Newsflash! Urine is not sterile! This week we have Owen Hale on the podcast to talk about the urinary tract microbiome, which is really understudied. We discuss which bacteria live inside us, what they do, why so many people get UTIs, and what urinary tract bacteria can tell us about evolution more broadly. Owen also points out that because UTIs affect women so frequently, this is one of the few systems in biomedical science where females have been studied more than men, and what we can learn from these types of studies. He also explains why UTIs are political and some surprising results from his own research.

Owen is a PhD candidate at Vanderbilt University. You can follow his work on X (@owenmicro) or Google Scholar.

Here are some resources relevant to this episode:

1. A 2020 review paper called "Advances in Understanding the Human Urinary Microbiome and Its Potential Role in Urinary Tract Infection" by Neugent et al.
2. "Mutation Rates: How Low Can You Go?" by Sniegowski and Raynes
3. Tee wikipedia page for the drift-barrier hypothesis. This link is easier to read than the journal articles...

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The views and opinions expressed on this program are those of the host and guests and do not reflect the views of any institution.