Cell Wall News and Research

RSS

Sick animals disconnect from social groups leading to decrease in disease transmission, study shows

Sick wild house mice spend time away from their social groups, leading to a decrease in their potential for disease transmission according to a new study by evolutionary biologists from the University of Zurich in collaboration with the ETH Zurich.

22 Aug 2016

New book from Cold Spring Harbor examines major antibiotics and mechanisms of resistance

One of the greatest medical accomplishments of the past century was the introduction of antibiotics into the clinic.

18 Aug 2016

Study finds 10% of patients admitted into hospitals colonised with dreaded pathogens

According to National Reference Center for Surveillance of Nosocomial Infections esti-mates, up to 15,000 patients die of hospital-acquired infections in Germany every year.

18 Aug 2016

Researchers discover new set of bacterial cell wall synthesizers

Harvard Medical School scientists have identified a new family of proteins that virtually all bacteria use to build and maintain their cell walls.

17 Aug 2016

Researchers identify gene-based treatment that works against fungus

Fungal infections pose a major threat to hospital patients and have proven difficult to combat, but scientists have unlocked evidence that could lead to more effective treatment.

18 Jul 2016

Researchers reveal how bacterial cell wall adapts to threatening environments

Researchers at Umea University in Sweden have published new findings on the adaptation of the bacterial cell wall in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

8 Jul 2016

Researchers design E. coli-based transport capsule to help fight pneumococcal disease

Most people recoil at the thought of ingesting E. coli. But what if the headline-grabbing bacteria could be used to fight disease?

4 Jul 2016

Study reveals distribution of toxic arsenic in cell nuclei of plants

Toxic arsenic initially accumulates in the nuclei of plants' cells. This has been revealed by an X-ray examination of the aquatic plant rigid hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum) using DESY's X-ray source PETRA III.

25 Jun 2016

Knocking out genes in E. coli affects stiffness, integrity of bacterial envelope

An exhaustive look at how bacteria hold their ground and avoid getting pushed around by their environment shows how dozens of genes aid the essential job of protecting cells from popping when tensions run high.

17 Jun 2016

Tackling superbugs with antibiotic resistance breakers: an interview with Professor Colin Garner, Chief Executive, Antibiotic Research UK

Superbugs – or to give them their correct name, antibiotic resistant bacteria – arise on repeated exposure to antibiotics. In any population of bacteria there will be a few that are antibiotic resistant (approximately 1 in 100 million bacteria). If these bacteria are allowed to grow and multiply, an antibiotic resistant infection results.

13 Apr 2016

Pooled analysis from seven clinical studies demonstrates consistent efficacy for ceftazidime-avibactam in the treatment of multi-drug resistant gram-negative bacteria

AstraZeneca has presented positive data demonstrating the efficacy of the investigational antibiotic, ceftazidime-avibactam (CAZ-AVI), in treating patients with ceftazidime-resistant Gram-negative infections, which are increasingly resistant to most available antibiotics, often precipitating the need for clinicians to reach for agents previously reserved for last-line use.

12 Apr 2016

IBM's World Community Grid supports TB eradication project

The University of Nottingham is launching a new study to address tuberculosis (TB), one of the world's most deadly diseases, supported by IBM's World Community Grid -- one of the most powerful and fastest virtual supercomputers on the planet.

25 Mar 2016

Maternal bacterial infections affect fetal brain anatomy and cognitive functioning after birth

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have discovered how pieces of bacterial cell wall cross the placenta and enter developing neurons, altering fetal brain anatomy and cognitive functioning after birth. The study appears today in the scientific journal Cell Host & Microbe.

10 Mar 2016

UEA research paves way for new wave of drugs to kill superbugs

Scientists at the University of East Anglia are getting closer to solving the problem of antibiotic resistance.

24 Feb 2016

Ohio State researchers working on new way to treat drug-resistant cancer

Researchers at The Ohio State University are working on a new way to treat drug-resistant cancer that the ancient Greeks would approve of--only it's not a Trojan horse, but DNA that hides the invading force.

24 Feb 2016

Researchers take major step towards developing a cystic fibrosis drug

Researchers from Eindhoven University of Technology and McGill University in Montreal (Canada) have taken an important step towards developing a drug against cystic fibrosis.

18 Feb 2016

New experimental method could help detect Lyme disease at the earliest time of infection

When it comes to early diagnosis of Lyme disease, the insidious tick-borne illness that afflicts about 300,000 Americans annually, finding the proverbial needle in the haystack might be a far easier challenge--until now, perhaps. An experimental method developed by federal and university researchers appears capable of detecting the stealthy culprit Lyme bacteria at the earliest time of infection, when currently available tests are often still negative.

15 Feb 2016

Antivirulence antibiotics could evade resistance longer than traditional antibiotics

We've all seen the headlines. "Man found to be shedding virulent strain of polio"; "Virulent flu strain in Europe hits the economy"; "Most virulent strain of E. coli ever seen contains DNA sequences from plague bacteria."

19 Jan 2016

Study shows clear role of bacteria in modulating immune function in the lungs

Microbiota--the trillions of bacteria that co-exist in the body--regulate the ability of lung dendritic cells to generate immune responses, according to a study led by researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, published online in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.

6 Jan 2016

Drugs approved for various conditions also have antibiotic properties

A number of drugs already approved to treat parasitic infections, cancers, infertility and other conditions also show promise as antibiotic agents against staph and tuberculosis infections, according to a new study by University of Illinois chemists and collaborators. Because these agents act against multiple targets within the bacteria, it may be harder for bacteria to develop resistance.

23 Dec 2015