Public awareness of infectious disease has increased in recent years due to major outbreaks and the COVID-19 pandemic, but are clinical professionals educated enough to make the necessary decisions? Whether it's bringing students and trainees up to speed, or refreshing veterans on key aspects of microbiology, Arryn Craney is a strong advocate for continuous education. This passion spurred the creation of Petrified Bugs, a diagnostic education and citizen science initiative. Here, Craney shares more about Petrified Bugs and explores the future of infectious disease and microbiology.
Can you give us a brief description of your background in diagnostics and infectious disease?
I’m a board-certified clinical microbiologist with over 10 years of experience in research, public health, and clinical diagnostics. I began my career in basic science, studying antibiotic resistance and drug discovery, but during my clinical microbiology fellowship, I discovered a passion for lab medicine and its real-world impact. Since then, I’ve worked as a Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) lab director and consultant for labs, diagnostic companies, and bioinformatics teams – blending traditional methods with new technologies. This broad experience shapes how I tackle diagnostic challenges and support innovation in healthcare and research.
What inspired Petrified Bugs – was there a gap in existing diagnostic education that motivated the initiative?
Petrified Bugs grew from the everyday challenges I saw in the clinical lab – especially the disconnect between innovation and implementation. There’s a lot of excitement around developing new diagnostic tools, but translating them into routine practice is often complicated by rules, logistics, and unclear guidance. Coming from a research background, I was surprised at how hard it was to find simple, practical information in clinical microbiology – even for experienced professionals. I created Petrified Bugs to make diagnostics easier to understand, more accessible to everyone, and better connected to real-world applications.
What is Petrified Bugs?
Petrified Bugs is a diagnostic education and citizen science initiative focused on making infectious disease diagnostics more accessible, transparent, and collaborative. Our mission is to demystify the clinical microbiology lab and create practical tools that help laboratory professionals, pathologists, and clinicians navigate complex diagnostic decisions.
We also welcome public engagement through citizen science projects that connect curious minds to real-world diagnostic challenges. Our core audience includes clinical microbiologists, medical technologists, infectious disease trainees, and early-career professionals – but we design everything with inclusivity in mind. We’re always looking for volunteers who want to give back, share their perspective, and join the discussion – because voices matter, and opinions help shape better diagnostics.
What kinds of specimens or organisms are typically featured, and how do they reflect real diagnostic challenges faced in labs?
We focus on specimen types and organisms that are routinely reported in clinical labs – such as urine, blood, respiratory samples, hospital-acquired infections, emerging pathogens, and other clinically relevant organisms – because that’s where most real-world diagnostic decisions are made. Alongside this, we highlight areas of unmet need, including dimorphic fungi and non-tuberculous mycobacteria, where interpretation often requires more nuance. This is all part of the demystification process. What may seem straightforward – what gets tested, what gets reported – is often quite complex, especially for those outside the lab.
For individuals entering diagnostic development, navigating these layers can be overwhelming. Our goal is to present infectious disease diagnostics through the lens of the clinical microbiology lab and offer a practical reference point that supports innovation, both within and beyond the lab environment.
How do you balance showcasing ‘classic’ microbiologic patterns with the need to contextualize results in the current antimicrobial resistance (AMR) landscape?
It really comes down to making sure the right test reaches the right patient at the right time. Rapid testing can absolutely improve care, but only when it aligns with clinical needs, staffing, and workflow. I’ve seen cases where point-of-care tests were introduced with good intentions, but without proper support, the results still had to be sent through the lab or complex routing to reach the patient’s chart – ultimately delaying patient care.
If a test changes treatment, the faster the better – but it’s not always as straightforward as it sounds. Sometimes, treating patients faster requires a more thoughtful approach to implementation. That’s why we highlight both classic microbiologic patterns and modern rapid tools – because context matters. AMR adds another layer of complexity, and our goal is to show how different approaches can complement each other when applied with intention.
How important do you think it is for pathologists and microbiologists – not just infectious disease physicians – to have a working knowledge of resistance patterns and mechanisms?
It’s absolutely critical. Microbiologists and pathologists are often the first to spot emerging resistance patterns, and that insight shapes how results are reported and interpreted. Errors can and do happen during susceptibility testing – whether due to technical issues, organism quirks, or interpretation challenges – so having a working knowledge of expected resistance patterns helps us recognize when something is off. Knowing the usual patterns allows us to catch outliers, prevent reporting errors, and escalate when needed. And in a constantly shifting landscape, where breakpoints change and resistance mechanisms evolve, that foundational knowledge is essential – not just for stewardship, but for delivering safe, timely, and accurate care.
What do you hope the long-term impact of the project will be?
I hope Petrified Bugs becomes a trusted resource and a collaborative space for anyone working in – or curious about – infectious disease diagnostics. In the long-term, I want it to support education, innovation, and communication across disciplines. I’d love to see it help early-career professionals build confidence, give diagnostic developers better insight into clinical realities, and empower more people to engage with diagnostic challenges through citizen science.
These issues aren’t local – they’re global. We’re all facing the same pathogens, the same resistance trends, and the same need for better tools. But it can be hard to know how to give back or where to plug in. My goal is to make that easier – by offering a platform where people can contribute, connect, and improve diagnostics for everyone.
With advances in molecular and metagenomic diagnostics, how do you see the role of morphology and classical microbiology evolving?
These are exactly the kinds of questions we aim to explore through Petrified Bugs. Traditional microbiology still matters, but its role is evolving. I imagine a future where molecular tools, including metagenomics, are used first, and culture or microscopy is added only when needed for extra context or to check for resistance. This approach could speed up diagnosis while preserving critical interpretive steps. But changing how we think and work takes both innovation and education. Our mission is to help people through that change – whether they’re creating new tests, interpreting results, or just trying to understand how it all fits together.
If a pathologist or laboratory scientist wants to get involved, how can they do that?
We’d love to have them join us! The easiest way is to visit www.petrifiedbugs.com and reach out through the contact form. We offer both volunteer and advisory roles, depending on how people want to contribute – some help review content, others get involved in project work or tool development. Our current open projects focus on building data tools for AMR and microbiome reporting, and we’re actively looking for people who want to get involved.
Volunteer projects are designed to fit the volunteer’s schedule, with flexible commitments ranging from 1 to 6 months. Whether you're a pathologist, technologist, student, or researcher, your perspective matters – we’re building a collaborative space where everyone has something to contribute to the future of diagnostics.
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