MicrobiologyBytes

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It’s been another busy year at MicrobiologyBytes, with more than 300 posts this year, and over half a million page views, so here’s a whistle-stop tour of just some of the topics we’ve looked at during the last year:

January

• UK Norovirus Outbreak
• Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
• DNA Viruses
• Malaria, mosquitoes and the legacy of Ronald Ross

February

• Negative sense RNA viruses
• Viruses and Apoptosis
• Resistance to Plant Viruses
• Peptidoglycan – the strength and weakness of bacteria

March

• Viruses and Human Cancer
• Microbes on the skin: disease or defence?
• Tuberculosis – is the white plague winning?
• Studying the structure of HIV

April

• Salmonella
• Fat and Lazy Bacteria
• Viroporins
• Magnetic Bacteria

May

• Guinea Worm Disease
• Enterovirus 71
• Epulopiscium, a giant among bacteria

June

• Dengue Virus
• Be glad you’re not a rotifer
• Joseph Lister
• Tracking Lyme Disease in Living Hosts

July

• Cellular Proteins in Influenza Virus Particles
• Cold sore secrets revealed
• HIV mutation and the immune response
• Hendra Virus

August

• First X-Ray Diffraction Image of a Single Virus Particle
• Microbial Mitopathogens

September

• Escape from Death Row: Virus Subversion of Apoptosis
• Tuberculosis diagnostic tools
• Can you have confidence in the news?
• High-Speed Spores

October

• The Genetics of Beer
• Towards The Next 80 Years of Penicillin Production
• Leptospirosis
• The global impact of vaccination against hepatitis B virus

November

• Open Access
• Wolbachia
• Iron Uptake and Virulence
• HIV-2 – a kinder AIDS virus?

December

• New ways to beat malaria
• Cholera
• Molecular approaches to bioremediation

So what’s going to happen in 2009? Watch the video, and keep reading MicrobiologyBytes!

Vote here

When I’m not here blogging about the latest developments in microbiology, my day job involves teaching microbiology (and a few other things) at the University of Leicester. I blog about my education work over at Science of the Invisible, and I’m honoured that Science of the Invisible has been nominated in the Best Teacher Edublog category of the 2008 Edublog Awards. Voting closes on December 21st, and if you haven’t already done so and would like to vote for me (or even one of the other nominees ;-) this is the link.

While you’re there, why not vote in some of the other categories too.

Vote here

When I’m not here blogging about the latest developments in microbiology, my day job involves teaching microbiology (and a few other things) at the University of Leicester. I blog about my education work over at Science of the Invisible, and I’m honoured that Science of the Invisible has been nominated in the Best Teacher Edublog category of the 2008 Edublog Awards. Voting closes on December 21st, and if you’d like to vote for me (or even one of the other nominees ;-) this is the link.

While you’re there, why not vote in some of the other categories too.

On Monday 3rd November 2008, MicrobiologyBytes rolled over the half a million page views mark. Not such a big deal in the mega-techblog world, but quite an achievement for a lil’ old microbiology blog run by lil’ old me and my staff of … well, just me actually.

However, I didn’t achieve this milestone without some help. I’d like to publicly acknowledge the support of the Open Access PLoS Journals, which I am proud to be associated with (PLoS Biology at 5: The Future Is Open Access); The Society for General Microbiology, who have sponsored MicrobiologyBytes; and my guest bloggers, who have contributed in their own inimitable way.

Welcome to edition 34 of Gene Genie, the blog carnival of genes and genetic conditions.

It’s high summer, and the internet is a dead as a doornail, but a few diligent bloggers are still slogging away at the keyboard while everyone else is at the beach.

The only microbiology article submitted for this edition of Gene Genie was from grrlscientist and is a review of Carl Zimmer’s new book, Microcosm: E. coli and the new science of life – well worth a read for anyone concerned with science or health.

David P. Hamilton urged us not to worry about the government (and genomics), although I’m not sure everyone will agree with his views – so stop by his blog and join the discussion.

The rest of the submissions were more of a medical nature. Dr Penna wrote about the newly discovered gene called calcium homeostasis modulator 1 (CALHM1), which appears to be a genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease.

Christine Mehigh delved into her personal experience to write about the inheritance of endometriosis, and Greg Laden wrote about the evolution of imprinting.

Dr. Deb discussed addiction and your genes, and her continuing search for the chocolate receptor gene. Highlight Health rounds off this edition with a post about the promise of stem cells to repair the heart.

But wait, there’s more!
After this post had been published, Berci sent me a whole list of additional submissions, so here they are:

• A Surgeon and Genetics: “What I cannot see does not exist. So forget about genetics!” (Clinical Cases and Images)
• By Secretary or By Professional Report (Gene Sherpa)
• Progeria (Human Genetics Disorders)
• Scientists discover major genetic cause of colorectal cancer (Think Gene)
• Epigenetics (Sandwalk)
• Mutations – Definitions (Prep4 MD)
• CHRNA5 Gene, Smoking And That First ‘Buzz’ (Scientific Blogging)
• Genetic regulation of cortical structure in the pediatric brain demonstrated by landmark twin study (biomarker-driven mental health 2.0)
• July 22 – National Fragile X Awareness Day (Prep 4 MD)
• Venter’s exome, and the challenge of rare variants for personal genomics (Genetic Future)
• Taking your DNA to the doctor (Navigator)

Issue 35 of Gene Genie will be at cancer-genetics.com on 14th September 2008.
You can submit your blog article for the next edition at the carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on the blog carnival index page.

What does the future hold? Gone are the days when it was sufficient to put something interesting on a website and let people find it…

MicrobiologyBytes for the microbiologist on the move:

It’s not very often I can write a post which is suitable for both Microbiologybytes and Science of the Invisible, but this topic is. MySpace is a popular social networking site where users create individual profiles. A group from the University of Washington examined publicly available MySpace profiles of 16- and 17-year-olds and determined the prevalence of personal risk behavior descriptions and identifiable information. They looked at 142 publicly available MySpace profiles (so not a particularly big study) from the class of 2008 MySpace group. 47% contained indications of risk behavior information: 21% described sexual activity; 25% alcohol use; 9% cigarette use; and 6% drug use.

So are these results surprising?
Not to me. Considering this is a small sample of a self-selecting group who have public MySpace profiles, I’m slightly surprised that the percentages of risk behavior are not higher. Of course this study is flawed in lots of ways, but perhaps the most interesting sentence in the paper is:

Social networking sites may provide a new venue for identification, assessment, and interventions to prevent or reduce health risks.

Watch out teenagers, the health police are after you!

What Are Adolescents Showing the World About Their Health Risk Behaviors on MySpace?
Medscape General Medicine 2007 9: 9 (requires free registration)