Herpes viruses are treacherous: once you are infected, you can never get rid of the virus. This is because herpes viruses lie dormant in certain host cells in the body for a lifetime.
Researchers have successfully grown bacterial cells in potential sand-based construction materials, as detailed in a paper published by Research Directions: Biotechnology Design, a new journal from Cambridge University Press.
UNC School of Medicine researchers Angela Wahl, PhD, Balfour Sartor MD, J. Victor Garcia, PhD, and colleagues created a germ-free mouse model to evaluate the role of the microbiome in the infection, replication, and pathogenesis of HIV and the Epstein-Barr virus, the virus that can cause mononucleosis and other serious diseases.
Light affects living organisms in many different ways: for example, plants orient their growth direction towards the sun, while circadian rhythms in humans are controlled by daylight.
In a new preclinical study from Wake Forest University School of Medicine, scientists provide the first evidence that changes in the gut microbiome have significant effects on cocaine use and cravings after withdrawal.
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Research Highlights showcases the latest breakthroughs in cancer care, research and prevention. These advances are made possible through seamless collaboration between MD Anderson’s world-leading clinicians and scientists, bringing discoveries from the lab to the clinic and back.
Recent developments include a novel biomarker that may predict the aggressiveness of pancreatic cancer precursors, insights into the structure and function of a breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility gene, a new approach to overcoming treatment resistance in ovarian cancer, distinguishing features of young-onset rectal cancer, a biomarker and potential target for metastatic lung cancer, machine learning models to better predict outcomes of patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), and a promising therapy for patients with relapsed/refractory MCL.
Below are summaries of recent Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center research findings and other news. Reporting on wildfire smoke? Fred Hutch clinicians and researchers are available to their expertise. Dr. Trang VoPham is an epidemiologist focusing on environmental exposures and risk, follow her on social media.
Individual features in a community, like microbes or types of chemicals, affect the overall community’s development and help determine the similarity of different communities over time and space. Scientists developed a novel ecological metric, called βNTIfeat, that helps to investigate the roles of different features in community development. The resulting information can inform models of how ecosystems respond to disturbances such as climate change.
Kenyan teenage girls who were given menstrual cups were less likely to acquire certain kinds of vaginal infections and were more likely to have a healthy vaginal microbiome, found a study by University of Illinois Chicago researchers.
In a multi-generation experiment, researchers from the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) found microbes helped plants cope with drought, but not in response to plants’ cries for help. Instead, the environment itself selected for drought-tolerant microbes. And while those hardy microbes were doing their thing, they just happened to make plants more drought-tolerant, too.
Animals and humans coexist with a vast array of microorganisms known as the microbiome, forming an intricate relationship that can range from mutually beneficial to pathogenic.
Genetic engineers use synthetic biology to provide novel functions in microbes by introducing new genes. A new method called Serine recombinase-Assisted Genome Engineering (SAGE) borrows components from bacterial viruses to aid the stable insertion of genes into bacterial chromosomes. This new tool has the potential to work well in many species of bacteria, including newly discovered bacteria that must grow outside controlled laboratory conditions. These features will help accelerate synthetic biology research for bioenergy.
A new study shows that skin-feeding does more than provide nutrients for young caecilians. It also helps the mother pass microbes from her skin and gut down to her young, inoculating them to jump-start a healthy microbiome. This is the first direct evidence that parental care in an amphibian plays a role in passing microbes from one generation to the next.
At the 2023 AACC Annual Scientific Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo, laboratory experts will present cutting-edge research and technology that is shaping the future of clinical testing and patient care.
There is growing evidence that consuming prebiotics — certain types of fiber often found in plants that stimulate beneficial bacteria in your gut — can help to maintain a healthy gut microbiome. In a new study, scientists estimated the prebiotic content of thousands of food types by using preexisting literature to find out which foods offer the highest prebiotic content.
Scientists from The Federal Research Centre “Fundamentals of Biotechnology” of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Research Center of Biotechnology RAS) elaborated mathematical algorithm that enabled to find dispersed repeated elements in genome with great accuracy.
Can biosurfactants increase microbiological oil degradation in North Sea seawater? An international research team from the universities of Stuttgart und Tübingen, together with the China West Normal University and the University of Georgia, have been exploring this question and the results have revealed the potential for a more effective and environmentally friendly oil spill response.
The widespread, pathogenic microbe Staphylococcus aureus can colonize the skin and mucous membranes throughout the body, particularly the vagina and gastrointestinal tract.
