Biofilms News and Research

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Bacteria form biofilm to protect against immune system

Bacteria are life forms, which, like all other life forms, struggle for the best living conditions for themselves. Therefore they will try to avoid getting attacked by the human immune system, and therefore they have developed various ways to protect themselves from the human immune system.

15 May 2013

Research could help battle stubborn bacterial infections that do not respond to antibiotics

Bacteria on a surface wander around and often organize into highly resilient communities known as biofilms. It turns out that they organize in a rich-get-richer pattern similar to many economies, according to a new study by researchers at UCLA, Northwestern University and the University of Washington.

10 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

Researchers discover potential treatment for deadly, drug-resistant bacterial infections

Through the serendipity of science, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have discovered a potential treatment for deadly, drug-resistant bacterial infections that uses the same approach that HIV uses to infect cells.

8 May 2013

Scientists uncover unknown virulence factor in respiratory pathogen

To infect its host, the respiratory pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa takes an ordinary protein usually involved in making other proteins and adds three small molecules to turn it into a key for gaining access to human cells.

7 May 2013

Research: Protein complex in human breast milk can help reverse antibiotic resistance

A protein complex found in human breast milk can help reverse the antibiotic resistance of bacterial species that cause dangerous pneumonia and staph infections, according to new University at Buffalo research.

3 May 2013

Virginia Tech scientists provide new evidence that biofilms are at work in survival of Salmonella

Virginia Tech scientists have provided new evidence that biofilms - bacteria that adhere to surfaces and build protective coatings - are at work in the survival of the human pathogen Salmonella.

11 Apr 2013

Researchers use single-cell genome sequencing approach to analyze microbe from biofilm in hospital

A team of researchers led by scientists from the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) has published a study outlining the recovery and genomic analysis, using single-cell genomic techniques, of a periodontal pathogen, Porphyromonas gingivalis, from a hospital sink.

6 Apr 2013

Report highlights ecological cost of pharmaceutical waste

Pharmaceuticals commonly found in the environment are disrupting streams, with unknown impacts on aquatic life and water quality.

2 Apr 2013

New UM technology could provide five-minute diagnostic test and vaccine for Staph infections

New technology from the University of Maryland (UM) could potentially provide a five-minute diagnostic test and a vaccine for tough-to-treat Staphylococcus aureus infections, including the antibiotic-resistant MRSA, often called a "super bug," says inventor Mark Shirtliff, PhD, an associate professor at the UM School of Dentistry in Baltimore.

26 Feb 2013

Oral Candida infection weakens tooth enamel

Oral infection with Candida albicans is associated with demineralization of tooth enamel, potentially increasing susceptibility to caries, research shows.

11 Feb 2013

Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, IBM reveal new antimicrobial hydrogel

Researchers from IBM and the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology revealed today an antimicrobial hydrogel that can break through diseased biofilms and completely eradicate drug-resistant bacteria upon contact.

24 Jan 2013

Researchers report novel charge zipper principle used by proteins to form functional units

Membrane proteins are the "molecular machines" in biological cell envelopes. They control diverse processes, such as the transport of molecules across the lipid membrane, signal transduction, and photosynthesis. Their shape, i.e. folding of the molecules, plays a decisive role in the formation of, e.g., pores in the cell membrane.

19 Jan 2013

Microbiologists discover how the spread of antibiotic resistance works in pneumococcus

Antibiotic resistance results from bacteria's uncanny ability to morph and adapt, outwitting pharmaceuticals that are supposed to kill them. But exactly how the bacteria acquire and spread that resistance inside individuals carrying them is not well-established for most bacterial organisms.

22 Nov 2012

Researchers show how bacteria control processes in human cells

Bacteria can talk to each other via molecules they themselves produce. The phenomenon is called quorum sensing, and is important when an infection propagates. Now, researchers at Link-ping University in Sweden are showing how bacteria control processes in human cells the same way.

6 Nov 2012

Eliminating bacteria's DNA, boosting antimicrobial proteins may help prevent recurrent ear infections

Eliminating bacteria's DNA and boosting antimicrobial proteins that already exist may help prevent middle ear infections from reoccurring. These are the findings from a Nationwide Children's Hospital study that examined how an immune defense protein common in the middle ear interacts with a structure meant to protect a colony of bacteria.

31 Oct 2012

New technique has potential to kill off hospital superbugs

Scientists at Queen's University Belfast have developed a new technique which has the potential to kill off hospital superbugs like Pseudomonas aeruginosa, C. difficile and MRSA.

5 Oct 2012

Newly developed technique can kill antibiotic-resistant germs

Infectious bacteria received a taste of their own medicine from University of Missouri researchers who used viruses to infect and kill colonies of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, common disease-causing bacteria. The viruses, known as bacteriophages, could be used to efficiently sanitize water treatment facilities and may aid in the fight against deadly antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

25 Sep 2012

Study explains how breast milk fosters colonies of microbiotic flora in a newborn's intestinal tract

The benefits of breast milk have long been appreciated, but now scientists at Duke University Medical Center have described a unique property that makes mother's milk better than infant formula in protecting infants from infections and illnesses.

28 Aug 2012

Heating as well as cleaning contact lens cases kills bacteria best

Heating contact lens cases to a temperature of 60°C while disinfecting with a multipurpose disinfecting solution could improve case hygiene by killing biofilms created by bacteria, report Australian researchers.

24 Aug 2012