MicroBites

Iron from red meat protects bacteria against antibiotics How different forms of iron affect the efficacy of common antibiotics inside the gut’s microbial community.

📣 New MicroBites!

Iron from red meat protects bacteria against antibiotics 🥩

How different forms of iron affect the efficacy of common antibiotics inside the gut’s microbial community. 🦠

Underdog Versus Final Boss: How Vitamin C Helps Antibiotics Work Better Vitamin C, an unexpected underdog, helps disrupt bacterial biofilms and restores the effectiveness of antibiotics against drug-resistant infections

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Underdog Versus Final Boss: How Vitamin C Helps Antibiotics Work Better 🦠

Vitamin C, an unexpected underdog, helps disrupt bacterial biofilms and restores the effectiveness of antibiotics against drug-resistant infections 💊

Today is International Day of Women and Girls in Science

Science is full of unseen forces, and women are one of them. 🧫

From decoding microbes to shaping medicine, women in science are transforming how we understand life itself. Closing the STEM gap means unlocking discoveries.

Martian Microbes? The Case of Jezero Crater Excerpt (maximum 20 words): Perseverance finds minerals and organics in Jezero Crater—could these be signs of ancient microbial life on Mars?

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Martian Microbes? The Case of Jezero Crater 🪐

Perseverance finds minerals and organics in Jezero Crater—could these be signs of ancient microbial life on Mars? 🦠

MicroBites is 5! MicroBites 4 year anniversary! Let’s have a look at the past four years in numbers.

🎉🦠 Microbites is 5! 🧬✨

Five years of breaking down microbiology, amplifying science communication, and sharing the tiny stories that shape our world.

Thank you to our writers, readers, and fellow microbe enthusiasts for growing with us. Here’s to many more bites of science! 🥳🔬

A low carb diet- resilience of the soil microbiome. Though the soil microbiome manages to thrive through the harshest ecosystems, scientists thought them limited by their access to organic carbon sources… until now.

Wetlands aren’t wastelandsthey’re living archives. 🌿

Beneath wet soils, microbes quietly lock away carbon, recycle nutrients, and sustain livelihoods communities have depended on for generations.

#Westlands2026

Wired for Clean Energy: How unique bacteria make electricity-conducting wires Meet the methane-munching bacteria that make their own molecular wires, paving the way for a sustainable future!

Tiny Wires, Big Power

Did you know some bacteria can make electricity? ⚡

Geobacter microbes form protein “nanowires” to move electrons outside their cells, turning methane into power. Clean energy might just be microscopic!

#CleanEnergyDay

Novel Antibiotics and Where to Find Them Preventing our past from becoming our future might require an understudied domain of life – and a computer!

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Novel Antibiotics and Where to Find Them 💊

Preventing our past from becoming our future might require an understudied domain of life – and a computer! 💻 🦠

Can Leishmania Stand the Heat? How a heat-based therapeutic can be an alternative in the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis.

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Can Leishmania Stand the Heat? 🥵

How a heat-based therapeutic can be an alternative in the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis. 🦠

How Bile Acids Neutralize a Deadly Gut Toxin Synthetic bile acids lock the lethal toxin produced by C. difficile into a harmless state, protecting the gut from damage.

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How Bile Acids Neutralize a Deadly Gut Toxin ⚔️

Synthetic bile acids lock the lethal toxin produced by C. difficile into a harmless state, protecting the gut from damage. 🦠

Fungi in Space How microgravity can help fungi’s pathogenicity

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Fungi in Space 🍄 🌌

How microgravity can help fungi’s pathogenicity ✨

Security hacked: How phages slip past bacterial defenses Phages rely on diverse anti-defense proteins to neutralize bacterial defense systems and successfully infect their host.

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Security hacked: How phages slip past bacterial defenses 🦠

Phages rely on diverse anti-defense proteins to neutralize bacterial defense systems and successfully infect their host. 👇

(no title) Post by @_MicroBites.

🔬✨ Happy New Year from MicroBites!

Here’s to a 2026 full of curiosity, discoveries, and tiny microbes making a big impact.

Let’s keep exploring the microscopic world; one bite at a time! 🦠🎉

Global warming is a summer vacation for the dengue virus The dengue virus enjoys warm weather

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Global warming is a summer vacation for the dengue virus ☀️

The dengue virus enjoys warm weather 🦠

Antibiotic Resistance Potential of ESKAPE Pathogens Multidrug-resistant infections are a growing global threat, driven by diverse bacterial resistance mechanisms, complicating efforts to develop effective, long-lasting antibiotics.

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Antibiotic Resistance Potential of ESKAPE Pathogens 💊

Multidrug-resistant infections are a growing global threat, driven by diverse bacterial resistance mechanisms, complicating efforts to develop effective, long-lasting antibiotics. 🦠

Is the Microbiome Overrated? A medical humanities perspective on the way researchers talk about the microbiome.

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Is the Microbiome Overrated? 🦠

A medical humanities perspective on the way researchers talk about the microbiome. 👇

From Therapy to Threat: Antibiotics and the Resistome Antibiotic-induced dysbiosis disrupts gut microbial harmony, fuel resistance gene spread, and triggers inflammation—reshaping immunity, brain health, and future disease risks.

