This post is part of the Meet a Microbe series on the blog. Check it out to meet other microbes! Microbes come in many shapes and sizes, appearing as spheres, rods, and spirals under the microscope. Aside from these more commonly found microbial shapes, many microbes take on a more unique appearance. One of these microbes is…
During pregnancy, a person’s body undergoes a lot of changes – hormone fluctuations, morning sickness, loosening joints and ligaments, and well, the obvious: growing a mini human. As a microbiologist, I’ve wondered about the microbiome. What changes have occurred in the vaginal microbiome? What do these changes mean? And can the vaginal microbiome be predictive…
I learned to crochet a few months ago for one reason: to make microbes. Though I have been knitting since I was a middle schooler, it wasn’t until this year that I learned to crochet. I learned the basics – how to chain, how to single crochet, etc. It turns out that after understanding a…
Hearts, brains, and blood. These are some of the ingredients used to grow bacteria. Since the introduction of agar to bacterial cultivation methods by Fanny Hesse, microbiologists have been creating variations of agar medium to accommodate microbes that have different requirements for growth. The ingredient up for discussion today: blood.
What is a microbe? On the surface, it seems easy to define. Many would say a microbe is an organism that is microscopic, one that is invisible to the naked eye. Many also include bacteria, archaea, fungi, viruses, protists, and even prions in the realm of microbiology. But, there are numerous nuances that challenge the…