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IU researchers awarded NIH grant to develop new weapon to fight against antibiotic-resistant bacteria

The alarming increase of antibiotic-resistant bacteria poses health and economic threats worldwide, with more than 2 million Americans infected by the bacteria each year. Now, a team of Indiana University chemists and biologists has been awarded a major grant to develop and use a chemical tagging method to better understand how bacteria build their cell wall, which is still the best target for new antibiotics.

10 Feb 2015

CWRU researcher receives $3.9 million grant for HIV research

A researcher at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine has been awarded $3.9 million to determine if the combination of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and drug abuse is a double kick in the gut, leading to organ damage throughout the body.

10 Feb 2015

BellBrook Labs announces launch of new Transcreener UDP TR-FRET Assay

BellBrook Labs, a leader in high throughput screening assays for drug discovery, announced the launch of a TR-FRET (time resolved Forster resonance energy transfer) version of the company's Transcreener UDP Assay, a high throughput screening assay for glycosyltransferases and other UDP-producing enzymes.

15 Jan 2015

Yeast-eating gut bacteria can help battle bowel problems and autoimmune diseases

Human gut bacteria that feast on the yeast contained in fermented foods like bread and beer provides clues to new treatments for people suffering from bowel diseases.

9 Jan 2015

Findings could accelerate development of prebiotic medicines for bowel problems, autoimmune diseases

Bacteria that have evolved to eat their way through yeast in the human gut could inform the development of new treatments for people suffering from bowel diseases.

8 Jan 2015

Research findings may lead to new ways to thwart drug resistance

Penicillin, the wonder drug discovered in 1928, works in ways that are still mysterious almost a century later. One of the oldest and most widely used antibiotics, it attacks enzymes that build the bacterial cell wall, a mesh that surrounds the bacterial membrane and gives the cells their integrity and shape. Once that wall is breached, bacteria die -- allowing us to recover from infection.

6 Dec 2014

Infections due to Staphylococcus aureus bacterium aggravate neurodermatitis

Because the skin and its function as a barrier are severely compromised in neurodermatitis patients, a large number of bacterial species are able to multiply - including the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus.

21 Nov 2014

Health benefits of modified formulation of curcumin supplements

The health benefits of over-the-counter curcumin supplements might not get past your gut, but new research shows that a modified formulation of the spice releases its anti-inflammatory goodness throughout the body.

7 Nov 2014

LLNL scientists issued patent for producing antimicrobial compounds to fight superbugs

Superbugs, antibiotic-resistant bacteria, have been on the rise since antibiotics were first introduced 80 years ago. That's because these germ-fighting agents have lost their punch from being overprescribed and misused, allowing bacteria pathogens to develop immunities against them.

8 Oct 2014

Research: Gut bacteria may cause animals to gain weight

A species of gut bacteria called Clostridium ramosum, coupled with a high-fat diet, may cause animals to gain weight. The work is published this week in mBio-, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.

30 Sep 2014

UMass Amherst cell biologists propose new detailed cytokinesis model

Along with copying and splitting DNA during division, cells must have a way to break safely into two viable daughter cells, a process called cytokinesis. But the molecular basis of how plant cells accomplish this without mistakes has been unclear for many years.

26 Sep 2014

TSRI scientists devise new vancomycin-based antibiotic to rout resistant bacteria

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have devised a new antibiotic based on vancomycin that is powerfully effective against vancomycin-resistant strains of MRSA and other disease-causing bacteria.

18 Sep 2014

Researchers reveal how Listeria is able to survive antibiotics

Listeria is a dreaded bacterium that can be found in both unprocessed and processed foods. Over the last few weeks, 28 persons in Denmark have been infected with Listeria from processed food, sold in supermarkets. 13 have died.

28 Aug 2014

Analysis of Candida glabrata fungus mutations reveals new genes that confer anti-fungal tolerance

A group of researchers at the Max F. Perutz Laboratories has created one of the three world's largest gene libraries for the Candida glabrata yeast, which is harmful to humans.

20 Aug 2014

Combination of NASBA and real-time qPCR detects aspergillosis with 100% accuracy

The fungal infection invasive aspergillosis (IA) can be life threatening, especially in patients whose immune systems are weakened by chemotherapy or immunosuppressive drugs. Despite the critical need for early detection, IA remains difficult to diagnose.

14 Aug 2014

New way for development of barley with resistance to powdery mildew

New research at the University of Adelaide has opened the way for the development of new lines of barley with resistance to powdery mildew.

26 Jul 2014

Researchers devise new method for extracting molecules from live cells

University of Houston researchers have devised a new method for extracting molecules from live cells without disrupting cell development, work that could provide new avenues for the diagnosis of cancer and other diseases.

18 Jul 2014

New gene therapy may be effective for fighting fungal infections in cancer patients

Sleeping Beauty and fungal infections - not two items one would normally associate together, but for immunocompromised cancer patients they may prove to be a helpful combination.

9 Jul 2014

Clear advances in the fight against tuberculosis are within reach, say immunologists

Leading immunologists expect to see some clear advances in the fight against tuberculosis, an infectious disease that is widespread the world over. Professor Stefan Kaufmann, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin, echoed these sentiments at today's launch of the scientific programme for the 64th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting at Lindau, Germany.

2 Jul 2014

EnGeneIC plans for Phase 2a trial of EGFR-targeted doxorubicin-packaged EDV nanocells for GBM

EnGeneIC, Ltd., an emerging biopharmaceutical company focused on revolutionizing the treatment of cancer through the targeted delivery of therapeutic agents directly to cancer cells, today announced plans to move forward with a Phase 2a clinical trial in the U.S. using its formulation of EGFR-targeted, EDV nanocells packaged with doxorubicin for the treatment of recurrent glioblastoma (GBM), a common and aggressive type of brain tumor.

26 Jun 2014