From Therapy to Threat: Antibiotics and the Resistome

Antibiotics revolutionized medicine — but overuse turned them into a global threat. 🌍💊 Discover how resistance genes evolve and spread across ecosystems in our latest piece.

🔗 buff.ly/byqVu8x

#WAAW2025 #AMR #OneHealth

Phage discovery gets its groove back with Phage DisCo Phage discovery can be long and drawn out, but scientists are ready to get down with this groovy new method that skips the hassle.

Phage Disco: The Comeback of Phage Discovery

When antibiotics fail, bacteriophages step back into the spotlight! 🎶🔬 Dive into the “phage disco” — where viruses that kill bacteria might help us fight AMR.

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#WAAW2025 #PhageTherapy #AMR

Reimagining the AMR fight: Exploiting Fitness Costs How exploiting bacterial fitness costs can help us find a way to tackle resistance in bacteria and help us use the existing drugs more effectively.

Exploiting Fitness Costs to Reimagine the AMR Fight

Can evolution help us outsmart resistance? 🧠💥 Learn how researchers turn bacteria’s own fitness trade-offs into an advantage in the battle against AMR.

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#WAAW2025 #Microbiology #AMRResearch

Teamwork: Fighting antimicrobial resistance Essential oils and tetracycline make for an antibacterial double act

Teamwork in Fighting Antimicrobial Resistance

No one beats AMR alone. Collaboration between clinicians, farmers, policymakers & scientists is key to protect our present and secure our future. 🌍💪

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#WAAW2025 #OneHealth #ActNow

A New Fungal Fighter A modified macrolide called mandimycin, uniquely targets fungal cell membranes, offering potent activity against multidrug-resistant fungal pathogens.

A New Fungal Fighter

A novel antifungal discovery could tip the scales in our fight against drug resistance! 🧫⚔️ Meet the next-generation compounds targeting tough fungal infections.

🔗 buff.ly/QbxXf6K

#WAAW2025 #Antifungal #AMR

Bacteria’s first response against antibiotics? Epigenetics Bacteria modify RNA molecules to become more resistant to the effect of antibiotics. Researchers analyze and characterize these modifications.

Bacteria’s First Response: Epigenetics & Resistance

Resistance isn’t always genetic — sometimes it’s epigenetic! 🧬 Discover how bacteria “remember” antibiotic exposure and adapt faster than we think.

🔗 buff.ly/ZYvvJim

#WAAW2025 #Epigenetics #AMR

That’s Metal! Tackling Antimicrobial Resistance with Bismuth Co-administration of bismuth-containing compounds and antibiotics increases their antimicrobial activity, including against resistant bacterial pathogens, through disruption of iron uptake.

Today starts AMR awareness week! 💊

That’s Metal! Tackling AMR with Bismuth

Could metals help fight superbugs? ⚡️🧫 Learn how bismuth-based compounds disrupt bacterial defenses — an old element with new promise!

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#WAAW2025 #Innovation #AMR

Have We Always Been Alone? More specific searches for signs of extraterrestrial life might provide the answers we seek on the Red Planet.

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Have We Always Been Alone? 🦠

More specific searches for signs of extraterrestrial life might provide the answers we seek on the Red Planet. 👽

How do plants perceive their microbiome? In this interview, researcher Andreas Keppler explains how plants determine whether to fight or welcome the microbes that colonize them.

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How do plants perceive their microbiome? 🌱

In this interview, researcher Andreas Keppler explains how plants determine whether to fight or welcome the microbes that colonize them.… 🦠 👇

When Microbes Become Master Chocolatiers Fine chocolate owes its depth to microbes, tiny chocolatiers fermenting cocoa bean pulp into the complex flavors we crave.

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When Microbes Become Master Chocolatiers 🍫

Fine chocolate owes its depth to microbes, tiny chocolatiers fermenting cocoa bean pulp into the complex flavors we crave. 🦠

Engineered Parasites as Potential Treatments for Neurological Disorders Engineered parasites like Toxoplasma gondii offer novel, targeted therapies for brain disorders by delivering treatments directly into neurons.

📣 New MicroBites!

Engineered Parasites as Potential Treatments for Neurological Disorders 🦠

Engineered parasites like Toxoplasma gondii offer novel, targeted therapies for brain disorders by delivering treatments directly into neurons. 🧠

The future is green World, where all processes are carbon-neutral, is closer than you think! Learn how and why algae are important for this transition.

How can cities grow without harming the planet? 💚

Scientists are turning to an unexpected ally — algae. These tiny organisms can power buildings, clean wastewater, and even fuel cars. Smart cities start at the microscopic level. 🌿🏙️ #WorldCitiesDay

Unexpected baby-guardians On Mum’s gut bacteria and how they could boost her baby’s healthy development and avoid preeclampsia

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Unexpected baby-guardians 👶

On Mum’s gut bacteria and how they could boost her baby’s healthy development and avoid preeclampsia 🦠

Using urine to detect fungal infection How a new test can figure out if patients have a fungal infection

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Using urine to detect fungal infection 🍄

How a new test can figure out if patients have a fungal infection 🦠