Editors in Conversation
Episodes
Favorite Clinical Microbiology Papers of 2025
19 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
I almost can't believe that we are wrapping up yet another year on the podcast this month, which has been going strong for 6 years now! And it has bee...
Clinical Trials With the Potential To Change the Management of Prosthetic Joint Infections
06 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Prosthetic joint infections (PJI) remain among the most devastating complications in orthopedic surgery, with increasing incidence paralleling the gro...
Metabolomics
20 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It's that time of year, folks! No, not leaf-peeping season, or pumpkin spice season or even apple picking season – I'm talking respiratory virus sea...
The First OTC Syphilis Test: Clinical Performance and Impact
25 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Treponema pallidum, the causative agent of syphilis, has been around for what seems like forever, causing major outbreaks throughout the millennia and...
Artificial Intelligence in the Microbiology Laboratory (JCM ed.)
14 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The launch of ChatGPT three years ago brought the concept of artificial intelligence into the daily conversation. Today, it seems all industries, incl...
What Makes a Great Mini-review? (JCM ed.)
29 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Journal of Clinical Microbiology has a great tradition of publishing mini-reviews on topics that are important to the clinical microbiology commun...
Emerging Technologies for Rapid Phenotypic AST of Clinical Isolates of Bacteria (JCM ed.)
17 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Antimicrobial resistance is one of the largest threats to global public health, compromising all other advances in modern medicine. At the forefront o...
The Rise of Measles (AAC ed.)
28 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Measles is becoming an important public health problem and it is important to recognize and understand the origins of this problem and how it can affe...
Meet the New Editor in Chief of the Journal of Clinical Microbiology
14 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
With Alex's departure to new pastures, which include things like being the incoming President of ASM, we now have a new JCM Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Romne...
Static vs Cidal Antibiotics: Concepts Revisited
08 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A common description of antibiotic action aims to classify them between "bactericidal" or "bacteriostatic". Although these phenomena have robust in vi...
Updated FDA Recognition of CLSI Breakpoints (JCM ed.)
30 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Oversight and guidance for performing antibiotic susceptibility testing can be bewildering. There is an alphabet soup of agencies and bodies involved:...
Management of Pneumonia: Past, Present and Future
09 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the last decade, there have been major changes in the approach of the treatment of pneumonia, in particular, with the availability of new diagnosti...
Show Me the Light! Uv Light for Cyclospora
04 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Picture this, you wake up one morning with nausea, body aches, abdominal pain, and despite sleeping all night, you are exhausted. You then find yourse...
Best Papers in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 2024
14 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The past year in Clinical Microbiology, as seen through the lens of the Journal of Clinical Microbiology. Four JCM editors have each selected a paper ...
Best Papers of AAC, 2024
25 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
2024 was a very active year on research in antimicrobial resistance, highlighted by an impactful and high level political declaration to combat antimi...
Getting a Job in a Clinical Microbiology Lab
10 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Looking for a dynamic and rewarding career? Learn what it means to be a Clinical Microbiology Laboratory Director and the necessary steps to get there...
The Global Antibiotic Research & Development Partnership (GARDP)
13 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Lack of access to antibiotics including those with enhanced activity against multidrug-resistant organisms is a major barrier to combat antimicrobial ...
At-Home Collection and Testing for STIs
11 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
So you want validated, at-home, self-collected swabs for STI testing… Here's what you need to know! Sexually transmitted infection rates continue ...
High Level Meeting on AMR at the United Nations: A Debrief
26 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The second High-Level Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) took place in New York on 26 September 2024 as the principal official, health-focused ...
The Launch of ASM Case Reports Journal
11 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The American Society for Microbiology is launching a new journal, ASM Case Reports. The journal is already accepting submissions and will begin publis...
Heteroresistance: Mechanisms, Diagnosis and Clinical Implications
13 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Heteroresistance is a phenomenon that has been well characterized for many years. However, we are only now starting to understand its mechanistic basi...
Microbiology in the Headlines: H5N1 in Dairy Cattle, The Plague, Measles, Neosporin and more!
