​The MicroStarPortrait Galleries

Antimicrobial Resistance Rogues Gallery

Antimicrobials have saved millions of lives, but their overuse—especially in livestock and aquaculture—has fueled antimicrobial resistance, now a major global health threat.

Antimicrobial Heroes Gallery

Microbes may cooperate or compete, while predation recycles resources and sustains ecosystems. These interactions inspire how humans fight infections.

Critical Thinking MicroChats Gallery

Critical thinking is vital for making informed decisions, but it can be difficult to teach children. Since biases increase with age, it’s best taught early through child-centered stories that help them naturally grasp key concepts.

Designer Micro Stars

Microbes produce many useful compounds and processes that can be harnessed through biotechnology. Using genetic engineering and synthetic biology, scientists create ‘designer microbes’ optimized for production—key players in today’s bioeconomy.

Extremophiles

Microbes have lived on Earth for 3.8 billion years, evolving remarkable diversity and thriving even in extreme environments. These extremophiles define the limits of the biosphere and reveal how life can exist under the harshest conditions—offering insight, wonder, and discovery.

Fermented Food Stars

Humans have fermented foods since 11,000 BCE, extending shelf-life, enhancing nutrition, and creating new flavors and textures. The diversity of ingredients, microbes, and methods produces unique regional foods that shape culinary and cultural identities worldwide.

Glorous Microbial Media Stars

Although microbes are invisible, microscopy reveals many as strikingly beautiful, especially when forming multicellular structures or when stained with dyes. Microbial art highlights this beauty, while colorful laboratory media not only display microbes but also provide crucial diagnostic information.

Micro Biome Rogues

All organisms host microbes that provide key benefits, forming holobionts. Some microbes, however, can turn harmful—the “rogues”—and understanding them helps manage their impact.

MicroChats (The realities of microbiology revealed in a chat)

The MicroChat Gallery shares important microbiology topics through stories and dialogues that use everyday examples to illustrate their relevance.

MicroChat( I am a microbe: will you eat/drink me today?)

Every day we take in microbes, most pass through, but some settle and enrich our microbiomes. This gallery explores individual microbial “friends,” their origins, and the stories they tell about our world.

Micro Cycler Stars

All living matter is made of atoms that form compounds, which can be short- or long-lived. Microbes, as cyclers, drive biogeochemical cycles, shaping Earth’s chemistry and atmosphere. These cycles transfer atoms and energy, connecting life across time and space.

Micro Defenders

While some microbes cause infections, most are harmless or beneficial. Some even protect us—our “MicroDefenders”—featured in this gallery.

Micro Discoverer Heroes

Major cities often hold rich histories of human achievement, including microbiology. London, in particular, showcases the interaction between microbes and humans. Martin Adams explores this fascinating microbiological heritage, revealing its impact, surprises, and stories.

Micro Fermenter: Sacca (Saccharomyces)

Fermented foods have shaped human civilization, offering flavor and health benefits, with Saccharomyces as the key microbe driving fermentation.

Micro Lab Rat Stars

Microbiologists study how microbes work by focusing on individual, well-characterized microbes—“MicroLabRats.” These lab models simplify complex natural processes, advancing our understanding of key microbial activities. This gallery showcases some of the most important MicroLabRats.

Micro Pests

Most microbes are beneficial or unnoticed, but some cause disease or are nuisances—spoiling food, staining walls, or corroding materials. The MicroPests Gallery showcases these troublesome microbes.

Micro Rogues

Microbes are essential for life, driving biochemical reactions and biogeochemical cycles. While most are beneficial, a tiny fraction—about 1,400 species—cause infectious diseases. Understanding these “MicroRogues” helps us protect ourselves.

Micro Stars

Microbes live in diverse communities and specialize in different tasks. Some become famous—microbial “superstars”—and studying them teaches us much about the microbial world.

Mighty Machine Stars of tiny organisms

Microbes, though tiny, perform diverse and complex activities using specialized nanomachines that manage reactions, transport molecules, and create the micro-environments needed for their vital functions.

Necessity-the-Mother-of-Invention Stars

Some discoveries happen by chance, others by planned strategies, but urgent needs—like saving lives—drive rapid progress. The fast development of COVID-19 vaccines illustrates this. Let’s explore microbiological discoveries born of necessity.