There have been dramatic declines in amphibian populations around the world, and one of the culprits is the disease Chytridiomycosis. This is a skin disease of amphibians caused by two different species of Batrachochytrium fungi, and it has decimated frog and salamander populations and even driven some to extinction.
Dr. Anat Belasen is a post-doctoral scientist at the University of Texas Austin who studies Chytridiomycosis. Dr. Belasen discusses how some amphibians are highly susceptible to this disease whereas others are resistant, why amphibian skin is so important for their well-being, how frogs can be considered a biological indicator of the health of an ecosystem, how farmed bullfrogs may be spreading the disease around the world, how genetic susceptibility screening and microbiomes may be used to try and stop the population decline, and how she’s been a frog lover for her entire life.
This episode was supported by Gordo Sheepsay’s My Brave Little Autoclave, the kitchen appliance that may literally save your life.
062: The Rules of Attraction: Bacterial Magnetosomes with Arash Komeili
061: TB or not TB? That is the Question… for Bill Jacobs
060: Geezer Germs: Geriatric Bacteria with Steve Finkel
059: All Hail Females: Women in Science with Joan Bennett
058: Biotechnology Ideology: Genomics Technologies with Joe DeRisi
057: Undone by Fungi Again: The Mycobiome with Mahmoud Ghannoum
056: Lilliputian Evolution: Bacterial Evolution with Stanley Maloy
055: The Age of Phage: Phage Therapy with Graham Hatfull
054: Urine Trouble: Urinary Tract Infections with Harry Mobley
053: Vibri-Oh-No! - “Flesh Eating” Vibrios with Karla Satchell
052: Goodbye Guinea Worm: Guinea Worm Eradication with Adam Weiss
051: Microbes in Hot Water: Climate Change with Sanghoon Kang
050: Into the Matrix: Fungal Biofilms with David Andes
049: Trivia About Chlamydia: Sexually Transmitted Disease with Mary Weber
048: Zebrafish in the Time of Cholera: Vibrio cholerae with Brian Hammer
047: Urinary Commentary: UTIs and Proteus mirabilis with Karine Gibbs
046: The Scoop on Whoop: Bordetella with Jeff Miller
045: Tiptoe Through the Crypto: Cryptococcus with Paul de Figueiredo
044: Giant Viruses, Rickettsia, and Whipple, Oh My! A Discussion with Didier Raoult
043: Native Alaskan Perspectives in Microbiology with Kat Milligan-Myhre
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
DNA Today: A Genetics Podcast
Short Wave
Unexplainable
Stuff To Blow Your Mind
Ground Truths