This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"The COVID -19 pandemic has swept the globe. It is now evident that severe COVID-19 cases are associated with hyper-activation of the immune system, known as the “cytokine storm”. One of the central molecules involved in a cytokine storm is interleukin-6 (or IL-6). At normal levels, IL-6 helps fight infection but when in excess, IL-6 can help trigger a cytokine storm. Some bacterial species are known to directly or indirectly affect IL-6 signaling and thus help contribute to the creation of cytokine storms. Researchers have hypothesized that these bacterial species could also contribute to the cytokine storm in COVID-19. They propose a mechanism through which these bacterial species can contribute to the development of the COVID-19 cytokine storm. If their hypothesis is confirmed, it could mean that antibiotic treatment before or at an early stage of infection could reduce the chance of later developing a cytokine storm and help reduce the number of life-threatening cases of COVID-19..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"The gut microbiomes of animals are diverse microbial communities that dramatically affect host health and physiology. Modern laboratory techniques have allowed researchers to learn much about these microbiomes. Unfortunately, the common sequencing and culture techniques often struggle to distinguish between strains within a bacterial species. But microfluidic droplets could be a way to sidestep such limitations and distinguish between strains in a high volume, efficient way. To test this, a research team developed a microfluidic platform that encapsulates individual bacterial cells and cultivates them in different growth media, and they used it to successfully profile the honeybee microbiome at a strain-specific level. Strain diversity is particularly important for honeybees due to their uniquely simple and stable bacterial community. Compared to traditional gut samples, this technique detected more strain diversity in some bacterial species..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

In this activity, students act as environmental engineers involved with the clean up of a toxic spill. Using bioremediation as the process, students select which bacteria they will use to eat up the pollutant spilled. Students learn how engineers use bioremediation to make organism degrade harmful chemicals. Engineers must make sure bacteria have everything they need to live and degrade contaminants for bioremediation to happen. Students learn about the needs of living things by setting up an experiment with yeast. The scientific method is reinforced as students must design the experiment themselves making sure they include a control and complete parts of a formal lab report.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"The deep sea is an incredibly harsh environment. The freezing cold and crushing pressure make operations in the deep sea difficult and expensive. However, as we build more deep-sea infrastructure, the need to understand the corrosion of these installments grows too. To close this gap, researchers recently examined 10-year-old deep-sea mooring chains and the surrounding environment. The rate of corrosion was much higher than expected from abiotic factors alone, and the corrosion type, localized deep pitting, also indicated microbial corrosion. Compared to the surrounding sediment, the chains had a distinct microbiome dominated by sulfur-cycling bacteria. Modeling the metabolism of the chain microbiome suggests it is generating energy from the reaction between metallic iron and elemental sulfur. Such metabolic strategies may be particularly important in low-energy environments like this..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Scientists have created a “super” sourdough that could help breadmakers and microbiome researchers alike answer long-standing questions, including how a sourdough’s microbial makeup might make it more stable than others. The team created their synthetic sourdough by pulling bacteria and yeast from 8 spontaneously formed sourdoughs from around the world. These microbes fulfilled two criteria: 1) they occurred in 4 of the 8 spontaneous sourdoughs, and 2) they harbored at least 20 key genes associated with metabolic pathways critical to maintaining sourdough quality, including the fermentation and breakdown of different sugars. Seven species (5 bacteria, 2 yeasts) met these criteria, forming a global sourdough labeled “SDG.” Scientists compared SDG with a synthetic sourdough (SMC-SD43) modeled after one of the original 8 spontaneous sourdoughs..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Syntrophic acetate-oxidizing bacteria (SAOB) could be a living source of clean energy. Through anaerobic digestion, SAOB turn wastewater sludge and biowaste into methane. Unfortunately, knowledge about SAOB remains limited. To find out more about these important microbes, researchers used metagenomics to study bacteria from a solid-state biowaste digester. They found that SAOB species, including Firmicutes, were abundant, including bacteria with the potential for syntrophic acetate oxidation and energy conservation. The study suggests the existence of a remarkable anaerobic digestion ecosystem, where diverse and novel specialized bacteria aid in dry fermentation of biowaste to produce clean energy..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This course covers introductory microbiology from a systems perspective, considering microbial diversity, population dynamics, and genomics. Emphasis is placed on the delicate balance between microbes and humans, and the changes that result in the emergence of infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance. The case study approach covers such topics as vaccines, toxins, biodefense, and infections including Legionnaire’s disease, tuberculosis, Helicobacter pylori, and plague.

Les apprenants consulteront le TP dans les heures qu’ils veulent c'est-à-dire un accès libre (24/24 ; 7/7). Leurs apprentissages pratiques seront l’évaluer par eux même et par d’autres étudiants. Ils ont un soutien permanent pour acquérir des compétences techniques qui leurs permettre d’intégrer le marché de travail tel que les laboratoires d’analyse. Le cours est accessible à tous les étudiants du globale

Students learn about water quality testing and basic water treatment processes and technology options. Biological, physical and chemical treatment processes are addressed, as well as physical and biological water quality testing, including testing for bacteria such as E. coli.