16 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Join Dr. Ben Pinsky and Dr. Greg Berry as they dissect recent news stories, including the USDA's testing for H5N1 in ground beef and a surprising bubo...
The Global Preclinical Antibacterial Pipeline
26 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The pipeline of antibiotic discovery is a major necessity due to the continuous evolution of resistance to currently used antimicrobials. This pipelin...
Turning the Output of the Microbiology Laboratory Into Gold
28 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The European alchemists of the 12th century sought to find the philosopher's stone, a substance that would transmute base metals, such as lead, into p...
Training in Antimicrobial Resistance: Gaps and Opportunities
01 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Antimicrobial resistance is a priority public health problem with complex roots and connotations. However, due to a lack of focus on this topic, resea...
10 Years of Rhodococcus: Clinical Trends and Susceptibility Profiles
19 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Rhodococcus infections are uncommon, however they can cause serious disease in certain patients. There are a number of challenges though when dealing ...
Why Phage Therapy May Fail
05 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Phage therapy has gained a lot of traction but the challenges created by this approach have not been properly assessed at a big scale. We often read a...
Is Lophomonas a Pathogen?
23 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The protozoan Lophomonas has been reported to be a pathogen of humans in a large number of case reports and case series. Most of these case reports de...
Treatment of Multidrug-resistant Tuberculosis
09 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Tuberculosis is one of the most deadly infectious diseases that still causes significant burden of disease, particularly in the developing world. Th...
New generation B-lactam/B-lactamase inhibitors: Taniborbactam
13 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A new generation of B-lactamase inhibitors is likely to reach the market in the upcoming year. These broad-spectrum inhibitors exhibit activity agains...
Favorite Clinical Microbiology Papers of 2023 (JCM ed.)
23 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We managed to make it through 2023 without a major epidemic or pandemic, and as we get into the holiday spirit and look forward to the new year, some ...
Antimicrobial Resistance in Neisseria Gonorrhoeae (JCM ed.)
05 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Gonorrhea remains one of the more common sexually transmitted infections. In North America, the number of reported cases has generally risen for over ...
New Antifungals (AAC ed.)
10 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the last few years we have witnessed the rise of very resistant fungal species some of them likely influenced by environmental conditions and clima...
A Novel Coccidioides Antibody LFA (JCM ed.)
20 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Despite the many advances in diagnostic testing for infectious diseases, detection of Coccidoides infections continues to rely on serologic assessment...
Climate Change and Antimicrobial Resistance (AAC ed.)
07 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Climate change is possibly the major threat that planet earth is experiencing in this century with potential catastrophic consequences. As the planet ...
Emerging Antifungal-Resistant Dermatophytes (JCM ed.)
22 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Fungi that are resistant to antifungal drugs have been very much in the news and even the subject of the hugely popular television program, The Last o...
Artificial Intelligence and Infectious Diseases (AAC ed.)
08 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to change the way we practice medicine and public health. The tools and AI approaches can substantially...
Viral Outbreaks in the Headlines (JCM ed.)
18 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Elli Theel and Dr. Alex McAdam discuss recent viral outbreaks with expert virologists. Recorded before a live audience at ASM Microbe 2023. Topics...
AAC Launches a New Section Focused On Antimicrobial Stewardship (AAC ed.)
04 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In response to the global burden of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and the critical role antimicrobial stewardship plays in optimizing antibiotic use ...
Susceptibility Testing for Aztreonam with Ceftazidime-Avibactam (JCM ed.)
13 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The combination of aztreonam with ceftazidime-avibactam is increasingly used for treatment of antimicrobial-resistant Gram-negative bacilli. Clinical ...
Hispanic Leadership in Vaccine Sciences With Dr. Maria Elena Bottazzi (AAC ed.)
30 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Recorded at ASM Microbe 2023, Cesar has a conversation with Dr. Maria Elena Bottazzi about the role of minority women in science and discovery, the jo...
Updates on Testing for Vaginitis/Vaginosis (JCM ed.)
