Artemisinin is the most powerful anti-malaria drug in use today and it commonly obtained by extracting the drug from Artemsisia annua, the sweet wormwood tree.     Synthetic biology can…

Most college students will admit to searching their couch cushions for extra coins to do laundry. But Jon McKinney's cushion hunt isn't about finding money. He wants to help epidemiologists identify…

An immune system response that is critical to the first stages of fighting off viruses and harmful bacteria comes from an entirely different direction than most scientists had thought, according to a…

The detailed structure of a protective 'jacket' that surrounds cells of the Clostridium difficile superbug, and which helps the dangerous pathogen stick to human host cells and tissues, is revealed…

Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California have identified a common Achilles' heel in a wide range of seasonal and pandemic influenza A viruses. The study found an…

Like it or not, your mouth is home to a thriving community of microbial life. More than 600 different species of bacteria reside in this "microbiome," yet everyone hosts a unique set of bugs, and…

Scientists have identified a small family of lab-made proteins that neutralize a broad range of influenza A viruses, including the H5N1 avian virus, the 1918 pandemic influenza virus and seasonal…

Want to get a lot of money thrown at immunology?   Show that sex can not only be exhausting, if you do it right, it can also cause drops in the immune system. According to a study in Journal of…

The Rift Valley fever virus is a mosquito-borne African virus that causes fever in humans, inflicting liver damage, blindness and even death on a small percentage of the people it infects. Rift…

Parents and advocates who believe vaccines cause autism were dealt a double blow this week. On the scientific front, a discredited 1998 study that launched the vaccine-autism debate onto the…