This week, we're in Edinburgh as the guests of the Society for General Microbiology.  Founded in 1945, they're now the largest microbiological society in Europe with over 5000 members, who are invited to their two annual meetings to discuss their work and find out what everyone else in the the field of microbiology is up to.

This year, they've invited the Naked Scientists to attend to discuss how we communicate science, including microbiology.  We couldn't resist the opportunity to visit Edinburgh, especially when the science festival is in full swing, so we're broadcasting our show from the BBC's studios in Edinburgh this week, and next week we'll being you some highlights of our time at the Edinburgh Science festival!

For this week though...

Magnetic Bacteria

Some bacteria make tiny magnets inside themselves, which help them to navigate and find sources of food.  These 'bio-nano-magnets' are smaller than any we can currently manufacture, and so could be useful in nanotechnological devices.

But how do we get the bacteria to work for us, and make the magnets we need?  We could feed the bacteria the right food to make the strongest magnets, at the right size and quantity.  Or we could study their genome to discover which proteins are needed to build the magnets, and grow them without any help from the bacteria.

Bionanomagnets could also help us with getting drugs to target cancers.  By attaching the medication to the magnets, or to the proteins that produce the magnets, we can then direct them with external magnetic fields right to the site of the cancer.

Researchers at Edinburgh University, combining chemistry, microbiology and nantechnology, are working together to solve the problems, and we'll be joined in the studio by Dr Sarah Staniland.

Getting the Big picture helps predict microbiological outbreaks

Satellite images may not seem the natural place to start looking for microbe activity, but it seems that they may be a very good way to predict outbreaks of cholera.

The cholera bacteria, Vibrio cholerae, normally survives in zooplankton with no negative effects, but when ingested it leads to an often fatal disease in humans.  Because of it's relationship with zooplankton, cholera outbreaks often occur on or near the coast, and climatic changes that effect plankton will increase the risk of an outbreak.

Using satellite imaging, Distinguished Professor Rita Colwell and colleagues have been able to watch plankton blooms, and use these to predict cholera outbreaks.  Furthermore, as plankton levels are related to ocean surface temperature, these predictions can be made even further in advance.  

By knowing in advance where an outbreak is likely, appropriate vaccination, health education and water purification programmes can be implemented, greatly reducing the disease mortality.

The return of TB

Vaccination programmes have all but eradicated Tuberculosis in the UK, but in other parts of the world it remains a big killer.  Caused by mycobacteria, the symptomatic disease kills more than half of people infected.

There's a new twist to the tale of TB, in the form of drug resistance.  New strains of TB are being confirmed all over the world that are resistant to all current forms of treatment, and this month has seen the first confirmed case of resistant TB, XDR TB, in the UK, in a hospital in Edinburgh.

We'll be speaking to Dr Clifford Leen, of the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, about how drug resistance develops, and where to go from here.