03 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As many of you are likely aware, May is recognized as Women's Health Care Month by the National Cervical Cancer Coalition, and this year, the CDC has ...
Management of Difficult to Treat HSV and CMV Infections (AAC ed.)
01 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As the number of immunocompromised patients rise in our hospitals, the presentation of severe infections caused by HSV and CMV are rising. Most import...
Susceptibility Testing for Piperacillin-Tazobactam (JCM ed.)
08 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Susceptibility testing for piperacillin-tazobactam has undergone rapid evolution, largely driven by some surprising results from the MERINO trial, whi...
Antimicrobial Resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae (AAC ed.)
24 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Center of Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) has categorized emergent resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae as an "urgent" public health problem....
Avoiding HIV False Positives (JCM ed.)
24 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We can probably all agree that any false positive test result is bad, but I think it's safe to say that some false positives, like a false positive HI...
Discussing β-lactamase/β-lactamase inhibitors (AAC ed.)
10 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Novel β-lactamase/β-lactamase inhibitors have become critical drugs to combat the most resistant Gram-negative infections. A series of new compounds...
Molecular Testing for Periprosthetic Joint Infections (JCM ed.)
14 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The applications of large multiplex panels for detection of pathogens have greatly expanded in the past several years. Initial tests were for detectio...
An Update on COVID-19 Therapeutics (AAC ed.)
23 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
COVID-19 continues to pose major problems in the winter in the USA. Infections and hospitalizations are increasing and there is a fear of emergence of...
The Best Clinical Microbiology Papers of 2022 (JCM Ed.)
07 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As we enter into the holiday season, many of us look forward to celebrating long-standing traditions with family and friends, which is no different fr...
How Can Clinical Microbiology Labs Contribute to Antimicrobial Stewardship? (JCM ed.)
18 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Deciding how extensively to work up and report respiratory cultures is the worst. There are useful guidelines on how to approach this. But, in my expe...
Research Careers in Antimicrobial Resistance (AAC ed.)
05 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Antimicrobial resistance is the 'silent pandemic' and to tackle this challenging public health problem we need to attract the best and brightest. Toda...
Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence in the Clinical Microbiology Laboratory (JCM ed.)
08 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The idea of applying machine learning and digital pathology platforms to everyday workflows in the clinical microbiology laboratory has become increas...
How Proposed Change to US Regulation Could Impact Clinical Microbiology Labs (JCM ed.)
16 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
There are a number of regulatory proposals under consideration which could have important effects on clinical microbiology labs, and clinical labs mor...
Management of Mycobacterium Abscessus Infections: The Rise of a Superbug (AAC ed.)
02 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Infections caused by Mycobacterium abscessus appear to be increasing in frequency among the immunocompromised population and are challenging to treat....
The Inoculum Effect of Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing (JCM ed.)
20 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The inoculum effect of antibiotic susceptibility testing is often discussed at playgrounds and infectious diseases conferences, but many of us don't r...
Diagnosis and Treatment of Monkeypox (AAC ed.)
05 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As July 26, the world has documented 19,188 cases of monkeypox, with 3,591 cases in the US alone, making the US the country with the most known infect...
Dynamite Parasites, with Dr. Bobbi Pritt (JCM ed.)
02 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Bobbi Pritt aka @parasitegal, creator of the blog Creepy Dreadful Wonderful Parasites, is a pathologist and clinical microbiologist with specialt...
Stenotrophomonas maltophilia: The Silent Rise of a Superbug (AAC ed.)
18 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Infections caused by Stenotrophomonas maltophilia appear to be increasing in frequency among the immunocompromised population and are challenging to t...
What's New in Molecular Virology? (JCM ed.)
28 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We are just back from the Molecular Virology Workshop in West Palm Beach. This is a terrific meeting that is organized by the Pan-American Society for...
Treatment of Resistant Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Infections (AAC ed.)
14 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Infections caused by multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa are considered a major public health problem. Antibiotic options are scarce but new dr...
Prevalence and Mortality Associated with Bloodstream Infections (JCM ed.)
