Pathogen News and Research

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Americans willing to pay more, but up to a limit, for safer food

Government regulators could more realistically assess the value of improving food safety if they considered the fact that consumers typically want to avoid getting sick - even if it means they have to pay a little extra for safer food, researchers say.

10 Feb 2011

HighRes Biosolutions to build High-Throughput Laboratory Network for LANL-UCLA

A compact, self-contained, automated system for surveillance and screening of potential pandemic strains of influenza and other deadly infectious diseases is a step closer to reality, thanks to an agreement between Los Alamos National Laboratory, the University of California Los Angeles School of Public Health, and HighRes Biosolutions of Boston, Massachussets.

1 Feb 2011

Silicon dioxide coated rust nanoparticles to fight cervical cancer

The next big thing in medical diagnostics could be minutes particles of rust, iron oxide, coated with the material from which sand is formed, silicon dioxide. These magnetic nanoparticles, a mere 29 to 230 nanometers across, can be used to trap antibodies to the virus that causes cervical cancer and to the bacteria that causes potentially lethal diarrhea.

1 Feb 2011

Scientists use full genome sequencing to identify precise steps in molecular evolution of S. pneumoniae

Despite penicillin and the dozens of antibiotics that followed it, streptococcus bacteria have remained a major threat to health throughout the world. The reason: the superb evolutionary skills of this pathogen to rapidly alter its genetic makeup.

29 Jan 2011

'Phenotype switching' helps bacteria lie dormant inside host cells and become a reservoir for relapsing infections

A new study into Staphylococcus aureus, the bacterium which is responsible for severe chronic infections worldwide, reveals how the bacteria have developed a strategy of hiding within host cells to escape the immune system as well as many antibacterial treatments. The research, published by EMBO Molecular Medicine, demonstrates how 'phenotype switching' enables bacteria to adapt to their environmental conditions, lie dormant inside host cells and become a reservoir for relapsing infections.

27 Jan 2011

Research shows how pathogenic bacteria hide inside host cells

A new study into Staphylococcus aureus, the bacterium which is responsible for severe chronic infections worldwide, reveals how bacteria have developed a strategy of hiding within host cells to escape the immune system as well as many antibacterial treatments. The research, published by EMBO Molecular Medicine, demonstrates how ‘phenotype switching’ enables bacteria to adapt to their environmental conditions, lie dormant inside host cells and become a reservoir for relapsing infections.

26 Jan 2011

New investigative tool may explore intracellular processes with unprecedented clarity

Nongjian Tao and his colleagues at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University have pioneered a new technique capable of peering into single cells and even intracellular processes with unprecedented clarity.

25 Jan 2011

Researchers map complex choreography used by immune system's T cells to recognize pathogens

Researchers have for the first time mapped the complex choreography used by the immune system's T cells to recognize pathogens while avoiding attacks on the body's own cells.

21 Jan 2011

New research says EPO hormone can modulate immune response

New research reveals that a hormone best known for stimulating the production of red blood cells can modulate the immune response. The study, published by Cell Press in the January 27th issue of the journal Immunity, finds that erythropoietin has contrasting influences on infectious and inflammatory diseases and may be useful in the design of new therapeutic strategies.

21 Jan 2011

BUSM receives NIH grant to explore how chronic inflammation can lead to systemic diseases

A team of researchers at Boston University School of Medicine have been awarded a five-year, $7.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to explore how chronic inflammation can lead to systemic diseases.

20 Jan 2011

DARPA grants $5.6 million to Dana-Farber to develop viable countermeasures against unknown pathogen

Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have received a $5.6 million grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Army Research Office to develop transient immunity against known, unknown, naturally occurring, or engineered disease-causing pathogens.

20 Jan 2011

New project on developing countermeasures for natural and intentional exposure to disease pathogens

Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have received a $5.6 million grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Army Research Office (ARO) to develop transient immunity against known, unknown, naturally occurring, or engineered disease-causing pathogens. The ultimate goal is to develop a viable countermeasure to an unknown pathogen within seven days of receiving it in a laboratory.

19 Jan 2011

Cataloguing microbes in gut could lead to cause of necrotizing enterocolitis

Scientists have for the first time sequenced and reconstructed the genomes of most of the microbes in the gut of a premature newborn and documented how the microbe populations changed over time.

14 Jan 2011

IDRI receives Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation multi-million dollar grant to identify new leads in TB

The Infectious Disease Research Institute today announced it has received a multi-million dollar grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for "Chemical genomics for the identification of targets and leads in tuberculosis."

14 Jan 2011

SDIX receives FDA method equivalency and AOAC-RI certification for Salmonella Enteritidis test system

SDIX, a leading supplier of rapid detection solutions to the $1 billion food pathogen testing market, today announced that its RapidChek® SELECT™ Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) test system has been reviewed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and determined to be equivalent in accuracy, precision and sensitivity to their current standard methods for poultry house environmental drag swabs and pooled egg testing.

13 Jan 2011

Clostridium bacteria may offer a greener alternative to petrol

A diverse family of bacteria that can cause a potentially fatal illness in humans but could offer a greener alternative to petrol to power our cars will be the subject of a talk by a University of Nottingham academic at an international conference.

12 Jan 2011

Acne bacterium may also cause infections all over the body

A bacterium which causes acne and is commonly found on the skin, is now known to cause infections all over the body. Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes)5 has been associated with infections of artificial joints and heart valves (endocarditis), as well as eye infections and chest infections - which are common at this time of year.

12 Jan 2011

Bacteria adopt defence strategy to promote antibiotic resistance

Genetic resistance to antibiotics is not the only trick bacteria use to resist eradication- they also have a second defence strategy known as persistence that can kick in.

6 Jan 2011

P. gingivalis infection accelerates inflammation and atherosclerosis in the innominate artery

Atherosclerosis is the leading cause of death in the developed world. While a number of risk factors for atherosclerosis have been defined, scientists continue to study other possible risk factors for this disease. Recent epidemiological and experimental studies link infectious agents with the development of inflammatory atherosclerosis. A hallmark of chronic infection with the oral pathogen Porphyromonas gingivalis is the induction of a chronic inflammatory response.

5 Jan 2011

Research reaffirms bovine TB's threat to humans, animals, and to international trade

As part of his doctoral research at The Norwegian School of Veterinary Science, Demelash Biffa has carried out extensive field and laboratory work on bovine tuberculosis (TB) in Ethiopia since 2007. The main aims of his study were to investigate risk factors associated with prevalence of the disease and to discover the molecular genetic characteristics of mycobacteria, which cause serious pathologic lesions in cattle. The work has led to the development of a new numeric expression approach known as Spoligotype Evolutionary Index (SEI).

24 Dec 2010