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Microbiology

showing 26-30 of 50 breaks

Sleeping bacteria survive antibiotic treatment and hijack the host immune system

Since the 1940s, it has become easier to treat bacterial infections due to the discovery of antibiotics. These drugs work by corrupting active processes in bacteria, such as the ability to make DNA or proteins. By taking antibiotics when we are infected, we kill most... click to read more

  • Daphne Stapels | Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Imperial College London, London, UK
  • Peter Hill | Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Imperial College London, London, UK
Views 3899
Reading time 3.5 min
published on May 6, 2019
Rare rains bring death to microbes of the Mars-Like Atacama Desert

The Atacama Desert in northern Chile is the driest and oldest desert on earth. It has been an arid place for the last 150 million years, and hyperarid (an extremely dry place) for the last 15 million years. In the Atacama, rain is extremely rare,... click to read more

  • Armando Azua-Bustos | Research Scientist at Centro de Astrobiología, Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial, Madrid, Spain
Views 3071
Reading time 4 min
published on Apr 12, 2019
A bacterium with the power of changing the course of Human history

Our work started when we discovered that Neolithic farmers from Sweden from 4,900 years ago were infected with Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes plague, one of the most devastating infectious diseases of all times. This finding could potentially explain, why there was an unexpectedly... click to read more

  • Nicolás Rascovan | Postdoctoral Research Fellow at MIVEGEC Institute, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France
Views 3283
Reading time 3.5 min
published on Mar 15, 2019
Finding Dracula’s silver bullet: the fight against a bloodthirsty fungus

That's correct, the darkness loving, light fearing, blood sucking prince of darkness, Count Dracula was a fungus. In our recent research, we describe that just like Dracula, the fungus Aspergillus fumigatus "wants your blood". The parallels are uncanny, both prefer dark places (Dracula: a coffin,... click to read more

  • Joe Hsu | Professor at Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
Views 3913
Reading time 3.5 min
published on Jan 16, 2019
Virus infection: may the (binding) force be with you?

Virus-related infections are diseases we have all experienced. From the common flu or cold to hepatitis, mononucleosis, and AIDS, viruses are the lead cause of numerous illnesses. Even though trillions of virus particles peacefully occupy our inner body, some others are real troublemakers. But why... click to read more

  • Martin Delguste | PhD student at Louvain Institute of Bimolecular Science and Technology, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium
  • David Alsteens | Professor at Louvain Institute of Bimolecular Science and Technology, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium
Views 3332
Reading time 4 min
published on Jan 11, 2019