MicrobeWorld

Looks like today is the day that the House will mark up the Food Safety Enhancement Act that will put into place new food safety regulations.

here are some highlights from the draft bill via the Daily Kos:

* Gives the FDA mandatory recall authority.

* Requires all food producers... Read More

A new, easy-to-perform method for detecting both seasonal influenza A virus and the emerging H1N1 swine-derived influenza A virus in human clinical samples offers a fast, sensitive, and cost-effective diagnostic test that runs on standard laboratory equipment. This timely and broadly applicable ... Read More

Yes, it sounds crazy, but Bio-Reaction Industries says it has devised a way to exploit bacteria to cleanse the air inside paint shops and factories.

Water, microorganisms, soil and a ball that could pass like a cat toy: Together, they can drastically cut the cost of air purification, accordin... Read More

Montezuma's Revenge explained?

Researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM), the Naval Medical Research Center and the National Institutes of Health, have solved the structure of thin hair-like fibers called "pili" or "fimbriae" on the surface of bacteria that cause traveler's d... Read More

The World Health Organization (WHO) is on the verge of declaring the first influenza pandemic in more than 40 years, but wants to ensure countries are well prepared to prevent a panic, its top flu expert said on Tuesday.

Keiji Fukuda, acting WHO assistant director-general, voiced concern at t... Read More

Microbes are extremely small organisms such as bacteria, protozoa and fungi. Even though we can't easily see them, they are all around us. Like it or not, microbes live on us and inside us. When people talk about "germs," they're generally talking about microbes.

Many diseases are caused by m... Read More

A synthetic DNA binding compound has proved surprisingly effective at binding to the DNA of bacteria and killing all the bacteria it touched within two minutes. The DNA binding properties of the compound were first discovered in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Warwick by Profess... Read More

Interesting conclusion of research on the roundworm C. elegans by a group at the Massachusetts General Hospital led by Sean P. Curran and Gary Ruvkun suggest that while "people die, one part of them, at least in principle, is immortal."

"The finding may provide an explanation for the many rec... Read More

More than 70 percent of Americans rank prevention as the most important health care reform priority, and overwhelmingly support increasing funding for prevention programs to reduce disease and keep people healthy.

"In a new public opinion poll released today by the Trust for America's Health ... Read More

h+ magazine is a new web-based periodical that covers "technological, scientific, and cultural trends that are changing — and will change — human beings in fundamental ways."

In the Summer 09 issue, which you can view by clicking source above, there are many interesting articles and interview... Read More

A routine FDA investigation uncovers substandard manufacturing processes at a company that makes 'antimicrobial' skincare products. Oops. Read More

Video from the CBC reports a former researcher at the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg is facing charges in the United States after allegedly trying to smuggle genetic material from the Ebola virus across the Manitoba-North Dakota border. This is raising all kinds of flags in Canada over se... Read More

Apparently there is a lot of debate over the term. From the NY Times:

Generations of people have used the term to describe widespread epidemics of influenza, cholera and other diseases. But as the new H1N1 swine influenza virus spreads from continent to continent, it is clear that a useful de... Read More

The dilemma known as 'forward contamination' has been facing NASA since the first foray into space. Essentially, scienitists want to ensure that microbes from Earth don't jeopardize the integrity of samples collected by rovers in case there is a discovery of life on another planet.

"Now rese... Read More

According to research presented at the American Society for Microbiology's 109 General Meeting in Philadelphia, Rogers and Z. Koçer, of Bowling Green State University in Ohio, found that influenza viruses can easily survive freezing in pond water, and emerge from the melting ice strong enough to... Read More

Vaccines intended to help the body to fight off the flu bug may actually give the bug an edge, researchers say.

That doesn't mean vaccines are bad, it just may help explain why they aren't as good as they could be, says Dr. Andrew Mellor, director of the Immunotherapy Center at the Medical Co... Read More

An international team of researchers has identified one of the protein components of a molecular complex that allows light reception in a laboratory fungus.

The results were published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by the team, which includes Prof. Luis M. Cor... Read More

Scientists at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, the South African National Institute for Communicable Diseases of National Health Laboratory Service (NICD-NHLS), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Roche's 454 Life Sciences Corporation have discovered th... Read More

Call it advanced warfare on the most elemental of levels.

Researchers at Texas A&M University's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering have discovered how certain types of bacteria integrate the DNA that they have captured from invading enemies into their own genetic makeup to incr... Read More

In episode 35 of This Week in Virology, hosts Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, Dick Despommier and guest Read More