|
Five researchers at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) received the APL invention of the year award for their device that can rapidly identify whether microbial pathogens are resistant to antibiotics.
|
|
Chaotropes, which ordinarily disrupt macromolecules, apparently enhance the survival of microorganisms that are subjected to extreme cold, according to John Hallsworth of Queen's University of Belfast in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and his collaborators.
|
|
Missing siderophores may account for why microbiologists can culture only about 1% of the microorganisms that they collect from diverse environments, according to Kim Lewis of Northeastern University and his collaborators there and at nearby Harvard Medical School, both in Boston, Mass.
|
|
A synthetic and slightly streamlined version of the Mycoplasma mycoides genome, consisting of about 1.08 million base pairs, worked fine and took over the genetic controls after being transplanted into a similar but distinct host cell, Mycoplasma capricolum, according to Clyde Hutchison from the J. Craig Venter Institute, San Diego, Calif.
|
|
Microfluidics, lithographic fabrications processes, and nanotechnology are major new analytical components that are helping to change how scientists study microorganisms, sometimes enabling the study of individual cells instead of massive numbers of cells, according to Steven Quake of Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif.
|
|
Amid anguish and anger over the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico- particularly its destructive impact on that ecosystem-indigenous microorganisms will slowly but relentlessly play a major role in degrading much of that oil and helping to restore the equilibrium of that region, according to Jay Grimes of the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg and Ronald Atlas of the University of Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky, who spoke during a special session about the oil spill during the 110th ASM General Meeting last May in San Diego.
|
|
Bee colony collapse disorder could be due to the impact of two very different pathogens-one a fungus, the other several similar types of RNA viruses- coinfecting and thus weakening bees during a vulnerable stage as they move from winter to spring, according to Jay Evans of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) research labs in Beltsville, Md.
|
|
Cronobacter sakazakii (formerly Enterobacter sakazakii) and other species in this genus are foodborne pathogens that can cause rare but serious and often fatal infections among premature and newborn infants, according to Angelika Lehner of the University of Zurich in Switzerland and her collaborators; she spoke during the symposium, "Persistence of Foodborne Pathogens from Farm to Fork."
|
|
In addition to metabolizing fatty acids and ridding cells of toxic substances, peroxisomes help cells fend off viruses, acting alone and in concert with mitochondria.
|
|
Click the title to view all the mini-topics for this issue.
|
|
|
|
|
Current Topics
Facebook
del.icio.us
Digg
Furl 
Yahoo!My Web
StumbleUpon
Google
Technorati 
reddit
Twitter
