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jtsangwrites.bsky.social
Today's Meet a Microbe is a mash-up of my favorite seasonal vibes: pumpkins and snow. Pseudomonas syringae is a plant pathogen that causes warts on pumpkins and can help initiate ice formation. microbialmenagerie.com/meet-pseudom...

#MicroSky #Pumpkin #SciComm #Microbiology #TheMicrobialMenagerie
Meet Pseudomonas syringae, the ice-forming bacteria that makes pumpkins warty
Since fall is my favorite season, I decided to see if there’s a microbe that’s unique to pumpkins. A quick search told me no, not really, but I also found that Pseudomonas syringae caus…
microbialmenagerie.com
October 28, 2026 at 5:23 PM
jtsangwrites.bsky.social
When I heard of how iota-carrageenan nasal sprays can shorten duration of colds, I had to check out the science behind it. The research is relatively new and I found just 31 papers on PubMed. Get the highlights on #TheMicrobialMenagerie: microbialmenagerie.com/iota-carrage...

#MicroSky
Shorter, milder colds? Iota-carrageenan cuts length and severity of upper respiratory infection symptoms
A few weeks ago, I ended up getting a cold that lasted forever. I’m talking about weeks of coughing, nasal congestion, and multiple boxes of tissues. At the same time, someone in my writers&#…
microbialmenagerie.com
May 18, 2026 at 2:28 PM
jtsangwrites.bsky.social
Seems like all I'm doing lately is reading microbiology books and writing about what I learned on my blog. I finished Everything is Tuberculosis and it was quite a fascinating read. microbialmenagerie.com/five-things-...

#ScienceBooks #TheMicrobialMenagerie #SciComm
Five Things I Learned From Reading Everything is Tuberculosis
One of the things I love about reading science non-fiction books is that it’s never “just about the science.”  Rather, it’s about how science has shaped the world and h…
microbialmenagerie.com
March 23, 2026 at 2:44 PM
jtsangwrites.bsky.social
Just read about a flu test using taste as a 24/7 infection detector. This test could enable rapid, low-cost detection even before symptoms appear. Read more on #TheMicrobialMenagerie: microbialmenagerie.com/taste-based-flu-detection

#FluSeason #Influenza #MicrkSky #IDSky #MedSky #Microbiology
Imagine tasting your flu infection before the symptoms hit
Influenza causes an estimated 500,000 deaths each year and tests that detect the virus are key to treating, and preventing the spread of, influenza. Towards this end, scientists from University of …
microbialmenagerie.com
November 3, 2025 at 2:43 PM
jtsangwrites.bsky.social
Maybe I'm weird, but I try to time my flu shot so that I get it late enough so it's still effective through spring, but before cases go up. I ended up getting it yesterday. I wrote about this on #TheMicrobialMenagerie. Sharing incase it's helpful! microbialmenagerie.com/when-should-...
When should I get my flu shot? Here’s what science says.
Pharmacies and doctors start booking flu vaccine appointments in late August, long before the number of flu cases are on the rise. The CDC recommends getting vaccinated in September or October. But…
microbialmenagerie.com
October 17, 2025 at 3:02 PM
jtsangwrites.bsky.social
🍎 We just finished snacking on giant bag of apples from the apple orchard and every time I eat an apple, I'm reminded of this blog post I wrote a few years ago.

microbialmenagerie.com/apple-microb...

#TheMicrobialMenagerie #Microbiome #Microbiology
100 Million Bacteria And Other Apple Microbiome Tales
The best season is upon us. The time of vibrant foliage, pumpkins, apples… and all the microbes that come with that. When it comes to the intersection of food and microbiology, we typically t…
microbialmenagerie.com
October 1, 2025 at 7:13 PM
jtsangwrites.bsky.social
Antibiotics that make their way into other places beyond infection sites can drive #AntimicrobialResistance. In my new article for #TheMicrobialMenagerie, I dive into how eliminating these "off target" antibiotics can help reduce #AntimicrobialResistance.
microbialmenagerie.com/curbing-anti...
Curbing Antibiotic Resistance Through Off-Target Antibiotic Removal
To address the growing antimicrobial resistance problem, scientists have been searching nature in attempts to find new classes of antibiotics, optimizing existing ones, or designing new antimicrobi…
microbialmenagerie.com
August 4, 2025 at 1:29 PM
jtsangwrites.bsky.social
Have you heard of anaplasmosis? I did not until my dog's routine tests at the vet came back positive for it and I had to read more about it. So we're here today with another Meet a Microbe blog post for #TheMicrobialMenagerie! #microbiology buff.ly/46783Sv
Meet a Microbe: Anaplasma phagocytophilum
We’re deep into tick season in the Eastern US. As dog parents, we give our pup monthly flea and tick medication and check her for ticks if she’s been in fields or wooded areas. We thought we were i…
buff.ly
July 15, 2024 at 5:01 PM