29 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It is estimated that anywhere from 575,000 to 677,000 bloodstream infections occur annually in North America, with approximately 40,000 of those direc...
Consensus on B-lactamases (AAC ed.)
05 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This episode is dedicated to the memory of the late George A. Jacoby, who was a pillar in the B-lactamase research community and a leader in the field...
Multiplex PCR for Predicting Antibiotic Susceptibility (JCM ed.)
19 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Antibiotic susceptibility testing is too slow. Faster identification of microorganisms is now common, as many laboratories use MALDI-TOF or molecular ...
Phages as Therapeutic Tools Against Multidrug Resistant Bacteria (AAC ed.)
05 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Bacteriophages are interesting viruses that target bacteria and have been used for therapeutic purposes. Recently, the emergence of antibiotic resista...
COVID-19 Associated Pulmonary Aspergillosis - The Other CAPA (JCM ed.)
18 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When most of us hear the word 'CAPA', these days we more than likely immediately start thinking about SARS-CoV-2 variants, trying to remember how impo...
WHO Critical Review of the Antibacterial Pipeline (AAC ed.)
28 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
AAC just published a review from the WHO advisory panel on the antibacterial pipeline analyzing 'traditional' and 'non-traditional' antibacterial agen...
Testing for COVID-19 During the Age of Omicron (JCM ed.)
21 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In less than two months since it was discovered, the omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 has become the dominant variant of the virus, causing an unpreceden...
Best Clinical Microbiology Papers of 2021 (JCM ed.)
28 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As we round out yet another year of this pandemic, clinical microbiologists have not slowed down. We have not slowed down in our response to the pande...
Treatment of Acinetobacter spp. Infections (AAC ed.)
11 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Infections caused by carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter spp. are considered an urgent public health problem. Antibiotic options are scarce but new dru...
SARS-CoV-2 Sequencing for Clinical Care and Infection Control (JCM ed.)
29 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Is sequencing the SARS-CoV-2 genome useful for patient care? What about institutional infection control? And if clinical labs decide to perform SARS-C...
Candida auris at the Intersection of the COVID-19 Pandemic (AAC ed.)
29 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Candida auris is an urgent and high-priority antimicrobial resistant organisms. COVID-19 appears to have increased the identification of this pathogen...
COVID-19 Testing - Schools, False Positives, and In-Person Meetings (JCM ed.)
22 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Today we're talking about testing in schools for COVID-19, and about recalls of SARS-CoV-2 tests due to false positive results, and, about whether we ...
Testing for COVID-19 Infectivity (JCM ed.)
20 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How can we determine whether someone who has COVID-19 can transmit the virus to other people? Tests in routine clinical use, such as reverse-transcrip...
Treatment of VRE Infections (AAC ed.)
31 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Enterococci, particularly vancomycin-resistant isolates tend to affect the most vulnerable and immunocompromised patients and are one of the most diff...
Advances in Serologic Testing for COVID-19 (JCM ed.)
23 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Tests for antibodies, or serological testing, for SARS-CoV-2 have come a long way since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. There are now several...
Innovative Clinical Trials for COVID-19 (AAC ed.)
02 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
During the pandemic, the need to develop therapeutic approaches became critical and so the need to study them in a structured way to critically evalua...
Mythbusting in Susceptibility Testing (JCM ed.)
25 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Accurate antibiotic susceptibility testing, or AST, is a key tool in addressing the rise in antibiotic-resistant bacteria. But AST is one of the most ...
Antimalarial Drug-Resistance (AAC ed.)
04 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Malaria continues to be a major "killer' in the developing world affecting the most vulnerable populations with more than 500,000 deaths per year. Eme...
Staphylococcus argenteus: another coagulase positive Staphylococcus (JCM ed.)
28 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In addition to Staphylococcus aureus, there are a small number of other coagulase-positive staphylococci. We have become increasingly aware of these d...
β-lactam/β-lactamase inhibitor combinations (AAC ed.)
07 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The development of β-lactam/β-lactamase inhibitors seems to be expanding rapidly and promise to be the best short-term strategy against the most rec...