Microbes have enormous potential to produce metabolites with potential industrial applications. To do so, microbes use groups of genes called biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) that code for the sets of necessary enzymes. Scientists have computationally predicted the products of hundreds of thousands of BGCs, but have experimentally confirmed fewer than 2,000 of them. Researchers have now developed a computational and experimental strategy to redesign BGCs and determine the natural chemical products they create.
A newly described type of chemistry in fungi is both surprisingly common and likely to involve highly reactive enzymes, two traits that make the genes involved useful signposts pointing to a potential treasure trove of biological compounds with medical and chemical applications.It was also nearly invisible to scientists until now.
Over the past decade, teams of engineers, chemists and biologists have analyzed the physical and chemical properties of cicada wings, hoping to unlock the secret of their ability to kill microbes on contact. If this function of nature can be replicated by science, it may lead to products with inherently antibacterial surfaces that are more effective than current chemical treatments.
A team of researchers from the University of Maryland School of Maryland’s Institute of Human Virology published new findings that emphasize the crucial role of the urinary and genital tract microbiota in adverse pregnancy outcomes and genomic instability that originate in the womb during fetal development.
Together, Notre Dame's Paul Bohn and Joshua Shrout are searching for new ways to observe microorganisms like P. aeruginosa, moving beyond the traditional process of observing cell cultures grown in a Petri dish.
The International Alliance for Phytobiomes Research is pleased to announce the appointment of Trevor Charles, Professor in the Department of Biology at University of Waterloo in Canada and Director of the Waterloo Centre for Microbial Research, as a new Board member of the organization
Bacteria found in 74 kitchens spread among 5 European countries were mostly harmless according to new research published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology.
Scott Baker, fungal biotechnology scientist and microbiologist Davinia Salvachúa break down the importance of fungi to the environment. They also dispel fears that fungi could affect humans as depicted in the fictional series, "The Last of Us," and if fungi are our friend or foe.
The community of microbial predators influences the composition of the bacterial community in wastewater. This explains seasonal variations in the microbial community that affect the efficiency of water treatment.
Researchers led by Lund University in Sweden have assisted microbiologists in Ukraine in investigating bacterial resistance among the war-wounded patients treated in hospitals.
For a number of years, mounting evidence has shown that the microbiome – the totality of all microorganisms that inhabit a living being – interacts with its host in various ways and can influence key life processes.
A new study investigated the role of the genes in individual switchgrass plants in determining the composition of the bacterial communities associated with the plants’ roots.
Hangovers are common among people who drink alcohol. Previous research showing that a hangover’s combination of both mental and physical misery can occur after a single episode of alcohol consumption also revealed that a rapid breakdown of alcohol into acetaldehyde is associated with less severe hangovers. Findings from an investigation of the metabolic influence of oral microbiota on hangover severity will be shared at the 46th annual scientific meeting of the Research Society on Alcohol (RSA) in Bellevue, Washington.
Probiotics could be used as an effective treatment strategy for certain intestinal diseases, such as Crohn’s disease. Researchers reporting in ACS Central Science have developed a microgel delivery system for probiotics that keeps “good” bacteria safe while actively clearing out “bad” ones.
In a study by a research group at Baylor College of Medicine, oral administration of a commercially available probiotic bacterial strain was found to improve dry eye disease in an animal model.
New research by a team at Pennsylvania State University suggests that microbes in the human gut could be harnessed to block absorption of toxic metals like mercury and help the body absorb useful nutritional ones, like iron.
Associations between the human microbiome and health outcomes are facilitating the development of microbiome-targeted recommendations and treatments to help prevent and treat disease.
To study microbes, scientists need to collect, process, and share data in a standardized way. The National Microbiome Data Collaborative (NMDC) Ambassador Program launched in 2021 to increase awareness and adoption of microbiome metadata standards. During the program’s year-long term in 2021 and 2022, more than 800 researchers attended 23 Ambassador-hosted presentations.
Alzheimer’s disease causes changes to the brain that begin two decades or more before symptoms appear. A study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis reveals that the bacteria that live in the gut also change before Alzheimer’s symptoms arise, a discovery that could lead to diagnostics or treatments for Alzheimer’s disease that target the gut microbiome.
Newborns delivered by cesarean section who are swabbed with the vaginal fluid of their mothers after birth have beneficial bacteria restored to their skin surface and stools, according to a new study. In the first randomized study of its kind, published in the science journal mBio, a team of researchers found the process, known as vaginal seeding, definitively engrafted new strains of maternal bacteria in the babies’ bodies.
Director Joseph Mougous notes that interbacterial interactions affect humans in many ways, such as whether certain pathogens succeed in invading the gastrointestinal tract. Mougous has published findings about the bacterial battles that occur even amongst the beneficial microbes in our gut, where the outcome can ultimately also influence health.