Podcast Script + Pictures

Top: The machine in this picture is used to hold and shake the sample specimens. Shaking the samples will combine them with a chemical, allowing the microbiologist to review the reaction and note if the sample contains an infection.

Middle: In this picture, Patricia Libby is analyzing the cultures from the previous day. She is checking for organisms that cause infections to the human body. The red circle cases represent the cultures and are placed behind what is known as a hood. This hood protects the microbiologist from the air born contagious infection or any other means of spreading.

Bottom: This is a picture of a machine that takes readings from a culture or specimen and organizes the recordings into an easy to read print out. This print out is then reviewed by Patricia Libby to check for errors or minor problems.

Jesse Forrester

Professor Ann-Marie Yerks

Comp. 106

18 March 2009

The American Biologist

Complete Show Length in Minutes: 6 min 15 seconds

Episode 1: Topic: An inside look at a true American microbiologist.

Intro Music Clip: Title: Could You Be Loved (Bob Marley) Time: 15 sec

Intro: A Personal Look: Time: 1 min

Hello everyone! I am Jesse Forrester, and this is my podcast, “The American Biologist,” where I talk to current biologists about their career and day to day job experiences. For today’s show, I will be talking about a known microbiologist in the Canton, Michigan area, whose name is Patricia Lash-Libby. Microbiology is a branch of biology that consists of observing bacteria, cultures, patient’s specimens, and many other microscopic items found in the human body. Patricia has offered to give us some of her time to talk about herself and the type of work she does. We will see how Patricia was molded at a young age into liking biology, the path she took to be where she is today, the daily responsibilities of a microbiologist, and touch base on a few other smaller topics.

Segment Music Clip: Title: One Love (Bob Marley) Time: 15 sec

Segment: The Inside Look Time: 3 min 15 sec

Patricia’s first thought about biology came during her childhood years spent in Dearborn, when she dreamed of becoming a marine biologist. One can easily see why a person would pick such a field, with someone who is fascinated by animals and especially those living under water. This dream washed away at age 16 in a high school biology class, when Patricia fell in love with laboratory biology. Her love quickly became more comforting, when she realized marine biologists must work in deep water, which in its own scares her enough to choose a different branch of biology. While in college studying laboratory medicine for her medical technology degree, Patricia stumbled upon microbiology, and quickly began to care for this type of work. When asked about her typical day at work, she quickly responded with a smile and described every detail as if she was a child in a candy store. A microbiologist records everything, and as the supervisor of her department, Patricia spends a good amount of time observing the previous day’s recordings and double checking for mistakes. The day will start off with what is known as quality control, which consists of checking temperatures, changing back-up tapes, reviewing the print out from the previous day’s work, and looking at the screens on the instruments for any problems. After the quality control, cultures, such as a standard throat culture that you may receive at the doctors, from the previous day are looked at and examined for organisms that cause infections. As the supervisor, Patricia rarely sets up cultures, such as urines, throats, or wounds, though during the day a different microbiologist will have the responsibility of doing this. Following the culture exams, she enters what she titles “the boring and slow part of the day,” or known as reviewing antibiotic panels. Here, a microbiologist must make sure the results match the organism identified and relay this information via computers to the physician. In her opinion, Patricia finds this to be the more tedious and time consuming part of the day.
To spice up this podcast, we wanted to ask Patricia about her working environment, education, the low economy’s effect on her job, required clothing, and job salary. I have always felt a laboratory in relation to biology is very clean and white, though Patricia proved me otherwise. Her working environment consists of old and not so white equipment. She says, “Only very new labs brag of a white environment,” in response to the question. The lab may be old, though she strongly describes the cleanness of it and the fact that workers have to wear gloves, masks, strong leather shoes, a lab coat, and treat every specimen as if it is contagious. In addition to my surprise about the environment, I was also astonished about her response to the low economy’s effect on a microbiologist’s job. “My work environment has gotten busy. To survive, we have developed an outreach program that brings in specimens from doctors offices. Right now we are busy, but the future could look bleak if they chose to combine microbiology departments from all the satellite hospitals,” states Patricia. I think it’s nice to know that someone is benefitting off the lowest economy we have experienced in ages.

Moving on, I found that the education needed to become a microbiologist has not changed over the years, as she explains individuals still need a bachelor’s degree in medical technology and field experience in management and biology. Patricia not only has this education, along with countess hours on the field, she also currently has 30 years as a medical technologist and 20 years as a microbiologist. In a closing statement to her interview and in regards to her salary, she shows cheerfulness to the pay a microbiologist receives and announces that she does not plan to move up in her career.

End Segment Music Clip: Title: One Love (Bob Marley) Time: 15 seconds

Ending: Microbiology in The Future Time: 1 min 30 seconds

When you are sick or injured, and the doctor takes a blood sample, throat culture, or a sample from an open wound, the culture is taken to a microbiologist. Here, your culture is examined thoroughly to find causes of infections and ultimately subscribe an antibiotic. In a sense, microbiologists are the knowledge holders to make the sick cured and the wounded healed. As an opinionated question to the future of microbiology, Patricia sees nothing but growth and the introduction of greater technology to this field. This growth and rise in technology always seems good, though she also sees a machine doing many of her daily duties faster and more accurately. In no doubt microbiology is growing, however, Patricia does not see the advanced machines and computers appearing until her day has passed. She plans to retire within the next 20 years, and feels that she will always have a passion for microbiology. In two words, Patricia describes herself as organized and self motivated, which she believes are two important ingredients to becoming a successful microbiologists.

Goodbye everyone, my name is Jesse Forrester and this is my podcast, “The American Biologist,” where I talk to current biologists about their career and day to day job experiences. I want to give a big thank you to Patricia Lash-Libby for participating in today’s segment. In addition to this, I wish her good luck towards her future as a microbiologist and to the field of biology she resides in. This is “The American Biologist” podcast, and I am signing off.

Ending Music Clip: Title: Could You Be Loved (Bob Marley) Time: 15 seconds