Toxins News and Research

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Study reveals how two proteins enable drug-resistant MRSA bacterium to secrete toxins

Antimicrobial resistance represents one of the top 10 global public health threats according to the World Health Organization, and scientists have been scrambling to find new tools to cure the most deadly drug-resistant infections.

14 Feb 2023

Keanumycins: An alternative in the fight against resistant fungi

Pseudomonas bacteria produce a potent antimicrobial natural product, according to scientists at the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology (Leibniz-HKI).

7 Feb 2023

Researchers discover new type of pathogenic fungus that infects potatoes

RUDN University biologists have discovered a new type of pathogenic fungus that infects potatoes and leads to massive crop loss.

31 Jan 2023

Researchers discover murderous survival strategy of yeast

Yeast is not the simple single-celled microorganism we once thought, but a competitive killer. When starved of glucose, yeast releases a toxin that will poison other microorganisms that have entered its surrounding habitat, even its own clones.

8 Nov 2022

“Deep fake” protein created with AI to tackle water pollutants

If text-based artificial intelligence image generator like Craiyon or DALL-E has ever been used, it would lead to the knowledge of lifelike, yet entirely, synthetic visuals that AI tools produce.

21 Oct 2022

Brain cells with the same birthdate display distinct connectivity

According to a recent study, brain cells with the same “birthdate” are more likely to connect into cooperative signaling circuits that perform a variety of tasks, including memory storage.

From New York University (NYU) 25 Aug 2022

Researchers analyze how cannabis cells make cannabinoids

Plant biologists have outlined the elevated “hacks” that cannabis cells use to produce cannabinoids (THC/CBD) for the first time. Although many biotechnology firms are currently attempting to engineer THC/CBD outside of the plant in yeast or cell cultures, it is still unclear how the plant does it innately.

8 Aug 2022

Researchers develop sustainable solutions to trick pathogens’ chemical communication with plants

Harmful fungi cause enormous agricultural losses. Conventional techniques for combating them involve the use of poisonous fungicides.

19 Jul 2022

NSU explore harmful algae blooms to better understand their origins and management

They are bluish-green, stinky and yucky. We're talking algae blooms, that phenomenon that happens in waterways around Florida. And since 2019, researchers at Nova Southeastern University's (NSU) Halmos College of Arts and Sciences have been studying them with the primary goal to find out why they occur.

13 Jul 2022

Experts identify genes responsible for toxin biosynthesis in unrelated poisonous mushrooms

Poisonous mushrooms are a great threat to human health, but they also create crucial drugs and biomolecules. Amanita mushrooms are without a doubt the most lethal of all of them.

7 Jun 2022

$750,000 partnership grant supports the development of portable biosensors for detecting foodborne contaminants

An international team led by a University of Massachusetts Amherst food and environmental virologist has received a $750,000 USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) partnership grant to develop and test portable, rapid biosensors capable of detecting noroviruses and mycotoxins in foods and agricultural products.

6 Jun 2022

SARS-CoV-2 can directly infect a specialized type of kidney cell

The virus that causes COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, can directly infect a specialized type of kidney cell.

22 Apr 2022

Encapsulated peptide could provide a new approach to fighting bacterial infections

Antibiotic-resistant hospital pathogens are not to be underestimated as a health risk. A research team has now introduced a new approach for treating multiple-drug resistant Staphylococcus in the journal Angewandte Chemie.

21 Apr 2022

Study highlights quality control pipeline method to analyze single-cell variation

When it comes to assessing the effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) or toxins on cancers and other diseases, which target a variety of mechanisms, including the estrogen receptor (ER), one size does not always fit all.

20 Apr 2022

Researchers show how proteins form DNA-repair mechanism in living bacteria

Two recent research have shown a completely new perspective of how bacterial cells repair broken parts of their DNA (lesions).

From New York University (NYU) 1 Apr 2022

Cryo-electron microscopes help determine how “911” molecule repairs DNA damage

When something unexpected happens with DNA replication, cells call their own form of 911 to stop the process and rectify the problem.

23 Mar 2022

Researchers develop an antibody as a tool for opening the blood-brain barrier

The brain is composed of billions of neurons-; vulnerable cells that require a protective environment to function properly.

17 Mar 2022

Researchers develop a meaningful universal platform to identify multiple bacteria in seconds

Bacterial detection can take hours, if not days, to complete—wasting valuable time for diagnosing diseases and choosing treatments.

7 Mar 2022

A cryptic molecule can awaken killer viruses from their slumber

Some gut bacteria have a spooky superpower: they can reanimate dormant viruses lurking within other microbes.

24 Feb 2022

MIT researchers create a new cerebrovasculature atlas

While neurons and glial cells are by far the most numerous cells in the brain, many other types of cells play important roles. Among those are cerebrovascular cells, which form the blood vessels that deliver oxygen and other nutrients to the brain.

16 Feb 2022