Reconciling Genotypic and Phenotypic Susceptibility Tests (JCM ed.)
30 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Our options for susceptibility testing have greatly increased in recent years. In addition to classical phenotypic susceptibility testing by disk diff...
Gaps in Laboratory Diagnosis of Fungal Diseases (JCM ed.)
02 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The incidence of fungal infections is rising in immunocompromised people, and the morbidity and mortality of these infections are high. Recent threats...
Pandemic Built Environment (mSystems ed.)
29 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
During the pandemic researchers who focus on the microbiology of built environments suddenly found themselves at the center of attention. Understandin...
Developing Non-Traditional Antibiotics (AAC ed.)
19 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Developing non-traditional antibiotics promises novel strategies to combat multidrug-resistant organisms but would they work? Are they feasible to dev...
Fermentative Food Microbiome (mSystems ed.)
13 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Fermentation is a wonderful thing! Thanks to new technologies and cheaper sequencing we are now able to dig deep into the microbial friends that suppl...
Optimizing Blood Cultures with Dr. Eric Ransom and Dr. Valeria Fabre (JCM ed.)
05 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Blood cultures for bacteria and yeast are among the most clinically important and high-volume tests performed by clinical microbiology labs. Because t...
Top Non-COVID-19 AAC Papers of 2020: A discussion with early stage investigators (AAC ed.)
26 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What influential research outside of COVID-19 was published in AAC in 2020? Objectives: • Discuss pathways of young scientists in antimicrobial resi...
Susceptibility testing for Staphylococci Other Than S. aureus (JCM ed.)
12 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Susceptibility testing for staphylococci other than S. aureus, or SOSA, has become increasingly complicated, as more laboratories use MALDI-TOF to rou...
Synthetic Microbiology (mSystems ed.)
29 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What is Synthetic Microbiology and why is systems biology central to the development of this exciting scientific discipline? Topics discussed: What i...
Vaccines for COVID19: A Critical Appraisal with Dr. Carol Baker (AAC ed.)
25 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The speed of development of vaccines for COVID-19 has been unprecedented, exceeding expectations. A reflection of the process and lessons for the futu...
2020: A Bad Year with Great Papers in Clinical Microbiology (JCM ed.)
09 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
2020 was a great year… for research in clinical microbiology. The COVID-19 pandemic presented unprecedented challenges, including challenges to clin...
2020: The year of COVID-19 (AAC ed.)
18 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The emergence COVID-19 changed the entire world, a look back to one of the most difficult years for public health in modern history. Objectives: • S...
COVID-19: Clinical Labs in the Media Spotlight with Dr. Katherine Wu and Dr. Susan Butler-Wu (JCM ed.)
11 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought more media attention to clinical laboratories than at any time in recent history. Today we'll talk about media cover...
The Antimicrobial Resistance Leadership Group (ARLG) (AAC ed.)
30 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
ARLG is changing the field of clinical research in antimicrobial resistance. We will talk with the Principal Investigators of the ARLG to discuss thei...
Total Laboratory Automation in Clinical Microbiology (JCM ed.)
13 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Let's talk about total laboratory automation in the clinical microbiology laboratory. Highly automated systems are fairly common in the clinical chemi...
The use of remdesivir against SARS-CoV-2 (AAC ed.)
02 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
AAC Launches a new section. New perspectives on antimicrobial agents seeks to provide a clinically-oriented, concise summary supported by emerging cli...
COVID-19 Diagnostic Testing Redux (JCM ed.)
16 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Laboratory testing for COVID-19, what's new since we talked about this in August? A lot. Here are some of the questions we'll talk about. • Do posit...
Discovering new antibiotics (AAC ed.)
05 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How are we discovering new antibiotics in the 21st, How is science responding to the antibiotic crisis? Objectives: • Discuss the challenges on disc...
Parasites (JCM ed.)
18 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Let's talk about parasites. Parasites are shocking. Some of them are large enough to be seen without magnification as they crawl across eyeballs, wrig...