Shows
Editors in ConversationGreen LabsClimate change is one of the most pressing issues facing humanity – and is not a future problem. Changes to the Earth's climate driven by emission of greenhouse gases have led to glaciers shrinking, plant and animal geographic ranges shifting and historical droughts, wildfires and rainfall. What does all of this have to do with the clinical laboratory? Subscribe to Editors in Conversation on Apple Podcasts, Android, Spotify, or Email and never miss an episode. Guests: Dr. Joesph Wiencek, Director of Clinical Chemistry and Associate Professor at VUMC Andrea Prinzi, Ph.D., MPH, SM(ASCP), bioMé...
2026-01-2535 minEditors in ConversationFavorite Clinical Microbiology Papers of 2025I almost can't believe that we are wrapping up yet another year on the podcast this month, which has been going strong for 6 years now! And it has been another exciting year in the world of Clin Micro as well with improvements and new assays available for some of our bread and butter tests, but the year also brought about significant developments in the application of AI and digital imaging, use of NGS methods, and probably some cool AST stuff in there too among other things, with many of these advancements published in JCM. And so, as has become...
2025-12-1958 minEditors in ConversationThe First OTC Syphilis Test: Clinical Performance and ImpactTreponema pallidum, the causative agent of syphilis, has been around for what seems like forever, causing major outbreaks throughout the millennia and continuing to spread at high rates, globally, into today. When it comes to diagnostic testing, some tests like RPR and VDRL have stood the test of time, having been implemented in the late 1930s and 1940s, and are now used in combination with contemporary methods like EIAs and chemiluminescent assays as the reference standard method to diagnosis syphilis cases. New approaches to screening and diagnosis are needed, however, to increase test access and ultimately case identification and...
2025-10-2536 minEditors in ConversationArtificial Intelligence in the Microbiology Laboratory (JCM ed.)The launch of ChatGPT three years ago brought the concept of artificial intelligence into the daily conversation. Today, it seems all industries, including lab medicine, are integrating AI with the promise of making our lives easier. How do we best navigate implementing this technology into clinical microbiology? How will it be regulated? … and, what is AI anyway? Watch this epsiode: https://youtu.be/2B_JJEFJv7I Guests: Dr. Susan Sharp Dr. Kendall Bryant Links: Proceedings of the Clinical Microbiology Open 2024: artificial intelligence applications in clinical microbiology Diagnosis of Plasmodium infections using artificial int...
2025-10-1438 minEditors in ConversationWhat Makes a Great Mini-review? (JCM ed.)The Journal of Clinical Microbiology has a great tradition of publishing mini-reviews on topics that are important to the clinical microbiology community. Minireviews provide "up to the minute" updates on topics pertinent to clinical microbiologists and serve as fabulous training tools for medical professionals, trainees, and researchers across all disciplines. Dr. Humphries and Dr. Ledeboer discuss what makes a great mini-review, and their favorite mini-reviews published in JCM. Watch this episode: https://youtu.be/sXOrfTkoDGM This episode of Editors in Conversation is brought to you by the Journal of Clinical Microbiology and hosted by JCM...
2025-09-2914 minEditors in ConversationEmerging Technologies for Rapid Phenotypic AST of Clinical Isolates of Bacteria (JCM ed.)Antimicrobial resistance is one of the largest threats to global public health, compromising all other advances in modern medicine. At the forefront of detecting AMR is the clinical laboratory. However, walk into any clinical microbiology laboratory today and you will find this important task being accomplished using techniques that barely evolved from the methods proposed by Alexander Fleming, nearly 100 years ago. Bacteria are exposed to antimicrobials, in an in vitro culture system, and growth inhibition is measured after overnight incubation. In the time of laboratory automation, molecular testing and artificial intelligence – are we ready for an a...
2025-09-1739 minEditors in ConversationMeet the New Editor in Chief of the Journal of Clinical MicrobiologyWith Alex's departure to new pastures, which include things like being the incoming President of ASM, we now have a new JCM Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Romney Humphries! Dr. Humphries is currently Director of the Division of Laboratory Medicine and Medical Director of the Microbiology Laboratory at Vanderbilt University, as well as a Professor of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology. She is an absolute powerhouse in the AST world as we all know, and as of this month, is the new Editor in Chief of JCM. In this episode, we find out Dr. Humphries's vision and new ideas...
