MicrobeWorld

Lecture by C. Erec Stebbins, Associate Professor, The Rockefeller University

When it comes to the evolution of life on earth, those who have been here longest have seniority. And after four billion years, bacteria reign supreme. Unfortunately for us, some of them have been using that time to ... Read More

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Rich Condit,  Read More

Treating people with HIV rapidly after they have become infected with the virus that causes Aids may be enough to achieve a "functional cure" in a small proportion of patients diagnosed early, according to research.

Scientists in France who followed 14 patients who were treated swiftly with H... Read More

In trying to figure out what ethics ought to guide scientists in their activities, we’re really asking a question about what values scientists are committed to. Arguably, something that a scientist values may not be valued as much (if at all) by the average person in that scientist’s society.

... Read More

Olympus Bioscapes, Honorable Mention, Dr. Petr Znachor, Laboratory of Phytoplankton Ecology, Institute of Hydrobiology,Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic.

Specimen: Cyanobacterium Anabaena planctonica, Technique: Nomarski contrast, 20x Objective Read More

This episode: Our brain might be home to helpful bacteria!

Download Episode (3.5 MB, 3.75 minutes)

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Producing vaccines against viral threats is a potentially hazardous business and that's why manufacturers have to operate strict controls to ensure that no pathogens escape.

British scientists have developed a new method to create an entirely synthetic vaccine which doesn't rely on using live... Read More

The mysterious SARS-like virus that appears to be originating in the Middle East has claimed two more victims after people died from the infection in Germany and in Britain.

Their deaths brings to 11 the number of fatalities attributed to the virus, and six others have been determined to have... Read More

This is the first Viral Video ever recorded! It was made in 1885 and features Louis Pasteur describing the first rabies vaccine clinical trial. This clearly makes it a viral video and not a bacterial or fungal video!

Enjoy!

(Yes, the first patient was a boy, but things get lost in translat... Read More

There have been over 60 human infections with avian influenza virus H7N9 in China, and cases have been detected outside of Shanghai, including Beijing, Zhejiang, Henan, and Anhui Provinces. Information on the first three cases has now been published, allowing a more detailed consideration of the... Read More

It's easy to forget just how far medicine has progressed. While we may worry about the spread of infectious diseases like avian flu or meningitis today, those pathogens have nothing on fearsome pandemics in the distant past like the Plague of Justinian, which killed over 100 million people from ... Read More

Certain Streptococci increase their production of toxic shock syndrome toxin 1, sometimes to potentially dangerous levels, when aerobic bacteria are present in the vagina. But scientists from the University of Western Ontario have discovered certain strains of lactobacillus bacteria are capable ... Read More

To infect its host, the respiratory pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa takes an ordinary protein usually involved in making other proteins and adds three small molecules to turn it into a key for gaining access to human cells. In a study to be published May 7 in mBio, the online open-access journal... Read More

Industry says antibiotic pipeline is being blocked by overly stringent clinical-trial requirements for new treatments.

The latest skirmish in the battle between human and microbe played out on 29 November in a hotel conference room in Silver Spring, Maryland. There, an assembly of scientists ... Read More

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Rich Condit, Read More

Geobacter's pili conduct electrons along their length using the rings on aromatic amino acids, according to a study in mBio this week. Contrary to all other known forms of biological electron transport, in which electrons are carried by discrete entities and passed from one to another, Geobacter... Read More

The US Office of Science and Technology Policy recently released proposed guidelines for maximizing the benefits and minimizing misuse of life sciences research. The measures establish oversight responsibilities for universities and other institutions that receive Federal funding. Read More

Genes relocated from their correct position in the nucleus cause them to malfunction and this may lead to the heart, blood vessels and muscles breaking down. This new discovery by A*STAR scientists may be the key to finding new cures in the future.

Scientists from Singapore and Germany have i... Read More

Without microbiology there would be no viral videos, because, after all, without microbiology there would be no viruses! Sure, there could be "voluminous views videos" but a term like that doesn't have the same visceral impact as a "viral video".

This episode describes viral replication in a... Read More

(from National Geographic) In this 6th interview with renowned wildlife biologist Dr. Michael Hutchins, we discuss the challenges facing vanishing species and other threatened free-ranging and captive populations of wildlife due to emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases.

Jordan: Zoonose... Read More