Microbiology

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Macrolones Offer Promising Strategy for Combating Resistant Bacteria

New research from the University of Illinois Chicago suggests that a novel antibiotic that disrupts two distinct cellular targets would make it 100 million times harder for bacteria to evolve resistance.

24 Jul 2024

New Assay Fast-Tracks Virucidal Testing

An innovative technique that can quickly ascertain whether a virus is contagious or not has the potential to completely transform how humans respond to pandemics in the future.

24 Jul 2024

Decoding Dengue: The Use of Less Efficient Codons for Viral Advantage

Mosquito-borne viral infections once confined to tropical regions are spreading. Dengue virus infects up to 400 million people worldwide each year according to World Health Organization estimates, and no available treatments exist for this disease.

24 Jul 2024

High Performance SEM Helps Drive NZ Towards a Smart, Green Future

The existing electron microscopy capabilities have been improved with the installation of a TESCAN CLARA Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM).

24 Jul 2024

UNC Charlotte Study: SARS-CoV-2 Variants BA.2.86 and JN.1 Show Minimal Immune Evasion

New research from UNC Charlotte's Center for Computational Intelligence to Predict Health and Environmental Risks (CIPHER) has found that the two recent and prevalent strains of the virus that cause COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2 variants BA.2.86 and JN.1, are not significantly better than their predecessor Omicron at evading immune responses and causing infections despite having a high number of mutations compared to Omicron.

22 Jul 2024

Rice Scientists Unveil the Mechanisms Behind Viral Release Timing

New research from Rice University scientists is shedding light on how viruses ensure their survival by precisely timing the release of new viruses.

22 Jul 2024

How Tiny Freshwater Animals Utilize Bacterial DNA to Fight Fungal Infections

A group of small, freshwater animals protect themselves from infections using antibiotic recipes "stolen" from bacteria, according to new research by a team from the University of Oxford, the University of Stirling and the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), Woods Hole.

19 Jul 2024

Sea Sawdust Fuels Coral-Eating Starfish Larvae

Researchers have discovered an underwater phenomenon where larvae of the coral-destroying crown-of-thorns starfish have been chowing down on "sea sawdust," which is blue-green algae bacteria.

18 Jul 2024

Flu Virus Exploits Immune System Weakness to Infect Cells

The majority of influenza viruses enter animal or human cells through particular surface-based pathways. It has recently been found by researchers at the University of Zurich that some influenza viruses, both human and avian, can also enter cells through a second entry point that involves an immune system protein complex.

18 Jul 2024

Vps21 Pathway's Role in Morphological Transitions and Mating of Candida albicans

This study was led by Dr. Guanghua Huang (School of Life Sciences, Fudan University). The team discovered that the conserved Vps21 signaling pathway plays critical roles in the regulation of white-opaque switching and mating in Candida albicans, a major human fungal pathogen.

18 Jul 2024

Reawakened Endogenous Retroviruses can Play a Critical Role in Helping Cancer Survive

Peek inside the human genome and, among the 20,000 or so genes that serve as building blocks of life, you'll also find flecks of DNA left behind by viruses that infected primate ancestors tens of millions of years ago.

18 Jul 2024

New Approach to Finding Antibiotic Alternatives Using Bacterial Data

Researchers have devised an approach for identifying novel antimicrobial drugs with clinical potential using bacterial databases, offering insights into finding alternatives to existing antibiotics.

17 Jul 2024

Fossils in Our Genes: Giant Viruses Leave Mark on Animal Relative

Recent research published in Science Advances uncovers an unexpected twist in the evolutionary history of complex life.

17 Jul 2024

Few Chicken Products with Highly Virulent Salmonella Strains Responsible for Most Illnesses

Raw poultry is one of the main causes of Salmonella poisoning, which affects thousands of people in the U.S. every year. A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign shows that few products with high levels of very virulent Salmonella strains are responsible for most of the illnesses from raw chicken parts.

16 Jul 2024