Dr. Carini on Matters Microbial Podcast: All In Due Time–How Bacteria Wake from Dormancy
I had the recent pleasure of sitting down with Dr. Mark Martin from the University of Puget Sound on the Matters Microbial Podcast to talk about my path to microbiology, some of the research our lab does, and our awesome team of researchers. Watch the full video below.
I highly recommend subscribing to the Matters Microbial Podcast! I always learn something new when I watch or listen.
We talked about…
Me digging holes in my Wisconsin backyard as a kid, searching for what I thought were dinosaur bones but were just buried chicken bones from the neighboring tavern. And about how my academic journey wasn't smooth - I got kicked out of two universities before finding my footing - this early curiosity about what lies beneath the soil eventually led me to my current research.
My lab has built what we call the Arizona Culture Collection - about 3,000 microbial strains from various desert sites. We wanted to understand how non-spore forming bacteria cope with desiccation, so we developed specialized chambers to dry cells slowly over two weeks, mimicking natural conditions rather than the rapid drying typically used in labs. We found that bacteria can be revived using just water vapor - no direct contact with liquid water is needed. Perhaps our most surprising discovery was about RNA stability. Conventional wisdom says RNA degrades quickly, but we found that RNA profiles remain remarkably stable in dried cells for extended periods. This challenges our basic assumptions about using RNA as a marker for microbial activity in environmental samples.
We closed with a discussion of our diverse, talented researchers who bring different perspectives to this work. We have PhD students studying archaea and various aspects of bacterial survival.
The desert has taught us that microbes are more sophisticated than we often give them credit for. When you look at a dry desert soil, it might seem lifeless, but it's full of microorganisms that have evolved remarkable strategies to survive these harsh conditions. Understanding these strategies isn't just about satisfying scientific curiosity - it could have practical applications in fields ranging from medicine to agriculture.