The goals of the Thermal Biology Institute's webpage are to present cutting-edge research focused on the biology of geothermal systems, to promote collaboration among researchers and resource agencies, and to advance public education on the biocomplexity of geothermal environments. Information is organized by topic including hot topics, research, current events, outreach, education, and electronic resources.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Tiny but tenacious, the tick is one of the most dangerous creatures on earth—and perhaps one of the most misunderstood. Because while typically associated with Lyme disease, ticks can actually harbor more than 120 different species of bacteria, each a unique source of infection. Unfortunately, the one-microbe, one-disease myth surrounding the tick extends well beyond the court of public opinion. The lack of broad-spectrum diagnostics in the clinic means that a single sufferer of tick-borne disease may spend up to $60,000, or 54,000 €, on more than 11 visits, doctors, and tests just to get a proper diagnosis. A 2018 blood analysis of 432 individuals showing symptoms of Lyme disease puts the problem in perspective—and calls for revamped screening procedures that decrease the probability of missed or misdiagnosis..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Since the 1970s, 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing has been the primary means of identifying bacteria in environmental samples of unknown composition. Among the most powerful tools for this sequencing is the Quantitative Insights Into Microbial Ecology (QIIME) package whose newest release, QIIME 2, boasts one of the highest classification accuracies for simulated metagenomes from the human gut, ocean, and soil. But a recent study suggests that even more powerful tools are available namely Kraken 2 and Bracken. Compared with QIIM2, Kraken 2 and Bracken were up to 100 times faster in generating the well-known Greengenes and SILVA 16S rRNA databases and up to 300 times faster at classification while using 100 times less RAM. Overall, Kraken 2 and Bracken produced more accurate 16S rRNA profiling results than QIIME2. Extremely fast, efficient, and accurate, Kraken 2 and Bracken could provide robust solutions for identifying and classifying bacterial species from a variety of environmental samples..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"The interactions between viruses and prokaryotes play a key role in shaping microbiomes. However, little is known about the factors influencing host-virus interaction networks, especially when it comes to host factors. To close this gap, researchers constructed a host-provirus network out of over 7,000 species-level prokaryote genomes from many environments. Proviruses are virus genomes that have been integrated into the host genome, allowing researchers to detect them from available genomic datasets. Using this host-provirus network, the researchers then calculated the host interaction specialization, which quantifies how specialized a given host is in relation to the available interacting virus partners. Broadly, fast growing prokaryotes showed less virus specificity than slow growers. This negative growth rate-specialization relationship was widespread across the Earth’s microbiomes..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"The question of whether life exists outside our planet has captivated our attention for decades. In order to understand whether life could thrive in extraterrestrial environments, researchers turn to unique locations on Earth. Analogue sites – places resembling extraterrestrial environments – can help answer questions about what types of life could live in space. A recent project – Mars Analogues for Space Exploration (MASE) – examined microbes inhabiting representative space-like environments. Researchers isolated microbes from sites including permafrost, salt mines, acidic lakes and rivers, and sulfur springs and using metagenomics, they evaluated the proportions and characteristics of these unique microbes. They successfully identified 15 high-quality genomes, pinpointing specific microbial functions enriched in MASE sites. Compared to more moderate environments, MASE-residing microorganisms expressed genes that allowed them to withstand physical and chemical pressure..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Mitochondrial stress is a key trigger of innate immune responses. Sources of stress include environmental changes, genetic mutations, and pathogenic infection. Mitochondria respond by releasing mitochondrial DAMPs and cytochrome c into the cytosol that induce inflammation and apoptosis through activating inflammasomes, cGAS and apoptotic caspases. One way cells manage mitochondrial stress is by eliminating dysfunctional mitochondria, a process known as “mitophagy.” Mitophagy regulatory pathways are classified as ubiquitin (Ub)-dependent or Ub-independent (receptor-dependent). Growing evidence shows that mitophagy can be induced by certain bacteria and viruses. Co-opting the mitophagy process enables these pathogens to evade hosts’ immune defense. Much remains to be learned about the mechanisms that pathogens employ to hijack host mitophagy. Understanding these mechanisms could point to new therapeutic strategies for fighting infection and related diseases..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

The following questions are ones that two classes of high school students in Novi, Michigan decided to investigate in fall of 2017 by taking swabs of surfaces in their environment and transfering what was on the swab to the surface of a Petri dish. Circle three of these investigations that you want to see the results for.

Write down two places in the school where you think there might be a lot of bacteria, and write down two places in the school where you think there will be very little bacteria. Explain why you chose these places.