You don’t look surprised to see this in your podcast feed – or is that just the botox? This week we’re taking a tour of the wonderful world of Clostridium botulinum and the toxin it produces, at once both poison and prescription. First, we delve into how botulinum toxin acts to paralyze your muscles and under what circumstances you might encounter it. Then we iron out the wrinkles of the why of botulinum toxin, an answer that involves migratory birds, maggots, and marshes. The story continues with blood sausages, an unfortunate funeral party, and a massive shift from toxin to treatment as the therapeutic potential of botulinum toxin is explored. And the best part of this episode? Georgia. Hardstark. You’ve heard the always amazing, ever hilarious, and one of our personal heroes Georgia Hardstark on My Favorite Murder, but now listen to her share her firsthand experience with getting botox facial injections. This episode ranks among our top favorites we’ve ever recorded, and we hope you love it as much as we do!
| History | Biology |
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| Pellett, Sabine. “Learning from the past: historical aspects of bacterial toxins as pharmaceuticals.” Current opinion in microbiology 15.3 (2012): 292-299. | |
| Rossetto, Ornella, Marco Pirazzini, and Cesare Montecucco. “Botulinum neurotoxins: genetic, structural and mechanistic insights.” Nature Reviews Microbiology 12.8 (2014): 535-549. | |
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