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Avian and swine flu viruses hijack genetic regulators during human infection

Researchers at the University of British Columbia have identified a number of tiny but powerful "genetic regulators" that are hijacked by avian and swine flu viruses during human infection.

29 Mar 2012

Helix BioMedix 2011 revenue increases 122% to record $1.9 million

Helix BioMedix, Inc., a developer of bioactive peptides, today announced financial results for the year ended December 31, 2011.

29 Mar 2012

Incentives encourage behaviors detrimental to good science

The recent explosion in the number of retractions in scientific journals is just the tip of the iceberg and a symptom of a greater dysfunction that has been evolving the world of biomedical research say the editors-in-chief of two prominent journals in a presentation before a committee of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) today.

28 Mar 2012

Researchers demonstrate how to use eye-tracking in children with ASD

Though the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has been steadily climbing- from 6 in 1,000 children in 2002, to nearly 10 in 1,000 children in 2006, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention- little is known about the disorder. But, research with young kids can lead to important insights in how children with developmental abnormalities view the world.

28 Mar 2012

IU biologist to genetically modify variants of chlamydia

An Indiana University biologist has been awarded over $2.3 million from the National Institutes of Health to genetically modify variants of the human pathogen chlamydia in hopes of finding a vaccine for the most commonly reported bacterial infectious disease in the United States.

27 Mar 2012

Vaccine to prevent Campylobacter in chickens can help reduce food-borne illness

A vaccine could be developed to prevent Campylobacter being carried in chickens. This approach could drastically cut the number of cases of food poisoning, saving the UK economy millions each year, says an American scientist presenting his work at the Society for General Microbiology's Spring Conference in Dublin.

27 Mar 2012

Ripeness of fruit determines how food-poisoning bacteria grow on them

The ripeness of fruit could determine how food-poisoning bacteria grow on them, according to scientists presenting their work at the Society for General Microbiology's Spring Conference in Dublin this week. Their work could lead to new strategies to improve food safety, bringing many health and economic benefits.

27 Mar 2012

Commensal bacteria may play an important role in influencing and controlling allergic inflammation

When poet Walt Whitman wrote that we "contain multitudes," he was speaking metaphorically, but he was correct in the literal sense. Every human being carries over 100 trillion individual bacterial cells within the intestine -- ten times more cells than comprise the body itself.

26 Mar 2012

Bacteriophages can tackle drug-resistant bacterial infections

Viruses that can target and destroy bacteria have the potential to be an effective strategy for tackling hard-to-treat bacterial infections. The development of such novel therapies is being accelerated in response to growing antibiotic resistance, says Dr David Harper at the Society for General Microbiology's Spring Conference in Dublin.

26 Mar 2012

S. gordonii may trigger infective endocarditis

Oral bacteria that escape into the bloodstream are able to cause blood clots and trigger life-threatening endocarditis. Further research could lead to new drugs to tackle infective heart disease, say scientists presenting their work at the Society for General Microbiology's Spring Conference in Dublin this week.

26 Mar 2012

Researchers pinpoint new mechanism that potently activates T-cells in leprosy

UCLA researchers pinpointed a new mechanism that potently activates T-cells, the group of white blood cells that play a major role in fighting infections.

26 Mar 2012

Study demonstrates molecular mechanisms of cadmium-induced prostate cancer

A recent study conducted at Marshall University may eventually help scientists develop new treatments for prostate cancer, the most common malignancy in American men.

22 Mar 2012

CBSM intervention can alter tumor-promoting processes in women with breast cancer

A team of researchers led by Michael H. Antoni, director of the Center for Psycho-Oncology Research at the University of Miami (UM) has shown that a stress management program tailored to women with breast cancer can alter tumor-promoting processes at the molecular level. The new study recently published in the journal Biological Psychiatry is one of the first to link psychological intervention with genetic expression in cancer patients.

22 Mar 2012

New genotype may be responsible for sharp rise in whooping cough

Australia's prolonged whooping cough epidemic has entered a disturbing new phase, with a study showing a new strain or genotype may be responsible for the sharp rise in the number of cases.

22 Mar 2012

Whooping cough outbreak despite vaccination

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21 Mar 2012

Transforming biomedical research to develop TB vaccines

In the past decade, scientists have made significant progress building the critical knowledge and infrastructure needed to identify and develop novel tuberculosis (TB) vaccine candidates and move the most promising ones into human clinical trials. The results of those trials, coupled with advances from other TB studies, have paved the way for the next 10 years of research on TB vaccines, a critical component of TB control efforts, note scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health.

21 Mar 2012

Sharp rise recorded in cases of new strain of whooping cough: New genotype may be evading vaccine’s protective effects

Australia’s prolonged whooping cough epidemic has entered a disturbing new phase, with a study showing a new strain or genotype may be responsible for the sharp rise in the number of cases.

20 Mar 2012

FDA, Agilent partner to develop new tools for detection of salmonella subtypes

Agilent Technologies Inc. today announced that it has entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to develop new tools to detect and analyze pathogens in food.

20 Mar 2012

Study identifies new hypervariable regions in human gut viruses

A growing body of evidence underscores the importance of human gut bacteria in modulating human health, metabolism, and disease. Yet bacteria are only part of the story. Viruses that infect those bacteria also shape who we are. Frederic D. Bushman, PhD, professor of Microbiology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, led a study published this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that sequenced the DNA of viruses -- the virome -- present in the gut of healthy people.

20 Mar 2012