Sarah Wettstadt is a microbiologist-turned science writer and communicator writing for professional associations, life science organisations and researchers from the biological sciences. She runs the blog BacterialWorld and co-published the colouring book “Coloured Bacteria from A to Z”. As science communication manager for the Scientific Panel on Responsible Plant Nutrition and blog post commissioner for the FEMSmicroBlog, Sarah writes about microbiology and environmental topics for various audiences. To help scientists improve their science communication skills, she co-founded SciComm Society, through which she offers guides, webinars and 1-on-1 coaching. Previous to her science communication career, Sarah did a PhD at Imperial College London, UK, and a postdoc at the CSIC in Granada, Spain. In her non-scicomm time, she enjoys the sunny beaches in Spain playing beach volleyball or travels the world.
Some bacteria have special hair-like structures to connect to surfaces or other organisms. These bacterial pili help them move along that surface or pull themselves closer to a prey or host. Read about why bacteria need those pili when they are out hunting or infecting us.
When bacteria enter the human body, they are welcomed by our immune system that is ready to fight them off. However, some bacteria can put on invisibility cloaks that help them hide from the immune system. Thanks to this sugar coat – the so-called bacterial capsule – bacteria can sneak into our bodies, infect us and make us sick.
Yogurt is a well-loved fermented dairy with lots of health benefits. It not only provides us with valuable proteins and immune-stimulating molecules, but can also carry probiotic organisms. Here, we will look at the advantages of adding yogurt to your diet plan and what bacteria have to do with producing this creamy white dream.
Bacteria can be harmless or dangerous to us and other organisms in the environment. But how does a bacterium become a fighter ready to kill others? It comes all down to their toxic bullets. Here we will look at how bacterial siblings use different weapons to fight off not only their enemies but also each other.
We live in an energy crisis in which non-renewable fossil fuels damage our planet. To switch to green biofuels as energy sources, we can rely on bacteria like Zymomonas mobilis, which produces bioethanol. Read on to find out how biofuel-producing bacterial communities can help us make this planet greener and healthier.
A deadly fungus kills many exotic amphibians. Luckily, some bacteria antibiotics to kill the fungal intruder and thus protect the animal. With this colourful strategy, the right microbial community might even save whole species from extinction.
To grow biofilms in water, bacteria need to properly glue themselves to a given surface. The bacterium Caulobacter crescentus produces a bacterial glue that is super strong so that the bacteria will not get washed away. Thanks to this glue, Caulobacter can settle down on almost any surface to build biofilms in water.
Bacteria are constantly attacked by other microbes like viruses. But also bacteria developed mechanisms that make them immune to viral intruders. Read on to find out how bacteria fight off viruses to protect themselves and the whole bacterial community.
As a solution to our electronic waste problem, yet again bacteria come to the rescue! They can produce nanowires that one day we could use in our electronic devices. Plus, they are green and biodegradable!
When bacteria fight competitors with their type 6 secretion system nanoweapons, they shoot deadly arrows. These arrows are made of specific parts that interact with each other in unique ways for each arrow. Here, we will look at these different parts: the tip, the spike and the toxin.
Bacteria swim through liquids with their flagella. Some bacteria even have two flagella at opposite ends that help them to swim through mucus and slime. This movement helps bacteria to infect the human body. Now, researchers start to better understand how these flagella work together to move the bacterium forward.
In bacterial battles, there is more than just direct killing. Some bacteria even fight by destroying the houses of their opponents. We could learn a lot from these bacterial wars for our own fights against bacterial superbugs.
Bacteria also don’t like being lonely and need to know they are not alone. And often they need to talk to other bacteria and interact with them. To do so, they use a mechanism called quorum sensing. Read on to find out more about this fascinating mechanism.
To fight nasty microorganisms, researchers need to come up with new strategies to develop vaccines. Turns out bacteria are extremely helpful to researchers, since they provide valuable tools.
Learn how researchers use bacteria to find new vaccines.
For a bacterium to understand what is going on in the environment, it needs some sophisticated mechanisms. One of these includes destroying proteins. Here, we will look at why bacteria destroy proteins and how it helps them to survive.
To overcome the medical problem of how drugs can reach a specific target within the body, researchers try to use new approaches. These are often based on bacteria or their products. Here, we will explore drug transport mechanisms for which we could use bacteria and their amazing superpowers.
When we eat plant products, we cannot always digest all their components. Instead, our gut bacteria love plant ploymers and start degrading and digesting them. And they share the leftover food with other bacteria, so that all of them together produce some very healthy molecules for us.
Scientists have found bacteria in our guts that degrade cholesterol. These bacteria can reduce our overall cholesterol levels and might have health benefits for us.
When thinking of bacteria, you might have the picture of a single cell in your mind. But interestingly, some bacteria come as multicellular organisms with advanced functions. Here, we will learn what multicellular bacteria are and why bacteria form multicellular organisms. We will then look at some colourful examples of multicellular bacteria.
Magnetotactic bacteria have magnetosomes with which they can sense magnetic field lines. This allows magnetotactic bacteria to swim towards North or South to find the perfect location in the deep and dark water.