MicrobeWorld

Are you willing to take a close look at yourself for science?

A really, really close look?

A team of scientists in the Bay Area is inviting citizen scientists to join them in a quest to create the largest database of human microbiomes in the world.

The human microbiome is the ecosystem ... Read More

UC Irvine biologists have discovered that fats within cells store a class of proteins with potent antibacterial activity, revealing a previously unknown type of immune system response that targets and kills bacterial infections.

Steven Gross, UCI professor of developmental & cell biology, and... Read More

A mix of six different bacteria found naturally in the healthy gut system of mice and isolated from feces can succeed where antibiotics fail, and eradicate murine infection by highly contagious strains of the Gram-positive anaerobe Clostridium difficile, including the human epidemic 027/BI strai... Read More

A group of scientists based at several institutions in the US and beyond are getting set to kick off a crowdsourcing study called the "American Gut Project," aimed at assessing gut microbial communities in 10,000 or more individuals in the US in relation to their diet and lifestyle.

"The big ... Read More

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, T. Jack Morris, Read More

Scientists have found a soil bacteria that not only resists the toxic effects of antibiotics -- it makes a meal out of them.

Many bacteria can protect themselves from antibiotics by modifying the compounds to make them harmless or by pumping the compounds out of their cells entirely. And othe... Read More

Proteus mirabilis colonies on depleted medium in false color by Sune Dano and Kasper Dyring-Anderson. From Dr. James Shapiro's lab where he studies bacterial genetics, and is interested in pattern formation during colony growth. Photo from microbialart.com

Dr. James Shapiro is a Professor in ... Read More

The human “microbiome”—the trillions of bacteria, yeasts, and other microscopic creatures that live inside a human body—has been one of the major science stories in recent years. It seems that barely a week goes by that we don’t learn something new about the relationship between the human body a... Read More

Two Missouri farmers have been infected with a brand-new tick-borne virus that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is calling the Heartland virus.

The men recovered but suffered serious illness that required hospital care and weeks of convalescence. Symptoms included fever, severe ... Read More

Poor Larry isn't looking too good. He's pale and clammy and he's been projectile vomiting over and over again while his carers just stand by and watch.

Yet their lack of concern for Larry is made up for by their intense interest in how far splashes of his vomit can fly, and how effectively th... Read More

Jim Lahey, the founder of Sullivan Street Bakery in New York, wanted to find out which organisms inhabited his sourdough and produced its tantalizing sulfuric aroma.

Meanwhile, in the East Village test kitchen of the Momofuku restaurants, David Chang and Dan Felder were fermenting pork tender... Read More

This episode: Engineered diatoms can produce functional antibodies!

Downlo... Read More

Scientists have recently discovered three new human viruses.

One, from the Arabian Peninsula, causes severe pneumonia and kidney failure. Another sent two Missouri farmers to the hospital with severe fatigue and low blood platelets. The third, in central Africa, causes a new kind of hemorrhag... Read More

Honeybees the world over are susceptible to the bacterial disease called "foulbrood", which can wipe out a hive faster than beekeepers can react to the infection. In the U.S., beekeepers have kept the disease at bay with regular preventive applications of the antibiotic oxytetracycline. Given wh... Read More

Here are photographs I took during our visit to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory to record This Week in Microbiology #40. We roamed around campus scouting locations befo... Read More

Rep. Louise M. Slaughter is not a runner, but she shares a marathoner’s philosophy when it comes to legislation: She’s in it for the long haul.

It took several years for her to get a ban on genetic discrimination signed into law in 2008. Slaughter said she worked six years before a shift in c... Read More

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released an annual report on Monday profiling a variety of CDC influenza-related projects from around the world, including epidemiology training, vaccine effectiveness studies and flu surveillance.

The CDC began its international flu efforts... Read More

It's time to get your flu shot. Or is it?

The answer to that question depends on whom you ask.

The sign in the pharmacy window might suggest flu season is already here, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging everyone at least 6 months old to get a dose of prevention "... Read More

Biomedical scientists collaborating on translational research at two Buffalo institutions are reporting the discovery of a novel, and heretofore unrecognized, set of genes essential for the growth of potentially lethal, drug-resistant bacteria. The study not only reveals multiple, new drug targe... Read More

Malaria-drug monitoring over the past 30 years has shown that malaria parasites develop resistance to medicine, and the first signs of resistance to the newest drugs have just been observed. At the same time, resistance monitoring at the University of Copenhagen shows that the previously efficac... Read More