Latest Pathogenpodcast Podcast Episodes

The Scoop About Poop

Wee Beasties - January 06, 2022 17:00 - 10 minutes ★★★★★ - 5 ratings
Water, like everything else on Earth, including you, is full of bacteria. But not all bacteria are created equal, with many being more harmful than others. Yes, Escherichia coli (E. coli) pollutes our ground and surface water through fecal contamination, but the bacteria is also simply found and...

My gal Sal and Typhoid Mary

Wee Beasties - December 09, 2021 18:39 - 12 minutes ★★★★★ - 5 ratings
“Mary has died of Typhoid Fever”. Ah, yes. If you are of a certain generation, you remember being met with these abrupt notifications while playing Oregon Trail. While this game taught generations of young people about Western migration in 19th-century America, it also familiarized them with var...

Camp-tastic

Wee Beasties - November 04, 2021 13:00 - 8 minutes ★★★★★ - 5 ratings
Ready to think twice about the filtration used to treat your water for consumption? Ready or not, our hosts are exploring the gut microbe, Campylobacter jejuni. This gram-negative bacterium is about 0.2um – 0.5um in size. Small, but mighty enough to warrant the use of a 0.05um filter if you want...

Bacter to the Future

Wee Beasties - October 07, 2021 16:00 - 13 minutes ★★★★★ - 5 ratings
Time to talk about the most widespread infection in the world, Helicobacter pylori. Following the accidental abandonment of incubated plates, H. Pylori colonies were discovered, launching a larger investigation into the microbiology of the human stomach. More research is needed on this disease...

Lp the OG

Wee Beasties - September 02, 2021 16:00 - 15 minutes ★★★★★ - 5 ratings
This month, Dr. Kimothy Smith and Christian Railsback explore a well-known pathogen to healthcare facilities worldwide, Legionella pneumophila (Lp). Premise plumbing systems serve as the coziest of homes to this harmful and sometimes deadly bug, making routine biosurveillance efforts a must. O...

An Interview with Dr. Paul Sturman of the CBE

Wee Beasties - August 05, 2021 13:30 - 51 minutes ★★★★★ - 5 ratings
In this episode our hosts are joined by Dr. Paul Sturman, Research Professor and Industrial Coordinator at the Center for Biofilm Engineering (CBE), to discuss biofilms and their relationship to the CDC’s list of opportunistic pathogens. This season, Dr. Kimothy Smith and Christian Railsback hav...

Klebsiella and the Club of Antibiotic Resistance

Wee Beasties - July 01, 2021 13:00 - 11 minutes ★★★★★ - 5 ratings
In this episode, Dr. Kimothy Smith and Christian Railsback discuss Klebsiella – a gram-negative bacteria that causes various healthcare-associated infections. Though Klebsiella has a broad scope at the species and sub-species levels, this episode concentrates on common characteristics, environme...

NTM, Auntie Em!

Wee Beasties - June 03, 2021 12:00 - 9 minutes ★★★★★ - 5 ratings
In this episode, Dr. Kimothy Smith and Christian Railsback discuss non-tuberculosis mycobacterium (NTM) and how it differs from a gram-negative bacterium, like Pseudomonas.  Cell structure, metabolic Mycobacterium avium performance, exploiting biofilms, and culturable but non-viable cells are am...

Pseudomonas aeruginosa – Biofilm Producer and Pathogen

Wee Beasties - May 06, 2021 17:35 - 18 minutes ★★★★★ - 5 ratings
In this episode, Christian Railsback and co-host Dr. Kimothy Smith one another’s virtues and conduct a shallow dive into the molecular machinery, persistence, and epidemiology of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the first of several waterborne pathogens discussed this season. A transcript of the conversa...

On Origins

Wee Beasties - May 06, 2021 16:54 - 6 minutes ★★★★★ - 5 ratings
On Origins is a prologue episode offering some brief history of Anton Van Leeuwenhoek, and how his clever description of the "cavorting" specimens beneath his microscope as "wee beasties" inspired the name for our podcast. Our first season focuses on the CDC list of opportunistic waterborne path...