Let's Talk Micro

Oct 24 2024 168 ep. 32 mins 57
Let's Talk Micro Podcast artwork

A Microbiology podcast where clinical microbiology is explained in simple terms, suitable for students and microbiologists alike. Let's Talk Micro has content about organisms, reactions, infectious diseases, and more. Hosted by Luis Plaza, a Medical Laboratory Scientist and microbiologist, who also shares his experiences in the field.

  Science  Health & Fitness
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TBT: Biochemicals- catalase and coagulase

Oct 24 2024 24 mins  
One of the first episodes published and one of the most downloaded episodes. In it Luis goes over catalase and coagulase. What are biochemicals? How are they useful in the identification of bacteria? In this episode I start going over biochemicals: catalase and coagulase, two of the most commonly used biochemicals in Clinical Microbiology.Questions? Feedback? Send those to letstalk

TBT: Media

Oct 17 2024 22 mins  
The first episode! Share it with students and peers, In it Luis talks about agar. What is agar? What do we use it for? Various types of agar are discussed like blood agar and MacConkey along with their uses.Questions? Feedback? Send those to [email protected] to support the podcast? Here's how:Venmo: https://venmo.com/u/letstalkmicroBuy me a Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/let

159: A novel microbicide for Neisseria gonorrhoeae

Oct 10 2024 25 mins  
A microbicide for Neisseria gonorrhoeae? In this episode Luis is joined by Dr. María Rendón from the University of Arizona. Dr. Rendón joins the podcast to talk about a novel microbicide that was developed which has activity against N. gonorrhoeae . How does it work? Does it affect commensal Neisseria? What about methylation signatures? Tune in to learn more about this microbici

158: Joint Infections PCR Panel

Oct 03 2024 24 mins  
Are you familiar with the BioFire system? If you work in microbiology you probably are. How about a joint infections panel for this system? In this episode Dr. Angelica Moran and Jekzaly Arellano join the podcast to talk about a study they did evaluating this panel. Why are joint infections difficult to diagnose? Tune in to learn more.Link to article: https://journals.asm.org/doi/1

157: Lactobacillus

Sep 26 2024 24 mins  
This week Luis continues going over gram-positive rods: this time Lactobacillus. What is the morphology of Lactobacillus? Biochemicals? Which species are typically seen in humans? Is it pathogenic or normal flora? What about susceptibilities? All great questions. Tune in to find out about this genera. Questions? Feedback? Send those to [email protected] to support the p

156: Actinotignum schaalii

Sep 19 2024 26 mins  
If you work with MALDI-TOF MS and you read urine cultures, you probably have seen this organism : Actinotignum schaalii. Is this organism significant? What is the gram stain? Biochemicals? Other questions come up such as we do report it? Do we perform susceptibilities ? Tune in to learn about this emerging pathogen and get answers to all these questions.Questions? Feedback? Send th

155: ASCP: Microbiology Certifications

Sep 12 2024 42 mins  
Those of you that work in the laboratory as Medical Laboratory Scientists know that you need to be certified. How can you get certified in microbiology? Even if you haven't completed a Medical Laboratory Sciences program, is there a way to get certified? In this episode Dr. Amanda Harrington joins Luis to answer questions regarding certification in Microbiology from the American So

154: Dengue

Sep 05 2024 58 mins  
Dr. Rodney Rohde returns to the podcast! This time he joins Luis to talk about dengue. You might hear reports about increases in cases in some areas, so it was a good time to talk about it. What is dengue? What type of virus it is? Vectors? Prevention? Is there a vaccine? Tune in to learn more about this virus.Link to Dr. Rohde's dengue article: https://asm.org/articles/2024/august

153: Bone and Joint Infections

Aug 29 2024 38 mins  
If you work in a clinical microbiology laboratory, you might have worked with bone and joint samples. In this episode we dive deeper into bone and joint infections. Luis is joined by Dr. Joan Gomez-Junyent, an Infectious Diseases physician at Hospital Del Mar in Barcelona, Spain. Dr. Gomez goes over different types of infections. What organisms are typically seen? Is there a typica

152: Potential antibiotics: lolamicin

Aug 22 2024 27 mins  
Season 4 is here! Tune in for the first episode. Luis talks to Dr. Paul Hergenrother about lolamicin. Dr. Hergenrother is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Illinois in Urnaba-Champaign. He was previously a guest in the podcast (fabimycin episode) and this time he returns to talk about another potential antibiotic candidate: lolamicin. What is lolamicin? What is the mech