our Annual Conference in Birmingham. For the very first time this year, we had an session entirely dedicated to science policy. In this episode, Katie and Clare chat with Dr Isobel Stanton, an invited speaker, and delegates that attended the session...
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Episode 144: Invisible Friends
In our latest podcast, Clare and Microbiology Society member Jake Robinson discuss his new book Invisible Friends, the role of popular science books and how microbes can shape our lives and the world around us. To order Jake’s Book visit pelagicpublishing.com/collections/co…42190054981803 You can...
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Episode 143: Lab coats - the discrimination we don't see
Have you ever thought that your lab coat isn’t made for you? Has it affected how comfortable you feel in a lab? On this episode of Microbe Talk Clare speaks to Derek Miller, founder of Genius Lab Gear, about all things lab coats, from impostor syndrome to safety issues. And how he is hoping to...
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Episode 142: The bacteriophage: is the enemy of our enemy a friend?
In this episode of Microbe Talk, Policy and Engagement Officer Katie talks to Professor Martha Clokie about bacteriophages, how they can be used to treat infection and potentially even combat antimicrobial resistance. You can read our full response to the government inquiry on the antimicrobial...
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Episode 141: Could a new vaccine save the Tasmanian devil from a contagious cancer?
Every year, thousands of Tasmanian devils die from contagious facial tumours. On this episode of Microbe Talk, Charlotte speaks to Dr Andy Flies from the Menzies Institute at the University of Tasmania, Australia, about a potential new vaccine approach that could save these endangered animals.…
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Episode 140: The microbiology of your Christmas dinner
In this festive episode of Microbe Talk, Charlotte speaks to Dr Lorna Lancaster about the harmful and helpful microbes involved in making Christmas food. A full transcript of this episode is available on the Microbiology Society website. microbiologysociety.org/blog/podcast-…s-dinner.html Music:...
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Episode 139: Disability History Month
In this special episode of Microbe Talk for Disability History Month, Charlie talks to Kirsty Jones about her experience of accessibility in labs. A full transcript of this episode is available on the Microbiology Society website....
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Episode 138: Inside the creeping threat of fungal infections
Some fungal infections, like athletes' foot or thrush, are relatively common and are usually not serious. But in those with underlying conditions or compromised immune systems, fungal infections can be deadly. In recent weeks, the World Health Organisation has warned of the serious threat that...
About this show
Microbe Talk is a podcast by the Microbiology Society, which aims to spotlight the voices of scientists and policymakers working in the field of microbiology. Each episode, our host interviews their guest about their work and how it impacts our world. Browse over a hundred exciting episodes here, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Hosted by
Microbiology Society