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Same-sex mating found in most common human fungal pathogen Candida albicans

Brown University researchers have discovered that Candida albicans, a human fungal pathogen that causes thrush and other diseases, pursues same-sex mating in addition to conventional opposite-sex mating.

12 Aug 2009

Machine designed to reduce infections and cut back on expensive "disposables"

Johns Hopkins experts in applied physics, computer engineering, infectious diseases, emergency medicine, microbiology, pathology and surgery have unveiled a 7-foot-tall, $10,000 shower-cubicle-shaped device that automatically sanitizes in 30 minutes all sorts of hard-to-clean equipment in the highly trafficked hospital emergency department.

30 Jul 2009

Copper could be used to inhibit swine flu

A leading microbiologist from the University of Southampton has told a conference that his research has found copper is effective in inhibiting the influenza A H1N1 virus.

23 Jul 2009

Research suggests core nuclear pore elements shared by all eukaryotes

For perhaps 1.8 billion years after life first emerged on Earth, a sort of evolutionary writer's block stalled the development of organisms more complicated than single cells. Then, a burst of experimental creativity about 1.7 billion years ago brought the cell nucleus onto the scene, stashing the cell's genetic material inside a protective inner membrane and setting the stage for the evolution of more sophisticated creatures from yeast, say, to plants and human beings.

12 Jul 2009

Immune genes adapt to parasites

Thank parasites for making some of our immune proteins into the inflammatory defenders they are today, according to a population genetics study that will appear in the June 8 issue of the Journal of Experimental Medicine (online May 25).

25 May 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

Mites on hissing coackroach may benefit humans with allergies

Tiny mites living on the surface of Madagascar hissing cockroaches help decrease the presence of a variety of molds on the cockroaches' bodies, potentially reducing allergic responses among humans who handle the popular insects, according to new research.

29 Apr 2009

New nanostructured biosensors

Research and industry are increasingly exploiting the potential of aptamers.

8 Apr 2009

Killing older mosquitoes is a more sustainable way to control malaria

Killing only older mosquitoes could be a more sustainable way of controlling malaria, and has the potential to lead to evolution-proof insecticides that never become obsolete, according to an article in this week's issue of PLoS Biology.

6 Apr 2009

New test for a deadly fungal infection in patients with damaged immune systems

A quicker, cheaper and more accurate test for deadly Aspergillus fumigatus fungal infections in patients with damaged or suppressed immune systems was described today, (Thursday 2 April) at the Society for General Microbiology meeting in Harrogate, by Dr Christopher Thornton from the University of Exeter, UK.

1 Apr 2009

DNA repair mechanisms relocate in response to stress

Like doctors making house calls, some DNA repair enzymes can relocate to the part of the cell that needs their help, a collaborative team of scientists at Emory University School of Medicine has found.

29 Mar 2009

Clotrimazole drug used to treat skin conditions is a marine pollutant

Clotrimazole is a common ingredient in over-the-counter skin creams. Recent results from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, now show that it is associated with major environmental risks. "The pharmaceuticals and chemicals in everyday use form a mixture in the ocean that has a direct impact on the growth and reproduction of organisms", says scientist Tobias Porsbring.

24 Mar 2009

Prion discovery gives clue to control of mass gene expression

The discovery in common brewer's yeast of a new, infectious, misfolded protein -- or prion -- by University of Illinois at Chicago molecular biologists raises new questions about the roles played by these curious molecules, often associated with degenerative brain diseases like "mad cow" and its human counterpart, Creutzfeldt-Jakob.

15 Mar 2009

Protein structures reveal "big bang" of innovation in evolution

A new study of proteins, the molecular machines that drive all life, also sheds light on the history of living organisms.

11 Mar 2009

Airborne microbial fungi linked to asthma

A survey of airborne fungi and fungal spores found in Eastern Puerto Rico suggests that certain species may be a major cause of the high incidence of childhood asthma in this part of the world.

2 Mar 2009

Zoologists search sea for drugs of the future

No matter how sophisticated modern medicine becomes, common ailments like fungal infections can outrun the best of the world's antibiotics.

26 Feb 2009

Researchers discover mechanism that plays a role in the natural production of vitamin C

Researchers from Wageningen University, along with colleagues from the University of Groningen and the University of Pavia (Italy), have unravelled the mechanism that plays a role in the natural production of vitamin C.

17 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

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

Antifungal medication could provide asthma relief for 150,000 UK sufferers

Up to 150,000 people suffering from severe asthma in the UK could benefit from taking antifungal medication already available from pharmacists, new research has found.

From The University of Manchester 30 Dec 2008