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Study finds links between human genetic variation, gut mycobiome, and chronic disease risk

Clinicians' ability to diagnose and treat chronic diseases is limited by scientific uncertainty around factors contributing to disease risk. A study published September 2nd in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Drs. Emily Van Syoc, Emily Davenport, and Seth Bordenstein at The Pennsylvania State University, United States, uncovers evidence of the first ternary relationships between human genetic variation, variation in gut mycobiome, and risk of developing chronic disease.

2 Sep 2025

Generative AI creates life-saving antibiotics from scratch

What if generative AI could design life-saving antibiotics, not just art and text? In a new Cell Biomaterials paper, Penn researchers introduce AMP-Diffusion, a generative AI tool used to create tens of thousands of new antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) - short strings of amino acids, the building blocks of proteins - with bacteria-killing potential.

2 Sep 2025

Yale researchers uncover new RNA editing tools for safer genetic surgery

The ability to correct disease-causing genetic mistakes using genome editors holds great promise in medicine, but it is not without risk.

21 Aug 2025

AI discovers promising antibiotic compounds in Archaea microbes

They've survived for billions of years in boiling acid, deep-sea vents and salt flats. Now, some of Earth's oldest life forms - microbes called Archaea - are offering a new weapon in the fight against one of today's most urgent health threats: antibiotic resistance.

12 Aug 2025

Smallest known protein-based enzyme HARP reveals dual role in tRNA processing

To build proteins, cells rely on a molecule called transfer RNA, or tRNA. tRNAs act like protein-building couriers, where they read the genetic instructions from messenger RNA, mRNA, and deliver the right amino acids to ribosomes, the cell's protein-making factories.

7 Jul 2025

How your diet and probiotics can improve vaccine effectiveness

Researchers uncover how probiotics and diet shape the gut microbiome to boost vaccine efficacy, offering new avenues for precision immunization.

23 Mar 2025

Asgard archaea provide clues to the origin of complex life forms

Ten years ago, nobody knew that Asgard archaea even existed. In 2015, however, researchers examining deep-sea sediments discovered gene fragments that indicated a new and previously undiscovered form of microbes.

22 Mar 2025

How your gut microbiome shapes anxiety

Researchers examine the role of the gut microbiome in the development of anxiety disorders.

12 Mar 2025

Scientists track diet through stool DNA, revealing a new way to monitor nutrition

Scientists developed MEDI, a method to estimate dietary intake from food DNA in human stool, offering a more accurate alternative to self-reported food tracking.

19 Feb 2025

Study highlights the need for more diversity in vaginal microbiome research

This study emphasizes the need for global equity in vaginal microbiome research, addressing health disparities and improving female health strategies worldwide.

14 Feb 2025

A global look at the gut: Scientists highlight microbiome diversity

Researchers analyzed 168,464 samples to uncover how geographic and technical factors shape global gut microbiome variation, highlighting underrepresented regions and technical biases.

23 Jan 2025

Study shows how microbial load affects gut health and disease

In sickness or in health, the billions of microorganisms that inhabit our guts are our constant companions throughout life. In the past few decades, scientists have shown how the nature of this 'microbiome' can provide valuable clues to human diseases and their treatment.

14 Nov 2024

ERS Genomics and Université de Montréal sign CRISPR/Cas9 license agreement

Université de Montréal gains access to ERS Genomics' CRISPR/Cas9 patents, launching platforms for genome-wide screening and fostering research collaborations.

From ERS Genomics 1 Oct 2024

Enhanced TnpB protein offers new possibilities for gene editing

CRISPR-Cas is used broadly in research and medicine to edit, insert, delete or regulate genes in organisms. TnpB is an ancestor of this well-known "gene scissor" but is much smaller and thus easier to transport into cells.

23 Sep 2024

How plant-based, Mediterranean, and Western diets affect gut microbiota and disease

Researchers examine how different dietary components affect the gut microbiome and development of non-communicable diseases.

20 Sep 2024

ERS Genomics and medicines discovery catapult sign CRISPR/Cas9 license agreement

Dublin, Ireland, and Cheshire, UK, 04 September 2024: ERS Genomics Limited (‘ERS’), the CRISPR licensing Company, and Medicines Discovery Catapult (‘MDC’), an independent, not-for-profit drug discovery innovation center, have signed a non-exclusive commercial-use CRISPR license agreement.

From ERS Genomics 5 Sep 2024

Scientists reveal global catalog of microbial small proteins, unlocking microbiome secrets

Researchers developed a global catalog of nearly one billion small open reading frames (smORFs) from microbial genomes, revealing significant protein diversity, particularly in archaea, and providing new tools for microbiome research.

2 Sep 2024

NSF funds UCSB-led Biofoundry to revolutionize biotechnology with unexplored microbes

This week, the National Science Foundation announced the award of a six-year, $22M grant to UC Santa Barbara under its biofoundries program for the establishment of the BioFoundry for Extreme and Exceptional Fungi, Archaea and Bacteria (ExFAB), a collaboration led by UC Santa Barbara (UCSB), together with UC Riverside (UCR), and Cal Poly Pomona (CPP). ExFAB establishes the nation's first biofoundry that focuses on largely untapped and unexplored extreme microbes. UCSB's award is one of only five grants made under NSF's BioFoundry program during this funding cycle, which awarded a total of $75M to the five selected universities.

29 Aug 2024

Asgard archaea's role in eukaryotic immunity revealed

When you get infected with a virus, some of the first weapons your body deploys to fight it were passed down to us from our microbial ancestors billions of years ago.

22 Aug 2024