2025-08-1417 minEditors in ConversationUpdated FDA Recognition of CLSI Breakpoints (JCM ed.)Oversight and guidance for performing antibiotic susceptibility testing can be bewildering. There is an alphabet soup of agencies and bodies involved: FDA, CLSI, and USCAST, to name a few here in the US. How does the Food and Drug Administration, which has regulatory authority over AST, work with a nimble group like the Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute? Guests: Romney Humphries, Ph.D., D(ABMM), M(ASCP) Patricia Simner, Ph.D., D(ABMM) Links: Major updates to FDA-recognized Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute breakpoints are a win for the fight against antimicrobial resistance J...
2025-05-3052 min
BreakpointsSilver Lining of Shortages: Blood Culture Best PracticesDr. Jeannette Bouchard is joined by experts Dr. Romney Humphries, Emily Fox, and Matt Miller to discuss the hot topic of blood culture stewardship and the details of how these experts persevered through the recent blood culture bottle shortage that caused chaos throughout health care institutions at the end of 2024! This medical education was provided by an education grant from bioMerieux.
References:
Fabre BCx Stewardship Article doi: 10.1128/JCM.01005-21
ED Bcx Stewardship doi: 10.1016/j.ajic.2024.04.198
CT Surgery Stewardship doi: 10.1093/icvts/ivaf005
Every Crisis is an Opportunity doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofae479
Fun IV Coconut Water from I Feel N...
2025-04-251h 05Editors in ConversationBest Papers in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 2024The past year in Clinical Microbiology, as seen through the lens of the Journal of Clinical Microbiology. Four JCM editors have each selected a paper they consider to be among the "best" we published in 2024. Of course there are no objective criteria for what makes a paper the "best." So, by "best," we mean "a paper that I find exciting." View this episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fK9ZqZUrDiY Guests: Patricia Simner, Ph.D., D(ABMM), Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Romney Humphries, Ph.D., D(ABMM), M(ASCP), Vanderbilt University M...
2025-02-141h 01Editors in ConversationSusceptibility Testing for Aztreonam with Ceftazidime-AvibactamThe combination of aztreonam with ceftazidime-avibactam is increasingly used for treatment of antimicrobial-resistant Gram-negative bacilli. Clinical laboratories are asked to perform susceptibility testing using this combination, but many laboratory directors have been unsure how to approach this. Today, we'll discuss a recent paper in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology in which the investigators evaluated a promising method for testing this combination of two antimicrobials and a beta-lactamase inhibitor. We will also discuss the rational for combining these agents, as well as what lab directors should consider before validating and offering this susceptibility testing. Guests: D...
2023-07-1338 min
Let's Talk Micro90: Piperacillin-Tazobactam, automated systems, and CLSI breakpointsThis episodes features a conversation with Dr. Romney Humphries and Dr. April Abbott. They join the podcast to talk about a study where Piperacillin-Tazobactam (TZP) was evaluated. Testing results from automated systems were compared to a reference method. How did the systems perform? What are the challenges? What are CLSI breakpoints and FDA breakpoints? What is the MERINO trial? Tune in to find out. Link to article: https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/jcm.01617-22 Questions? Feedback? Send those to letstalkmicro@outlook.com Want to support the podcast? Here's how: Venmo: https...
2023-05-1945 minEditors in ConversationSusceptibility Testing for Piperacillin-Tazobactam (JCM ed.)Susceptibility testing for piperacillin-tazobactam has undergone rapid evolution, largely driven by some surprising results from the MERINO trial, which compared the efficacy of piperacillin-tazobactam and meropenem for treatment of patients with ceftriaxone-resistant E. coli or Klebsiella pneumoniae bacteremia. We discuss how the results of the MERINO trial led to reconsideration of breakpoints for pipercillin-tazobactam at the Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute, or CLSI, how the breakpoints were changed, and how well commercial platforms perform piperacillin-tazobactam testing using FDA or CLSI breakpoints. Spoiler alert: the news isn't great. If you are interested in beta-lactam/beta lactamase combinations, you should...
2023-04-0849 min
Inside the LabS2E6: Antimicrobial Resistance--the Next Global Pandemic?The World Health Organization cites antimicrobial resistance, or AMR, as one of the top 10 global public health threats facing humanity. And according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at least 2.8 million people in the U.S. contract an antibiotic-resistant infection every year—and more than 35,000 die. What do laboratory professionals need to know about the emerging data around antimicrobial resistance? And what can we do in the lab to support infection prevention and control? On this episode of Inside the Lab, our hosts Dr. Lotte Mulder and Ms. Kelly Swails are joined by Dr. Patricia Sim...
