Blogger's Desk#10: Top 10 My Picks of Microbiology Blogs

Greetings

I have been busy recently and haven't been able to post regularly in the last couple of days. I have a couple of things that I wanted to write about and more recently I have been getting a lot of mail requests to write more basic stuff, that is useful fro grad students. The "Back to basics" and "Laboratory series" section is being especially liked by many. In future, I would sure look into it more in the future.

There are several microbiology blogs out there on the web and many have a great readership base. As 2016 is nearing to an end, I want to post my picks of microbiology blogs worth reading. Please be aware that this is my top 10 and I have my personal bias built into this list. If you think I should have included one (which is not on the list),  please add a comment.

Let us start with a reverse countdown of my choices.

10. The Genome factory

Tagline: Bioinformatics tips, tricks, tools and commentary with a microbial genomics bent.

Contributor: Torsten Seemann

http://thegenomefactory.blogspot.com

Microbiologists by default, have a problem in understanding computational biology though most of us are working on this concept. The blog has some really good posts, but posts are very rare. There are hardly 2-3 posts a year, since 2011. So if you want to know something about the Bioinformatics, have a look at this page once.

9. Aetiology

Tagline: Discussing causes, origins, evolution, and other implications of disease and other phenomena.

Contributor: Taca C. Smith

http://scienceblogs.com/aetiology/

She has been writing since around 2005, and posts appear once in a month (skipped once in a while). The posts are true to the tagline with a good explanation. There is a wide range of topics in this post, and worth the time spent reading.

8. Infectious thoughts:

Tagline: The blog of Dr. Siouxsie Wiles, a microbiologist who knows a lot about bacteria, viruses and infectious diseases.
Contributor: Siouxsie Wiles
http://sciblogs.co.nz/infectious-thoughts/

The page has a lot of science information and written so well, no wonder there is a big reader base for this blog. The blog is not specifically focussed on microbiology and there are a lot of posts on other scientifically important stuff.

7. Living in a microbial world

Tagline: -

Contributor: Nicola Fawcett

https://livinginamicrobialworld.wordpress.com/about/

A blog that focuses a lot on microbial stuff and antibiotics. The blog is up and running but the posts are not very frequent and appear approximately once in a month. This blog is up since around 2015 and its lucid style makes it something of an interesting approach.

6. Microbiology Info

Tagline: Online microbiology notes

Contributor: Sagar Aryal

http://www.microbiologyinfo.com

This page is all about teaching basics to the undergrads who are looking for some basic information. There is no particular periodicity of publication, but he writes when he wants to. The pages are pretty much up to date and most of the information that is being sought by a learner can be found here. The page also has many other interesting things, such as an app for bacterial identification.

5. Prophage

Tagline: The Blog for Bacteria, Phages, Computers, and Science
Contributor: Geoffrey Hannigan
http://prophage.blogspot.com

The blog has a very broad focus on Prophage, and there are quite a good number of important updates about research and other related, interesting topics. Active since 2013, has a good number of posts.

4. Pharmaceutical Microbiology

Tagline: Microbiology, pharmaceuticals, healthcare and contamination control news and discussion site

Contributor: Tim Sandle

http://www.pharmamicroresources.com

Almost everyone who reads microbiology news knows Tim. Just google his name and you will get a huge list of articles he contributed as a science communicator. I'm not sure if his web page should be called a blog, but it is updated regularly and has a lot of content that a microbiologist should be mandatory aware of.

3. Contagion

Tagline: Contagions is place to collect some thoughts on history, infectious disease and science in general
Contributor: Michelle Ziegler
https://contagions.wordpress.com

A biologist with interests in public health that's how the author defines himself. The tagline is well justified by his posts. The way things are written makes it a never boring read.

2. Virology blog

Tagline: -

Contributor: Vincent Racaniello

http://www.virology.ws

A great deal of global population listens to his microbiology podcasts and his blog is full of interesting stuff. If you haven't read his posts, well you really haven't read a good blog. A must in blog roll.

1. Small things considered

Tagline- http://schaechter.asmblog.org

Contributor- Multiple

http://schaechter.asmblog.org

This is a blog that I have never missed to read in years. I have read every post in it and what inspired me to start blogging. If I recall it right, this blog is up since about 2006 and clearly is the best, professionally maintained. Quoting from their website, "The purpose of this blog is to share our appreciation for the width and depth of the microbial activities on this planet. We will emphasize the unusual and the unexpected phenomena for which we have a special fascination". Needn't highlight that they are part of the ASM, with high quality of information.