MicrobeWorld

According to Dr. David H. Martin, Professor and Chief of the Section of Infectious Diseases at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans School of Medicine, "the number of cases of the asymptomatic Chlamydia trachomatis, the most common reportable infectious disease in the US, is growing; gonorrhea... Read More

Instead of reporting confirmed and probable novel H1N1 flu cases, the CDC has transitioned to using its traditional flu surveillance systems to track the progress of both the novel H1N1 flu pandemic and seasonal influenza. The CDC believes "confirmed and probable case counts represent a signific... Read More

Researchers from Canada and India have published a thorough paper in the American Chemical Society’s bi-monthly journal Industrial Engineering & Chemical Research on various approaches, challenges and benefits of “milking” oil from single-cell algae known as diatoms.

"In this communication, ... Read More

In a new study published today (July 22) in the July issue of the journal Cell Host & Microbe, UC Davis researchers report that both amyloid plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer's patients and structures made by some gut bacteria likely elicit the same response by human immune cells.

"Alz... Read More

U.S. health officials say swine flu could strike up to 40 percent of Americans over the next two years and as many as several hundred thousand could die if a vaccine campaign and other measures aren't successful.

Those estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention mean about t... Read More

The evolution of multiple antibiotic resistances is a global and difficult problem to eradicate. Isabel Gordo, a group leader at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC)- Portugal, reports in the paper published in the latest issue of PLoS Genetics (*), that the deleterious effect associated wi... Read More

The “flesh eating bacteria” is actually a relatively rare bacterial infection technically known as necrotizing fasciitis.

The most common organism that causes this devastating disease is Streptococcus pyogenes (group A strep), however other bacteria have been implicated (Clostrid... Read More

US researchers have created 'bacterial computers' with the potential to solve complicated mathematics problems. The findings of the research demonstrate that computing in living cells is feasible, opening the door to a number of applications. The second-generation bacterial computers illustrate ... Read More

A Massachusetts-based biofuel company called Qteros, formerly known as SunEthanol, has announced an ethanol yield well beyond what the U.S. Department of Energy considers the threshold for commercial production using a technology called Q Microbe, which turns biomass into cellulosic ethanol,

... Read More

MIT's Technology Review offers some interesting insight into the business of personal genome sequencing and analysis:

In some ways, Jorge Conde, cofounder of the genomics startup Knome, knows his clients more intimately than any other company president. Knome is the first company to sequence... Read More

Like that of the tongue, cell receptors in the lungs can detect bitter substances. "Epithelial cells that line the airways in the lungs use the same type of sensory receptors" as found in the tongue and act to repel bitter compounds which are often toxic. "Tiny, hair-like projections called cili... Read More

Reprogrammed mouse skin cells have resulted in living mice. Mice that have since reproduced and seen their offspring reproduce as well. "The reprogrammed adult cells, known as induced pluripotent stem cells or iPS cells" are similar to embryonic stem cells however researchers are unsure if these... Read More

Some of the places most affected by HIV and AIDS such as sub-Saharan Africa (almost a third of all new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths globally) are also the same places least likely to be able to afford adequate testing for the disease in some of it's most critical patients, newborns.
... Read More

"You've got H1N1" app coming to the iphone? Well maybe not but somewhere in the future it appears that there might be iphone sized devices in our home that can tell us if we have the flu simply by sneezing on it. At least that is what they are working on with the lab-on-a-chip device.

Perhaps... Read More

Virus humanos presentes en el océano
Las aguas marinas se encuentran contaminadas con virus provenientes del tracto digestivo de los seres humanos, que llegan a estas a través d... Read More

Synthetic Biology May Eventually Lead to New Treatments for Disease

James J. Collins wants to turn living cells into tiny robots that can be programmed to take on tasks that range from attacking tumors in the body to guiding the development of stem cells in the lab.

That goal remains dista... Read More

A low-cost adapter for cell phone cameras can capture images of abnormal cells and parasites.

A few years ago University of California, Berkeley, professor Daniel Fletcher challenged the undergraduate students in his optics and microscopy course to develop an instrument using only a cell phon... Read More

This week, the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing, there’s much talk of exploring other worlds. Which is exciting and grand; such is the stuff that dreams are made on. Yet we don’t need to go abroad to find amazing new life forms. We just need to look at the palms of our hands, the tips ... Read More

The water mould Saprolegnia can cause skin disease in salmon during its freshwater phase. The mould attacks both fish and eggs and has at times caused great economic loss for the fish farming industry, both in Norway and in other salmon-producing countries. Saprolegnia infection may be seen with... Read More

Researchers at Rice University and their international colleagues have for the first time described the atomic structure of the protein shell that carries the genetic code of hepatitis E (HEV). Their finding could mean that new ways to stop the virus may come in the not-too-distant future.

Ri... Read More