Microbiology

How Small Can Life Get? These Ultra-Small Bacteria May Be At The Limit

There is microbiology and then there is micro-micro-microbiology. The existence of ultra-small bacteria has been debated for decades, but now there is comprehensive electron microscopy and DNA-based evidence of the elusive microbes that are about as small ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 27 2015 - 5:35pm

Microbes Cleaning Fukushima Soil

Salt-loving, halophilic, microbes could donate proteins to clean up radioactive strontium and caesium ions from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant incident in Japan. The X-ray structure of a beta-lactamase enzyme from one such microbe, the halophil ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 10 2015 - 11:08am

Optimizing Tomato Immune System Could Lead To Better Bacteria Protection

In parts of the country that do not have icebergs washing up on shore or falling from the sky, it is almost spring planting season.  For tomatoes, that mean unless you use a toxic organic or synthetic chemical, there is a chance of bacterial infection, lea ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 12 2015 - 7:30am

No Cleanse Needed: You Have A Liver, It Even Has A Backup System

Scientists writing in Nature Communications have discovered an antioxidant system that, like a generator kicking in when the power fails, helps sustain the liver when other systems are missing or compromised. This understudy 'takes the stage' wh ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 21 2015 - 6:56pm

Common Respiratory Infection Bacteria On Verge Of Becoming Superbugs

Antibiotic resistance is poised to spread globally among bacteria frequently implicated in respiratory and urinary infection, according to new research. A recent study shows that two genes that confer resistance against a particularly strong class of antib ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 25 2015 - 4:01pm

Sulfolobus Islandicus Microbes Frozen In Fear By Presence Of SSV9

Sulfolobus islandicus microbes can go dormant, ceasing to grow and reproduce, in order to protect themselves from infection by Sulfolobus spindle-shaped virus 9 (SSV9). The dormant microbes are able to recover if the virus goes away within 24 to 48 hours, ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 6 2015 - 11:30pm

MRSA Exposed To Cigarette Smoke Becomes More Aggressive

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), an antibiotic-resistant superbug, can cause life-threatening skin, bloodstream and surgical site infections or pneumonia- a new reports finds that cigarette smoke may make things even worse. "We alr ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 7 2015 - 8:30am

Cheese Metabolism Study May Make Lowering Cholesterol Tasty

Though they are catching up nicely in obesity and heart disease rates now, historically the French have been something of a paradox; they drink a lot of booze, they eat a lot of cheese and they don't exercise, but they had lower cardiovascular disease ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Apr 8 2015 - 2:40pm

CRISPR Antivirus Tool- Cas9 Inibits Hepatitis C In Human Cells

Researchers have adapted an antiviral enzyme from bacteria called Cas9 into an instrument for inhibiting hepatitis C virus in human cells. Cas9 is part of the CRISPR genetic defense system in bacteria, which scientists have been harnessing to edit DNA in ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 28 2015 - 8:43am

Kitchen Disinfectant Wipe Usage Reduces Risk Of Food Poisoning By 99 Percent

Consumers can reduce the risk of Campylobacter food poisoning by up to 99.2% by using disinfectant wipes in the kitchen after preparing poultry, according to a new study ...

Article - News Staff - May 3 2015 - 1:22pm