Uncultivated Microbes: Dr. Samuel Miller On Anaerobes, Taxonomy, & The Future Of Microbiomics

Finding Genius Podcast

Richard Jacobs

Health, Extracellularvesicles, Crisprcas9, 3dbioprinting, Medicine, Cancer, Health & Fitness, Biotech, Bioscience, Microbiome, Ketogenicdiets

4.4 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 20 September 2025

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Samuel Miller, Postdoctoral Research Associate and Senior Scientist at Oklahoma State University's Elshahed Laboratory and Microbiomics and Culturomics Core Facility. A specialist in culturomics, Dr. Miller focuses on isolating and characterizing strict anaerobes and advancing microbial taxonomy and systematics. His current work zeroes in on gut-associated bacteria, using both cultivation-based and molecular approaches to investigate taxa that remain uncultivated in humans and other mammals.

Hit play to learn about:

The key differences between anaerobic and aerobic bacteria.
What happens to anaerobes when they are exposed to oxygen.
How bacteria can be useful for humans.

Ready to discover how Dr. Miller and the MCCF are advancing microbiome science and unlocking the mysteries of gut bacteria? Buckle in to dive inside the world of culturomics and anaerobes – where groundbreaking research is reshaping how we understand health, ecology, and the microbial universe….

You can follow along with Dr. Miller's work on LinkedIn and X!

🎧 Listen now on Apple Podcasts: http://apple.co/30PvU9C

🛍️ Recommended Books from This Episode:

📖 Missing Microbes – Learn how the loss of essential microbes is affecting your health and how to restore your gut microbiome for better overall wellness.
👉 Get it here

📘 The Psychobiotic Revolution – Explore how the gut-brain connection can affect mental health and discover natural ways to improve your mood and mind through gut health.
👉 Try it here

📙 Brain Maker – A groundbreaking book on how gut health influences your brain and how to improve both with the right diet and lifestyle.
👉 Shop now

Note: These are affiliate links. If you make a purchase through them, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It helps support the podcast. Thank you!

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Forget frequently asked questions.
0:02.3	Common sense.
0:03.1	Common knowledge.
0:04.1	Or Google.
0:04.7	How about advice from a real genius?
0:06.9	95% of people in any profession are good enough to be qualified in license.
0:11.3	5% go above and beyond.
0:13.1	They become very good at what they do.
0:14.8	But only 0.1% are real geniuses.
0:18.2	Richard Jacobs has made it his life's mission to find them for you.
0:22.2	He hunts down and interviews geniuses in every field.
0:25.1	Sleep science, cancer, stem cells, ketogenic diets, and more.
0:28.6	Here come the geniuses.
0:30.3	This is the Finding Genius podcast with Richard Jacobs.
0:37.3	Hello, this is Richard Jacobs with the Finding Genius podcast.
0:41.2	I guess today is Sam Miller.
0:42.8	He's a postdoc in microbiomics and culturomics core facility at Oklahoma
0:48.6	Oklahoma City University.
0:49.8	So we were talking about anaerobic bacteria, bacteria that are able to live without direct oxygen on them. So again, Sam's an anaerobic microbiologist, interested in yet to be discovered bacteria, particularly ones, again, that grow in the absence of oxygen. So welcome, Sam. Thanks for coming. Yeah, Richard. Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here. Yeah, why anaerobic bacteria and anaerobic? You just had to pick something, or is there a cell reason they're more interesting to you?
1:12.1	Well, I do find the anoreobs a bit fascinating, but I think, like most of us, were products
1:17.0	of our environment, and I spent most of my PhD study in anaerobic microbiology labs.
1:24.5	And so I've become, over over the years fascinated with this topic.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Richard Jacobs, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Richard Jacobs and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.