Microbiology

Using transcriptional profiling, researchers at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University have uncovered previously unknown gene expression patterns in malaria. The discovery could lead to the development of more potent drugs or a vaccine for malaria, which is transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes and kills up to three million people each year. Transcriptional profiling is the measurement of the activity of thousands of genes at once, to create a global picture of cellular function. These profiles can, for example, distinguish between cells that are actively dividing, or show how…

Bacteria that infect chronic wounds can be deadly to maggot 'biosurgeons' used to treat the lesions, say researchers writing in the journal Microbiology. During the study, maggots applied to simulated wounds heavily infected with the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa, were unable to treat the wound and were left dead after 20 hours. The findings could lead to more effective treatment of wounds and the development of novel antibiotics. Chronic wounds, such as leg ulcers, affect 1% of the Western population and are painful and difficult to treat. Use of maggots to disinfect wounds is an ancient…

T cells, B cells - antibodies - intervene when viruses and bacteria make us ill and they wipe out intruders effectively but cause collateral damage in the body's own tissue, which has to be repaired. In order for our immune system to not be in a constant state of 'red alert', causing chronic inflammation, there is a second defense system switched in series between our bodies and the outside world, essential because because there are trillions of bacteria on the barrier tissue like our lungs and skin. The majority of these microorganisms have been living with our body's cells as good neighbors…

Viruses are thought to spread by entering a cell, replicating, and then moving on to infect new cells. But a new study published in Science reveals that some viruses spread much faster than previously thought, and it may be possible to stop the spread of disease by slowing them down. Using live video microscopy, the scientists discovered that the vaccinia virus was spreading four times more quickly than thought possible, based on the rate at which it replicates. Videos of virus-infected cells revealed that the virus spreads by surfing from cell to cell, using a mechanism that allows it to…

I think that in many ways, the motivation of scientists is similar to that of prospectors in the 1800s. The prospectors had gold fever, grubstakes, the ability to persevere against long odds of success, and the rare peak experience of striking the mother lode. Scientists have idea fever, government grants as grubstakes, the ability to persevere against long odds, and the rare experience of having one of their ideas turn out to be truly significant, which might happen once in a scientific lifetime. I'll describe one such idea, then speculate on where it might take us in the next ten years. But…

Reporting in the current online edition of the journal BMC Medicine, researchers from UCLA say they can predict the number of H1N1 flu infections that could occur during a commercial flight using novel mathematical modeling techniques. They found that transmission could be rather significant, particularly during long flights, if the infected individual travels in economy class. Specifically, two to five infections could occur during a five-hour flight, five to 10 during an 11-hour flight, and seven to 17 during a 17-hour flight. "Clearly, it was air travel, by transporting infectious…

Staying in a multi-bed hospital room dramatically increases the risk of acquiring a serious infectious disease,  according to the findings of a study published on-line in the American Journal of Infection Control. The authors say the chance of acquiring serious infections like C. difficile (Clostridium difficile) rises with the addition of every hospital roommate. "If you're in a two, three or four-bedded room, each time you get a new roommate your risk of acquiring these serious infections increases by 10 per cent," says Dr. Zoutman, professor of Community Health and Epidemiology at…

A team of researchers at Binghamton University who were able identify specific types of chronic wound bacteria and test their ability to produce cell-cell signaling molecules say listening in on bacterial conversations could be one way of improving chronic wound care. Their findings have been published in the Journal of Applied Microbiology. "Bacteria, often viewed as simplistic creatures, are in fact very sociable units of life," said Alex Rickard, assistant professor of biological sciences. "They can physically and chemically interact with one another and are quite selective about who they…

Researchers from the University of Texas and Shriners Hospitals for Children say a compound from licorice root (glycyrrhizin from Glycyrrhiza glabra) might be an effective treatment for antibiotic-resistant infections resulting from severe burns. Their new study featured in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology suggests that glycyrrhizin may improve the ability of damaged skin to create antimicrobial peptides, proteins that serve as the first line of defense against infection. To make the discovery, the researchers used three groups of mice. The first group was normal, the second group was burned…

Despite the multitudes of microbes that reside on earth, our knowledge of them is quite limited. Of the estimated nonillion (1030) that exist, scientists have or are in the process of decoding 2,000 microbial genomes,  which means there is a vast unknown realm awaiting those researchers intent on exploring microorganisms that inhabit this planet. In hopes of exploring that realm and expanding our understanding of microbes, a team from the the Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI) have released the first volume of the Genomic Encyclopedia of Bacteria and Archaea (GEBA…