E. coli News and Research

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E. coli or Escherichia coli is the name of a type of bacteria that lives in your intestines. Most types of E. coli are harmless. However, some types can make you sick and cause diarrhea. One type causes travelers' diarrhea. The worst type of E. coli causes bloody diarrhea, and can sometimes cause kidney failure and even death. These problems are most likely to occur in children and in adults with weak immune systems. You can get E. coli infections by eating foods containing the bacteria. To help avoid food poisoning and prevent infection, handle food safely. Cook meat well, wash fruits and vegetables before eating or cooking them, and avoid unpasteurized milk and juices. You can also get the infection by swallowing water in a swimming pool contaminated with human waste. Most cases of E. coli infection get better without treatment in 5 to 10 days.

Common sugar molecule promising target for development of broad-spectrum vaccine

Developing new vaccines to protect against diseases that plague humans is fraught with numerous challenges-one being that microbes tend to vary how they look on the surface to avoid being identified and destroyed by the immune system. However, researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) have discovered a sugar polymer that is common on the cell surface of several pathogens.

28 May 2013

Molecular switch protects salmonella from harm during infection

For the first time, researchers have found a particular kind of molecular switch in the food poisoning bacteria Salmonella Typhimurium under infection-like conditions. This switch, using a process called S-thiolation, appears to be used by the bacteria to respond to changes in the environment during infection and might protect it from harm, researchers report this week online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition.

28 May 2013

New approach to genetic engineering reduces time and effort needed to insert genes into bacteria

A new, streamlined approach to genetic engineering drastically reduces the time and effort needed to insert new genes into bacteria, the workhorses of biotechnology, scientists are reporting.

24 May 2013

GUVAX reports successful results in phase I study of oral, Escherichia coli diarrhea vaccine

The University of Gothenburg Vaccine Research Institute (GUVAX) announces successful results in a placebo controlled phase I study of an oral, inactivated Escherichia coli diarrhea vaccine.

22 May 2013

Rice University computational study tracks regulatory mechanisms of E. coli cells

Environment is not the only factor in shaping regulatory patterns -- and it might not even be the primary factor, according to a new Rice University study that looks at how cells' protein networks relate to a bacteria's genome.

22 May 2013

Certain varieties of clay have ability to kill MRSA, says ASU researcher

In the race to protect society from infectious microbes, the bugs are outrunning us. The need for new therapeutic agents is acute, given the emergence of novel pathogens as well as old foes bearing heightened antibiotic resistance.

20 May 2013

AGA researchers to present exciting data on GI disorders at DDW 2013

Clinicians, researchers and scientists from around the world will gather for Digestive Disease Week- 2013, the largest and most prestigious gastroenterology meeting, from May 18 to 21, 2013, at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL.

18 May 2013

Stanford engineers develop new type of nanoscavenger for water purification

Among its many talents, silver is an antibiotic. Titanium dioxide is known to glom on to certain heavy metals and pollutants. Yet other materials do the same for salt. In recent years, environmental engineers have sought to disinfect, depollute, and desalinate contaminated water using nanoscale particles of these active materials. Engineers call them nanoscavengers. The hitch from a technical standpoint is that it is nearly impossible to reclaim the nanoscavengers once in the water.

16 May 2013

Researchers show a model of how cells' regulatory systems work

How cells regulate their own function by "accelerating and braking" is important basic knowledge when new intelligent medicines are being developed, or when plant cells are tweaked to produce more bioenergy.

16 May 2013

ALKBH7 protein plays key role in controlling programmed necrosis pathway

When cells suffer too much DNA damage, they are usually forced to undergo programmed cell death, or apoptosis. However, cancer cells often ignore these signals, flourishing even after chemotherapy drugs have ravaged their DNA.

15 May 2013

New study provides clear picture of the impact and causes of diarrheal diseases

A new international study published today in The Lancet provides the clearest picture yet of the impact and most common causes of diarrheal diseases, the second leading killer of young children globally, after pneumonia.

14 May 2013

Scientists use phages to prevent bacteria on medical devices

They're ba-ack! But in a new disease-fighting role. Viruses that infect and kill bacteria - used to treat infections in the pre-antibiotic era a century ago and in the former Soviet Union today - may have a new role in preventing formation of the sticky "biofilms" of bacteria responsible for infections on implanted medical devices.

9 May 2013

Composition of gut microbiota in new-born baby's gut linked to rate of early infant growth

The composition of gut microbiota in a new-born baby's gut has been linked to the rate of early infant growth, reports research published this week in PLOS Computational Biology.

9 May 2013

More work needed to understand use of nanosilver, say researchers

Researchers from the University of New South Wales have cautioned that more work is needed to understand how micro-organisms respond to the disinfecting properties of silver nano-particles, increasingly used in medical and environmental applications.

9 May 2013

Farming practices for food safety threaten valuable ecological systems

Meticulous attention to food safety is a good thing. As consumers, we like to hear that produce growers and distributers go above and beyond food safety mandates to ensure that healthy fresh fruits and vegetables do not carry bacteria or viruses that can make us sick.

6 May 2013

Study may pave way for new strategies to fight cancer cells

For the first time, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have managed to obtain detailed images of the way in which the transport protein GLUT transports sugars into cells.

29 Apr 2013

Study reveals humans are passing antibiotic resistance to wildlife in protected areas

A team of Virginia Tech researchers has discovered that humans are passing antibiotic resistance to wildlife, especially in protected areas where numbers of humans are limited.

25 Apr 2013

GeneCapture developing new device with one-hour pathogen testing capabilities

A company hatched as a partnership between The University of Alabama in Huntsville and chemical engineering professor Dr. Krishnan Chittur is in the design phase for a device that can provide physicians one-hour pathogen testing capabilities.

23 Apr 2013

Edible malarial vaccine may work against other viral and bacterial infections

Can scientists rid malaria from the Third World by simply feeding algae genetically engineered with a vaccine? That's the question biologists at UC San Diego sought to answer after they demonstrated last May that algae can be engineered to produce a vaccine that blocks malaria transmission.

22 Apr 2013

Research shows how breakdowns in DNA copying process contribute to cancer

Research led by a scientist at the University of York has thrown new light on the way breakdowns in the DNA copying process inside cells can contribute to cancer and other diseases.

19 Apr 2013