Review written by: Roshni Kadam Could the next pandemic be manageable instead of catastrophic? Vaccination is one of the most effective tools for protecting public health by preventing disease and helping control global pandemic outbreaks. It works by introducing a vaccine antigen: a part of disease-causing organism, or a version which is not dangerous that trains the immune system to recognize and fight off future infections. Vaccination induces long term immunity called the

Review written by: Roshni Kadam What if protecting yourself from HIV took one pill a month instead of one every day? The data suggests we're getting closer. Since the start of the HIV epidemic, an estimated 92 million people have acquired the virus, and 44.2 million have died from HIV-related causes. Treatment has come a long way since then. Combination antiretroviral therapy has turned HIV from a fatal diagnosis into a manageable chronic condition. But maintaining suppressio

Review written by: Megan Mauriello Figure. Excreta collecting device. (A) PLA-printed funnel with ring-stand collar adapter. (B) Funnel with inverted, screened cardboard soup container containing 50 Culex mosquitoes. (C) Collected excreta in attached microcentrifuge tube. Red coloration is due to red food dye added to sucrose solution upon which mosquitoes fed. Culex mosquitoes were collected from sites in New Brunswick, NJ. They were fed sucrose, and a superhydrophobic funne

Francis Santoriello (Princeton University), Junwon Yang (NJIT), and Alexandra Kwasnik (Rutgers -- New Brunswick) were honored as poster prize winners at the Theobald Smith Society’s Spring 2026 Symposium. Francis Santoriello, a postdoctoral researcher in Dr. Bonnie Bassler’s lab at Princeton University, presented “A family of linear plasmid phages that detect a conserved quorum-sensing autoinducer is dispersed across multiple bacterial species.” His work focuses on temperate

Dr. Cameron Myhrvold, Assistant Professor of Molecular Biology at Princeton University, was named the recipient of the 2026 Young Investigator Award at the Theobald Smith Society Spring Symposium. Dr. Myhrvold’s research focuses on developing innovative CRISPR-based technologies for studying RNA biology, with a particular emphasis on detecting and combating RNA viruses. His work bridges molecular biology, bioengineering, and infectious disease research, advancing next-generat

Dr. Martin J. Blaser is a globally recognized physician, microbiologist, and pioneer in human microbiome research whose work has fundamentally reshaped how scientists understand the relationship between microbes and human health. As the Henry Rutgers Chair of the Human Microbiome and Director of the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Dr. Blaser has spent decades studying how changes in the human microbiome influence c

For decades, the study of bacterial persistence has relied heavily on Escherichia coli as the primary model organism. Microbiologists have largely operated under the assumption that the mechanisms governing antibiotic tolerance in E. coli would translate across other Gram-negative species. However, a recent comparative study by Princeton’s Gabrielle Leon and Mark Brynildsen challenges this paradigm, revealing that Pseudomonas aeruginosa exhibits significant divergence in

Vibrio cholerae , the etiologic agent of cholera, relies on a sophisticated quorum-sensing (QS) network to orchestrate virulence, biofilm formation, and host colonization. While the receptors CqsS and LuxPQ respond to well-characterized autoinducers, the receptor CqsR has remained more enigmatic. Structure-function studies from the Neiditch lab at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in Newark, NJ now provide a high-resolution look at how CqsR recognizes ethanolamine—a prevalen

The enzyme Pah1 is a central figure in the lipid metabolism of Saccharomyces cerevisiae , acting as a Mg 2+ -dependent phosphatidate (PA) phosphatase that converts PA into diacylglycerol. This catalytic step is vital for balancing the synthesis of storage lipids like triacylglycerol and the formation of membrane phospholipids. Pah1 is a member of the haloacid dehalogenase (HAD)-like superfamily, which is characterized by a conserved catalytic structure known as the Rossmann-l

The pursuit of rapid, targeted protein evolution has been significantly advanced by systems like OrthoRep, which allows for high-rate in vivo hypermutation of specific genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae without compromising genomic integrity. Despite its utility, OrthoRep typically relies on activity-dependent growth selection, which can be a bottleneck when attempting to evolve entirely new functions in genes that lack even basal levels of the desired activity. To overcome

The persistent evolution of SARS-CoV-2, driven by the intrinsic infidelity of its RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, continues to pose challenges for global health management. The emergence of antigenically distinct Omicron subvariants—including recent dominant strains like JN.1, KP.3.1.1, and LB.1—has diminished the effectiveness of antibody-based strategies, underscoring the critical need for conserved, direct-acting antivirals. A recent study utilizing the K18-hACE2 transgenic

Whether you joined us in Camden or missed the chance to attend, the Proceedings of the Theobald Smith Society 2025 Fall Symposium are now available for download at: https://www.njmicrobe.org/fall-2025-symposium The Proceedings captures the highlights of an exciting day at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, featuring keynote and invited talks, the Young Investigator Award lecture, and 38 posters spanning fundamental, clinical, and environmental microbiology. You’ll f

We are sad to report that Richard Bartha, past president of Theobald Smith Society (1990-1991), passed away on August 11, 2025, at his home in Port Townsend, Washington. He was ninety years old. Bartha was a pioneering environmental microbiologist whose gentle wisdom and groundbreaking discoveries significantly contributed to shaping the field of bioremediation. He was surrounded by family and the serenity of the Pacific Northwest landscapes he and his family had long drea

Bacterial adaptation to hostile environments is critically dependent on intricate cellular signaling networks, primarily mediated by...

Enteroviruses, including EV-D68, EV-A71, and Coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3), are a significant global health threat, causing a spectrum of...

Tick-borne co-infections are an escalating concern in endemic regions worldwide, notably in the United States, where the protozoan...

Staphylococcus aureus remains a formidable human pathogen, being a leading cause of bacterial-induced death, with significant concerns...

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic may be behind us, but the virus continues its relentless evolution, posing ongoing challenges to public health....

The persistent battle against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), a leading cause of infectious disease-related illness and death...

Tuberculosis (TB), caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) , continues to be a formidable global health threat, particularly in...