• Question: What microorganism interests you the most and why?

    Asked by Kayli to Aaron, Ananthi, Ashley, Christopher, Emma, Lea on 12 Nov 2017.
    • Photo: Ananthi Ramachandran

      Ananthi Ramachandran answered on 12 Nov 2017:

      Many microorganisms interest me, especially those that cause diseases and infections. My favourite part of microbiology is working with bacteria that cause infection with the hope to find more effective treatments or cures. I am currently working with C difficile which I have become quite attached to, mainly because I have been working with it for the past 3 years but I am always open to working with new bacteria and seeing what else I can learn.

    • Photo: Emma Stevenson

      Emma Stevenson answered on 12 Nov 2017:

      I too am really interested in bacteria that cause infection. This is because they have to be so clever to overcome our bodies. Like Ananthi, I have spent 6 years working with Clostridium difficile. Now I work on a different one called Pseudomonas aeruginosa. They both cause infections, but in very different places in the body.

    • Photo: Aaron Brown

      Aaron Brown answered on 12 Nov 2017:

      I really like microorganisms that can survive under extreme conditions (E.g. really high temperatures or surviving in concentrated acidic or salty environments) … they are called Extremophiles and are specially adapted to survive these harsh conditions.

      I think my particular favourite would be bacteria that live in underwater deep sea vents.

    • Photo: Christopher Richardson

      Christopher Richardson answered on 14 Nov 2017:

      I am most interested in a microorganism called E. coli because even though it is very common it has almost 2000 different strains and types of it that produce different toxins and infect humans in many different ways!

    • Photo: Ashley Otter

      Ashley Otter answered on 14 Nov 2017:

      My favourite microbes are definitely the pathogens, the ones that make us and other living things sick. I particularly like deadly diseases like Anthrax, Plague and TB, as these are pathogens that have evolved with us and maintained their virulence over so many years, good for them but bad for us! I’m working on TB currently and I find it fascinating how it has adapted to infect us over thousands of years, always dodging our immune system and now even dodging the drugs we are using to kill TB!

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