Glen McGugan, Ph.D., Director of ASM's Mechanism Discovery Unit, discusses how curiosity‑driven research—from parasite virulence to CRISPR and complex microbial systems—drives tomorrow's breakthroughs.

• Mechanism discovery,encompasses all of the foundational basic research across the microbial sciences and is essential for all advances in microbial science.
• Many transformative technologies (e.g., CRISPR) originated from curiosity-driven, basic research rather than immediate practical goals.
• McGugan's experience as a Program Officer at NIH provided him with a broad perspective on the research pipeline, from basic science to clinical trials, and highlighted the importance of supporting early-career scientists.
• Developing therapeutics for parasitic diseases is particularly challenging due to complex life cycles and limited financial incentives for pharmaceutical companies; much of the progress relies on government and philanthropic funding.
• ASM's Mechanism Discovery Unit serves as a neutral hub to convene interdisciplinary stakeholders, foster collaboration, and advance fundamental research.
• Safeguarding future breakthroughs in the microbial sciences depends on the involvement of and connections between researchers, policymakers, funders and industry partners to close gaps between discovery, implementation and impact.

Andrea Prinzi, Ph.D., MPH, SM(ASCP), and Rodney Rohde, Ph.D.,SM(ASCP)CM, SVCM, trace how passion‑driven, nonlinear paths in clinical microbiology led them from hospital benches and public health labs to academia and industry leadership. Their stories converge on a shared mission: to use diagnostics, outcomes research and lived experience to make microbiology relevant, contextual and approachable for patients, policymakers and the broader public.

• View Prinzi's ASM articles.
• View Rohde's ASM articles.
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Moon Nahm, M.D., professor emeritus at UAB Department of Medicine and Director of the World Health Organization's Pneumococcal Serology Reference Laboratory at UAB, discusses his career in pneumococcal immunology. From uncovering the WU2 reference strain and other hidden serotypes to pioneering Multiplexed Opsono-Phagocytosis Assay (MOPA) to measure the functional activity of anti-pneumococcal antibodies, Nahm's contributions have facilitated development of advanced vaccines with broader protection and accessibility.

• UAB Spotlight on Moon Nahm.
• Discovery and Characterization of Pneumococcal Serogroup 36 Capsule Subtypes, Serotypes 36A and 36B. Journal of Clinical Microbiology paper, March 27, 2003.
• A New Pneumococcal Capsule Type, 10D, is the 100th Serotype and Has a Large cpsFragment from an Oral Streptococcus. mBio, May 19, 2020.
• 50 years—and change. WashU Magazine.
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