Bacterial nomads Dust particles are far from inert. Instead, they harbor complex microbial communities, which we are only beginning to understand.

📣 New MicroBites!

Bacterial nomads 🦠

Dust particles are far from inert. Instead, they harbor complex microbial communities, which we are only beginning to understand. 👇

Inside the Viral Workshop A giant, amoeba-infecting virus survives by spatially reorganizing translation to overcome genetic mismatches with its host.

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Inside the Viral Workshop 👷

A giant, amoeba-infecting virus survives by spatially reorganizing translation to overcome genetic mismatches with its host. 🦠

Fungi in Space How microgravity can help fungi’s pathogenicity

Space travel isn’t just about rockets - it’s about microbes too 🚀

Fungi like Cryptococcus can become more resilient, and even more dangerous, in microgravity.🍄

As we plan life beyond Earth, understanding these invisible passengers is mission-critical. 🦠

The dark side of plastic-degrading bacteria in healthcare While the ability to degrade plastics might seem beneficial, it poses a threat to the integrity of medical devices and increases the risk of infections.

Science doesn’t just solve problems - it reveals hidden risks. 🧪

Plastic-degrading bacteria could help fight pollution, but in healthcare they may also damage medical materials and impact patient safety.

#StandWithScience #WorldHealthDay

What If Vaccines Didn’t Need Needles? Scientists turn dental floss into a potential vaccine tool, targeting a hidden immune hotspot along the gum line.

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What If Vaccines Didn’t Need Needles? 💉

Scientists turn dental floss into a potential vaccine tool, targeting a hidden immune hotspot along the gum line. 👇

Waste Food into novel cuisine: courtesy Neurospora intermedia N. intermedia fungus is converting waste food into appetizing, healthier, and sustainable food alternatives.

Today is #InternationalDayofZeroWaste

Zero waste can start with microbes 🍽️

Up to 1 billion tonnes of food is wasted yearly - but fungi like Neurospora intermedia can turn food scraps into nutritious, sustainable meals.

Rethinking waste = rethinking food systems.

Read more 👇

Take my breath away! Gut bacteria predict asthma and COPD years ahead, outperforming smoking history, via the gut-lung axis

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Take my breath away! 🦠

Gut bacteria predict asthma and COPD years ahead, outperforming smoking history, via the gut-lung axis.

buff.ly/b7vFcjM

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.

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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

📣 New MicroBites!

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.

📣 New MicroBites!

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.

📣 New MicroBites!

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

📣 New MicroBites!

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.

📣 New MicroBites!

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.

📣 New MicroBites!

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.

🔗 buff.ly/HKrI4VG

#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.

🔗 buff.ly/HlmjzjJ

#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. 🌍💪

🔗 buff.ly/OtF0O1v

#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!

🔗 buff.ly/QeaI9Xg

#WAAW2025 #Innovation #AMR