2021-11-0248 minEditors in ConversationMythbusting in Susceptibility Testing (JCM ed.)Accurate antibiotic susceptibility testing, or AST, is a key tool in addressing the rise in antibiotic-resistant bacteria. But AST is one of the most complicated and rapidly changing areas in the clinical microbiology, and the resulting confusion can make it difficult for clinical laboratories to keep up with best practices. Dr. Romney Humphries joins to talk about controversies and myths about AST. This episode was recorded with a live, remote audience at the World Microbe Forum. It is brought to you by the Journal of Clinical Microbiology, available at jcm.asm.org and on twitter @JClinMicro.
2021-06-2636 minBreakpointsBreakpoints Talks Breakpoints: Microbiology Labs and StewardshipIn this episode, host Dr. Erin McCreary (@erinmccreary) talks all things micro labs and stewardship with Dr. Romney Humphries (@romneyinla), Dr. Mary Hutton (@m3rkat), and Dr. Joseph Lutgring. From cascading results and breakpoint changes, to making connections within and outside of the lab, we hope you listen, laugh, and learn!
> Show notes:
Mary’s paper: Microbiology Comment Nudge Improves Pneumonia Prescribing - PubMed (nih.gov)
CDC Key Activities and Roles for Microbiology Lab Staff in Antibiotic Stewardship Programs: Key Activities and Roles for Microbiology Laboratory Staff in Antibiotic Stewardship Programs Updated: August 2020 (cdc.gov)
CDC Selec...
2021-06-181h 13
Let's Talk IDAn Update on COVID-19 Diagnostic Testing (March 27, 2021)With the accelerated distribution of vaccines, does COVID-19 testing still matter? How reliable are the new, home test kits? IDSA members Mary Hayden, MD, FIDSA of Rush Medical College and Romney Humphries, MD of Vanderbilt University Medical Center share updated considerations for COVID-19 diagnostic testing.This holiday season, you can help strengthen the infectious diseases workforce and support the people who advance patient care and public health every day. All donations to the IDSA Foundation through December 31 are matched up to $50,000. Learn more and double your impact at idsafoundation.org.
2021-03-2726 minEditors in ConversationSusceptibility testing for Staphylococci Other Than S. aureus (JCM ed.)Susceptibility testing for staphylococci other than S. aureus, or SOSA, has become increasingly complicated, as more laboratories use MALDI-TOF to routinely identify these bacteria to the species level. In particular, accurate identification of methicillin resistance has become more complex as the different species are distinguished by the accuracy of different susceptibility testing methods and breakpoints for interpreting MICs and zone sizes. Some of the questions we'll discuss include: What is the gold standard for detecting methicillin resistance in SOSA? How will the recommended breakpoints for detection of methicillin-resistant SOSA change? Why should we call these bacteria SOSA instead o...
2021-02-1238 min
Let's Talk IDCOVID-19: Can Pooled Testing Help Schools Reopen?Is pooled testing the answer to the current testing challenges? What are its limitations? Dr. Romney Humphries of Vanderbilt University and Dr. Melissa Miller of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill join us to discuss the benefits and questions surrounding COVID-19 pooled testing practices. This holiday season, you can help strengthen the infectious diseases workforce and support the people who advance patient care and public health every day. All donations to the IDSA Foundation through December 31 are matched up to $50,000. Learn more and double your impact at idsafoundation.org.
2020-08-1526 min
CHI PodcastsMolecular Med Tri-Con 2016 | Next-Generation Sequencing for Detecting Antimicrobial ResistanceRomney Humphries, Assistant Professor, UCLA Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, Section Chief of Clinical Microbiology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles spoke to CHI to discuss how Next-Generation Sequencing has changed the way scientists detect antimicrobial resistance as well as the challenges scienctists face moving forward.
Dr. Humprhies is one of our speakers at the Molecular Diagnostics for Infectious Disease conference, taking place March 7-9 as part of the Molecular Medicine TriConference. For details, visit http://www.TriConference.com/Molecular-Diagnostics-for-Infectious-Disease/
2016-02-0103 min