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Microbiology

showing 16-20 of 54 breaks

Ouch, that needle hurts! How some viruses inject their DNA

Bacteriophage T4 is one of the most common of the viruses that infects Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria that serve as the hosts. To accomplish this feat, phage T4 employs a fascinating nano-scale injection machine to first rupture the host's cell membrane and then inject... click to read more

  • Ameneh Maghsoodi | Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
  • Ioan Andricioaei | Associate Professor at University of California, Irvine, California, USA
  • Noel Perkins | Professor at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Views 4929
Reading time 3.5 min
published on Sep 25, 2020
A soil bacterium unmasks a human enzyme

Life, as we know it, exists thanks to membranes. As active functional barriers between a living cell and its environment, and between compartments within the cell, membranes ensure selective entry and exit of substances, energy generation, and the sending, receiving, and processing of signals essential... click to read more

  • S. Padmanabhan | Professor at Instituto de Química Física “Rocasolano” (CSIC), Madrid, Spain
  • Montserrat Elías-Arnanz | Professor at Department of Genetics, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain
Views 4459
Reading time 3.5 min
published on Sep 3, 2020
Producing next-gen polymers out of antimicrobial-resistant superbugs

Bacteria survive in an array of environments, so they are constantly exposed to a wide variety of toxic molecules. To be able to survive in different environments, bacterial cells must be able to actively protect themselves from toxins. Often they do this by breaking down... click to read more

  • Varsha Naidu | PhD student at Department of Molecular Sciences, Macquarie University, Australia
  • Karl Hassan | Senior Lecturer at Department of Molecular Sciences, Macquarie University, Australia; School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Newcastle, Australia
  • Ian Paulsen | Professor at Department of Molecular Sciences, Macquarie University, Australia
Views 5757
Reading time 3.5 min
published on May 27, 2020
What our blood can tell us about the bugs in our gut

We share an intimate mutual relationship with the microbes in our gut, which we call gut microbiome. It helps us digest and absorb nutrients from our food, and also support our immune system to develop and function properly. Despite considerable progress in our understanding of... click to read more

  • Noa Rappaport | Research Scientist at Institute for Systems Biology, Seattle, WA, USA
  • Tomasz Wilmanski | Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Institute for Systems Biology, Seattle, WA, USA
Views 6443
Reading time 3.5 min
published on Feb 26, 2020
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria in East and West London public settings

The discovery of antibiotics made many bacterial infections easily curable. However, today the world is facing a 'post-antibiotic era' crisis as bacteria are rapidly evolving new ways to resist antibiotics. Yearly, 700, 000 deaths are caused by bacterial infections that are untreatable with currently available... click to read more

  • Rory Cave | PhD student at University of East London, School of Health, Sport and Bioscience, Water Lane, London, UK
Views 5800
Reading time 3.5 min
published on Feb 21, 2020