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Noodlococcus colony on agar plate

Noodlococcus and The Beautiful World of Bacterial Contaminants

Posted on October 17, 2019May 12, 2026 by Jennifer Tsang

If you’re a microbiologist, there’s nothing quite as infuriating as contaminants growing on an agar plate, crowding out growth of your intended microbes. But this often frustrating aspect of microbiology research, turned into something quite the contrary when Greg McCallum, a Ph.D. student at the University of Birmingham, posted a photo of a colleague’s contaminated…

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bank-vole-microbiome-Chernobyl

Microbial Life in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone

Posted on August 25, 2019July 2, 2022 by Jennifer Tsang

The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone has been largely untouched by humans since the Chernobyl nuclear explosion in 1986. Now over 30 years later, there’s been an abundance of wildlife in the 1,600 square mile zone despite their exposure to radioactive material in the soil and food. Scientists are monitoring animal populations with camera traps set up…

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Treponema pallidum

The corkscrewing Treponema pallidum

Posted on June 30, 2019July 3, 2022 by Jennifer Tsang

We’ve reach the last day of #14DaysofMicrobiologyPoems. I reached out to the science Twitterverse earlier this month in search of 14 microbes worthy of poems. Here is Poem Fourteen, requested by @MoKrobial.        

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African Trypanosoma brucei

Trypanosoma brucei’s chronic infection

Posted on June 29, 2019July 3, 2022 by Jennifer Tsang

And so, #14DaysofMicrobiologyPoems continues. I reached out to the science Twitterverse earlier this month in search of 14 microbes worthy of poems. Here is Poem Thirteen, requested by @DrNeilStone.      

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Streptococcus pyogenes blood agar

Streptococcus pyogenes: the clot buster

Posted on June 28, 2019May 11, 2026 by Jennifer Tsang

And so, #14DaysofMicrobiologyPoems continues. I reached out to the science Twitterverse earlier this month in search of 14 microbes worthy of poems. Here is Poem Twelve, requested by @word_working.

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