Biofilms News and Research

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WRAIR to test Kane Biotech's DispersinB biofilm technology against pathogens in combat trauma wounds

Kane Biotech Inc. (TSX VENTURE:KNE), a biotechnology company engaged in the development of products that prevent and remove microbial biofilms is pleased to announce that the Company has entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement for Material Transfer (CRADA-MT) with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) in Silver Springs, Maryland.

9 Sep 2009

Kane Biotech announces Harvard Medical School's research publication on its DispersinB product

Kane Biotech Inc. (TSX VENTURE:KNE), a biotechnology company engaged in the development of products that prevent and disperse microbial biofilms is pleased to announce a recent research publication by Harvard Medical School on their finding of DispersinB® enzyme specific substrate in Acinetobacter baumannii (A. baumannii).

3 Sep 2009

Biologist demystifies Acinetobacter baumannii

Tao Weitao, a researcher in the College of Sciences' Department of Biology at the University of Texas at San Antonio is making great strides in a project that was funded one year ago by the San Antonio Area Foundation. The professor in the South Texas Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases is researching Acinetobacter baumannii, a soil-dwelling bacterium that threatens the health of military personnel in the Middle East and can also infect their family members once the soldiers have returned home following battle.

17 Aug 2009

New bio-hybrid materials could be used as sensors, catalysts, drug-delivery systems, more

Bacteria play a role in myriad industrial processes from fermentation to cleaning up environmental pollution. But floating freely in solution, the microbial cells constantly multiply, generating biomass that must be removed periodically, causing downtime. Additionally, the microorganisms cannot be localized to a specific region of interest.

3 Aug 2009

Plant microbe shares features with drug-resistant pathogen - implications for biotech

An international team of scientists has discovered extensive similarities between a strain of bacteria commonly associated with plants and one increasingly linked to opportunistic infections in hospital patients. The findings suggest caution in the use of the plant-associated strain for a range of biotech applications. The genetic analysis was conducted in part at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, and will be published in the July 2009 issue of Nature Reviews Microbiology, now available online.

16 Jun 2009

Discovery of two proteins may lead to more effective treatment of endocarditis and infections associated with implants

A research team at the Faculty of Odontology at Malmö University in Sweden has discovered two new proteins that are of importance to the survival of bacteria and their colonization of the human body. Besides enhancing our knowledge of the ability of bacteria to spread, the findings may also lead to more effective treatment of endocarditis and infections associated with implants.

4 Jun 2009

Researchers examine 'invading' bacteria in DNA - advanced warfare on the most elemental of levels

Researchers at Texas A&M University's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering have discovered how certain types of bacteria integrate the DNA that they have captured from invading enemies into their own genetic makeup to increase their chances of survival.

2 Jun 2009

Researchers discover six new genome sequences and fundamental insights to the Candida fungus family

An international research collaboration coordinated by UCD researchers and involving scientists at 21 institutes including the genome sequencing centres in the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, UK and the Broad Institute at MIT and Harvard, USA have defined six new genome sequences in the Candida fungus family and identified genetic differences in species that cause disease.

25 May 2009

Genes that make bacteria make up their minds

Bacteria are single cell organisms with no nervous system or brain.

29 Mar 2009

Scientists develop new agents to fight superbugs

Experts from Queen's University Belfast have developed new agents to fight MRSA and other hospital-acquired infections that are resistant to antibiotics.

24 Mar 2009

New strategy for fighting persistent bacterial infections

Researchers at National Jewish Health have discovered a promising strategy for destroying the molecular scaffolding that can make Pseudomonas bacterial infections extremely difficult to treat in cystic fibrosis patients, wearers of contact lenses, and burn victims.

23 Mar 2009

New approach to prevent bacterial infections from taking hold

Dr Quinn Parks and colleagues describe how they used enzymes against products of the body's own defence cells to prevent Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria from building a protective biofilm which enables them to avoid both the body's immune mechanisms and antibiotics.

15 Mar 2009

Interfering with quorum sensing in bacteria may prevent foodborne illness

The rise in the number of foodborne illnesses from Salmonella, Listeria, and E. coli, coupled with the lack of an effective intervention method, has led to intense scientific research into prevention efforts.

16 Feb 2009

Super-fine oil-and-water emulsion protects against superbugs that kill cystic fibrosis patients

University of Michigan scientists report highly encouraging evidence that a super-fine oil-and-water emulsion, already shown to kill many other microbes, may be able to quell the ravaging, often drug-resistant infections that cause nearly all cystic fibrosis deaths.

5 Feb 2009

Single gene lets bacteria jump from host to host

All life - plants, animals, people - depends on peaceful coexistence with a swarm of microbial life that performs vital services from helping to convert food to energy to protection from disease.

2 Feb 2009

E. coli persists against antibiotics through HipA-induced dormancy

Bacteria hunker down and survive antibiotic attack when a protein flips a chemical switch that throws them into a dormant state until treatment abates, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report in the Jan.16 edition of Science.

19 Jan 2009

Computation and genomics data drive bacterial research into new golden age

A potent combination of powerful new analysis methods and abundant data from genomics projects is carrying microbiology forward into a new era.

10 Dec 2008

Zinc key to formation of hospital-acquired infections

Hospital-acquired infections that are resistant to traditional antibiotic treatment have become increasingly common in recent years, confounding health care professionals and killing thousands of Americans.

5 Dec 2008

Science backs old fashioned belief in the healing powers of honey

Research by Canadian scientists lends support to the old fashioned belief in the healing powers of honey.

25 Sep 2008

Bacteria's sticky glue is clue to vaccine says scientist

Sticky glue secreted by the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus could be the clue scientists have been searching for to make an effective vaccine against MRSA, medical researchers heard today (Wednesday 10 September 2008) at the Society for General Microbiology's Autumn meeting being held this week at Trinity College, Dublin.

9 Sep 2008