Microbial pathogens in the movies.

Usually, show business depicts viruses, bacteria, and other microorganisms as one of the worse menaces to mankind. Entertainment movies influence the way audiences understand and perceive these topics. Few films accurately portray the science of microbiology and its social implications. Movies and TV series often feature outbreaks of deadly diseases and the efforts of scientists and medical professionals to contain them. However, entertainment movies can also be used to educate the public about the importance and the impact that microorganisms have on our lives, helping to increase public awareness and appreciation of the world of microbiology. The aim of this review is to show the relationship between movies and microbiology, from the fight against diseases such as AIDS or tuberculosis, to the zombie apocalypse.

Florence Nightingale. Cuatro visiones cinematográficas de una pionera de la enfermería / Florence Nightingale. Four Cinematic Visions of a Nursing Pioneer

Florence Nightingale está considerada como la fundadora de la enfermería moderna. Además, tuvo un papel relevante en otras áreas como la estadística o el movimiento feminista. No es de extrañar que su legado a la posteridad sea muy variado y que se le hayan dedicado diversas películas y documentales. En este artículo se repasan las cuatro películas sonoras dedicadas a su biografía. (AU)

Florence Nightingale is considered the founder of modern nursing. She also played an important role in other areas such as statistics and the feminist movement. It is not surprising her legacy to posterity is wide-ranging and a number of films and documentaries have been dedicated to her. This article reviews the four sound films dedicated to her biography. (AU)

Drug Repositioning as a Therapeutic Strategy against Streptococcus pneumoniae: Cell Membrane as Potential Target.

A collection of repurposing drugs (Prestwick Chemical Library) containing 1200 compounds was screened to investigate the drugs' antimicrobial effects against planktonic cultures of the respiratory pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae. After four discrimination rounds, a set of seven compounds was finally selected, namely (i) clofilium tosylate; (ii) vanoxerine; (iii) mitoxantrone dihydrochloride; (iv) amiodarone hydrochloride; (v) tamoxifen citrate; (vi) terfenadine; and (vii) clomiphene citrate (Z, E). These molecules arrested pneumococcal growth in a liquid medium and induced a decrease in bacterial viability between 90.0% and 99.9% at 25 µM concentration, with minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) also in the micromolar range. Moreover, all compounds but mitoxantrone caused a remarkable increase in the permeability of the bacterial membrane and share a common, minimal chemical structure consisting of an aliphatic amine linked to a phenyl moiety via a short carbon/oxygen linker. These results open new possibilities to tackle pneumococcal disease through drug repositioning and provide clues for the design of novel membrane-targeted antimicrobials with a related chemical structure.

Teaching microbiology in times of plague.

The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed several challenges and strains at all levels of the educational system, especially as a consequence of lockdown and social distance measures. After a period of exclusive use of the online educational environment, educators have adapted to the new circumstances and, by a combination of different strategies, have fought to overcome the limitations and deficiencies of virtual learning. Student motivation, productivity, and creativity continue to be the main pedagogical issues that have to be reached with the new didactic tools developed during the pandemic. At the same time, this pandemic has shown the importance of the inclusion of microbiology as a core element of the educational curriculum and the opportunity to raise public awareness of the importance of microbes to everyday life.

Searching for Antipneumococcal Targets: Choline-Binding Modules as Phagocytosis Enhancers.

Choline-binding proteins (CBPs) from Streptococcus pneumoniae comprise a family of modular polypeptides involved in essential events of this pathogen. They recognize the choline residues present in the teichoic and lipoteichoic acids of the cell wall using the so-called choline-binding modules (CBMs). The importance of CBPs in pneumococcal physiology points to them as novel targets to combat antimicrobial resistances shown by this organism. In this work we have tested the ability of exogenously added CBMs to act as CBP inhibitors by competing with the latter for the binding to the choline molecules in the bacterial surface. First, we carried out a thorough physicochemical characterization of three native CBMs, namely C-LytA, C-Cpl1, and C-CbpD, and assessed their affinity for choline and macromolecular, pneumococcal cell-wall mimics. The interaction with these substrates was evaluated by molecular modeling, analytical ultracentrifugation, surface plasmon resonance, and fluorescence and circular dichroism spectroscopies. Van't Hoff thermal analyses unveiled the existence of one noncanonical choline binding site in each of the C-Cpl1 and C-CbpD proteins, leading in total to 5 ligand-binding sites per dimer and 4 sites per monomer, respectively. Remarkably, the binding affinities of the CBMs do not directly correlate with their native oligomeric state or with the number of choline-binding sites, suggesting that choline recognition by these modules is a complex phenomenon. On the other hand, the exogenous addition of CBMs to pneumococcal planktonic cultures caused extensive cell-chaining probably as a consequence of the inhibition of CBP attachment to the cell wall. This was accompanied by bacterial aggregation and sedimentation, causing an enhancement of bacterial phagocytosis by peritoneal macrophages. In addition, the rational design of an oligomeric variant of a native CBM led to a substantial increase in its antibacterial activity by multivalency effects. These results suggest that CBMs might constitute promising nonlytic antimicrobial candidates based on the natural induction of the host defense system.

Social networks as a tool for science communication and public engagement: focus on Twitter.

Social networks have been used to teach and engage people about the importance of science. The integration of social networks in the daily routines of faculties and scientists is strongly recommended to increase their personal brand, improve their skills, enhance their visibility, share and communicate science to society, promote scientific culture, and even as a tool for teaching and learning. Here we review the use of Twitter in science and comment on our previous experience of using this social network as a platform for a Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) in Spain and Latin America. We propose to extend this strategy to a pan-European Microbiology MOOC in the near future.