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Vincent Racaniello, PhD podcaster extraordinaire and a BioCrowd co-founder, has long contended that Twitter is an ideal medium to conduct scholarly research especially in the life sciences. Unfortunately, many scientists, who have yet to try Twitter, steadfastly disagree with Vincent. To that end, I received a message from the folks over at Onlinecollege.org alerting me to an article that they published entitled “15 Fascinating Academic Studies Done on Twitter."

While none of the studies mentioned in the post were conducted in the life sciences, they run the gamut from computer science to sociology, music and science education. Twitter, which is still in its formative stages, is clearly emerging as the social medium of choice to track real time events and to stay informed about current events. As the platform matures and more people sign up as users, it is likely that it will become a player for online scholarly research studies in the life sciences and an ideal medium for science education.

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Tweeting!!!!!!!!!!

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BioCrowd co-founders Vincent Racaniello and Cliff Mintz (aka BioJobBlogger) today in association with Microbe World (sponsored by the American Society for Microbiology) created the first episode of This Week in Microbiology (TWiM), a podcast series that explores various topics in microbiology that have relevance for the lay public.

Following in the path of his successful shows 'This Week in Virology' (TWiV) and 'This Week in Parasitism' (TWiP), Vincent and his guests produce an informal yet informative conversation about microbes which is accessible to everyone, no matter what their science background.

This week’s show focused on the antibacterial properties of metallic cooper and the discovery that Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the causative agent of gonorrhea, had somehow acquired human DNA sequences. Stan Maloy and Michael Schmidt joined Vincent (host) and me (co-host) for the inaugural podcast.  

TWiM podcasts will be available at TWiV, Microbe World, BioCrowd and BioJobBlog. They can also be downloaded from iTunes and the Zune Store once we get permission to post them at those sites.

The goal of TWiM is to improve the public understanding of microbiology and related topics. While there are no exams or pop quizzes, TWiM does encourage interaction with the audience email and skype. Listeners can also use Microbe World to suggest topics for the show by submitting articles or papers to the site and tagging them with "TWiM"

I will post the first TWiV installment as soon as Vincent edits today’s podcast!

Until next time...

Good Luck and Listen to TWiM!!!!!!!!!

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Vincent Racaniello, Professor of Microbiology at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University and co-founder of BioCrowd ,has created a weekly series called This Week In Virology (TWiV). Each week Professors  Racaniello and Dickson Despommier (another Columbia virologist) discuss the latest developments and public health concerns for a variety of viral diseases.

The weekly discussions are packaged as podcasts, posted on TWiV and Science Podcasters.org and can be downloaded from iTunes. Dr. Racaniello eventually wants to offer TWiV in a vcast format and use it to inform the public and teach students about viral diseases.

So far, Vincent and Dick have created nine TWIV podcasts. Some of viruses that they have discussed include: HIV, Polio, Lassa fever, Rabies, West Nile Virus and even video game viruses. The podcasts are interesting, informative and a good way to learn something about virology—something that may liven up your daily commute!

Until next time,

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting

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