Penicillin News and Research

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Penicillin (sometimes abbreviated PCN or pen) is a group of antibiotics derived from ''Penicillium'' fungi. Penicillin antibiotics are historically significant because they are the first drugs that were effective against many previously serious diseases such as syphilis and Staphylococcus infections.

Phages Form Unique 3D Shapes, Boosting Disease Detection

While preparing slides to be examined under a powerful microscope, a team of McMaster researchers who frequently work with bacteriophage viruses that consume bacteria had a pleasant and potentially very significant surprise.

22 Oct 2024

Bacterial Gene Expression Drives the Evolution of Antibiotic Resistance

As strains of pathogens resistant to frontline antibiotics become more common worldwide, clinicians are more often turning to combination treatments that degrade this resistance as a first treatment option.

14 Oct 2024

Fish Gut Bacteria May Hold the Key to New Skincare Ingredients

There are some pretty strange ingredients in cosmetics and skin care products. One example is snail mucin -; also known as snail slime -; which is used for its moisturizing and antioxidant properties.

6 Sep 2024

A Breakthrough in the Synthesis of Potent Bioactive Molecules

There are many chemical compounds with amazing medical capabilities found in the natural world. One famous example is penicillin, which was unintentionally found in the Penicillium mold. This discovery demonstrated the potential of natural substances in medicine and transformed the treatment of bacterial illnesses.

12 Aug 2024

Using Mobile Data to Track the Spread and Evolution of Superbugs

Key insights into the global spread, evolution, and resistance patterns of a major bacterium causing pneumonia and meningitis have been revealed through the combination of genomic data and human travel patterns over 14 years in South Africa.

4 Jul 2024

Novel Lipopeptide from Serratia marcescens Shows Promise Against Staphylococcus aureus Infections

A novel antibacterial lipopeptide produced by the bacterium Serratia marcescens has been shown to be highly effective in killing Staphylococcus aureus – one of the most important pathogens occurring in humans.

7 Jun 2024

Newly Discovered Bacterial Species Shed Light on Antibiotic Resistance

Antibiotic-resistant infection is projected to catch up to cancer as the leading cause of death by 2050, making understanding and limiting the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria a priority worldwide.

1 Mar 2024

Significant Increase in Antibiotic Resistance Genes Found in Humans and Livestock

Biomedical engineers at Duke University have discovered a significant connection between the dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes and the development of resistance to new drugs in specific pathogens

23 Feb 2024

Study Cracks Open the Enigma of Major Evolutionary Leaps

Significant evolutionary changes happen gradually as opposed to in dramatic 'monster' steps, biologists have discovered, answering the long-debated question as to how game-changing innovations like flight, vision, and the bearing of live offspring came to be.

5 Jan 2024

Genomic Surveillance Shows Antibiotic Resistance in Ghana Driven by Clinical Use of Antibiotics

Some strains of heavily antibiotic-resistant bacteria in Ghana are not successful at spreading outside of the hospital, suggesting that control measures can be focused on clinical settings to help curb treatment-resistant infections.

17 Oct 2023

Researchers Use Cheese Rinds to Show Fungal Antibiotics Can Influence Microbiome Development

Fungi produce metabolites that humans have used to improve health. For example, they secrete penicillin, which is then purified and used as an antibiotic for humans, leading to the development of many other antibiotics.

11 May 2023

Understanding the cellular effects of antibiotics targeting cell wall biosynthesis

It is still unclear how antibiotics work to destroy bacteria. This knowledge, however, is required for the development of new antibiotics. That is exactly what is required because bacteria are becoming increasingly resistant to existing antibiotics.

27 Mar 2023

Identifying antimicrobials that effectively treat AMR infections

In a potential game changer for the treatment of superbugs, a new class of antibiotics was developed that cured mice infected with bacteria deemed nearly "untreatable" in humans -; and resistance to the drug was virtually undetectable.

19 Feb 2023

Extracts from two common wild plants block SARS-CoV-2 from entering human cells

Two common wild plants contain extracts that inhibit the ability of the virus that causes COVID-19 to infect living cells, an Emory University study finds.

13 Feb 2023

Scientists receive $10 million from HHMI for research on using viruses as therapeutic agents

Taking a bold step into a new era of biology, a team of scientists from the University of California San Diego, the J. Craig Venter Institute and Yale University has been awarded $10 million by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to support research on using viruses as new therapeutic agents.

27 Jan 2023

Researchers discover new transporter for recycling of bacterial cell wall

A transporter which some bacteria use to recycle fragments of their cell wall has been discovered by researchers at Umeå University, Sweden.

27 Jan 2023

New method to treat MRSA infections with penicillin-type drugs

Researchers from the University of Galway have reported a new discovery that could enhance treatment options for superbug MRSA infections using penicillin-type antibiotics that have proven ineffective on their own.

18 Jan 2023

Using fungi to transform ocean plastic waste into key pharmaceutical components

Research on fungi underway at the University of Kansas has helped transform tough-to-recycle plastic waste from the Pacific Ocean into key components for making pharmaceuticals.

18 Jan 2023

Sprayable new super-disinfectant can protect food from bacterial contamination

Researchers at McMaster University have created a powerful new weapon against bacterial contamination and infection.

6 Dec 2022

Chemical-biological method to upcycle plastic waste into pharmacologically useful products

Plastic waste is one of the most significant ecological and economic problems of our time. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, a research team has now introduced a chemical–biological method for upcycling polyethylene waste: catalytic cleavage is used to make carboxylic diacids that are subsequently converted into pharmacologically useful natural products by genetically engineered fungi.

29 Nov 2022