Pathogen News and Research

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Ceftolozane/tazobactam combo broadens the range of antibiotic therapy, but shows no hint of added benefit

The combination of ceftolozane with tazobactam broadens the range of antibiotic therapy in adults with severe infections of the lungs, the urinary tract, the renal pelvis and the abdominal cavity.

2 Jul 2020

Researchers unravel how the body fights off urinary tract infections

Anyone who has ever had cystitis knows that urinary tract infections of this kind are annoying and painful. They can be well treated by antibiotics, but may be fatal if left untreated.

2 Jul 2020

Scientists find coronavirus' Achilles' heel

A team of scientists at the University of California San Francisco has found out how SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) invades proteins in the cells that serve as master regulators of key cellular processes.

1 Jul 2020

New tool to increase accessibility for COVID-19 testing

A research group from the University of California Santa Barbara recently demonstrated a cost-effective, simple, and much less toxic method to isolate host and pathogen nucleic acids and proteins in order to streamline the detection of DNA and RNA viruses – including the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

1 Jul 2020

Researchers discover a protein that protects B cells from stress-induced cell death

Whenever a germ gets into the human body, the immune system usually responds immediately to fight off the enemy attacker. One of our defense system's most important strategies involves B lymphocytes, also known as B cells, which produce antibodies that target and neutralize pathogens.

1 Jul 2020

UMass Amherst biostatistician awarded federal grants to support research on pandemic forecasting

University of Massachusetts Amherst biostatistician Nicholas Reich has been awarded grants from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support innovation and expansion in his groundbreaking pandemic forecasting work.

1 Jul 2020

Study reveals a new target for tuberculosis drug development

Biology students and faculty members from The University of Texas at El Paso have discovered a new target for tuberculosis drug development.

1 Jul 2020

SARS-CoV-2 circulating in Brazil back in November 2019

The finding, published on the preprint server medRxiv in June 2020, shows that it has been causing infection in Brazil long before the first case was reported in the Americas, North and South, in January 2020, and certainly before the first case in this Brazilian region.

1 Jul 2020

New approach holds incredible potential for developing new therapeutics

Nearly every drug that is, or has ever been, used was derived from nature -- harnessing compounds created by organisms over eons to fight diseases. But decades ago, biochemists postulated that it might be possible to design a new drug from scratch by linking up amino acids in precise ways.

30 Jun 2020

'Mini-brains' can be infected by SARS-CoV-2 virus

A multidisciplinary team from two Johns Hopkins University institutions, including neurotoxicologists and virologists from the Bloomberg School of Public Health and infectious disease specialists from the school of medicine, has found that organoids (tiny tissue cultures made from human cells that simulate whole organs) known as "mini-brains" can be infected by the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19.

30 Jun 2020

New vaccination strategy targets toxic molecules released by all Staphylococcal bacteria

Experiments in mice have shown early success in vaccinating them against potentially deadly bacterial infections, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcal aureus, or MRSA, the strain resistant to most drug treatments.

30 Jun 2020

Stanford's Nobel Laureate develops a prediction model for SARS-CoV-2

The researchers from Stanford School of Medicine and ShangaiTech University show that the growth of a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak does not behave in accordance with an exponential growth law, but instead slows down exponentially with time from the very first days. Their thought-provoking findings can be currently found in the medRxiv* preprint server.

29 Jun 2020

Overactive neutrophils may drive life-threatening blood clots in some COVID-19 patients

Scientists have new evidence that overactive neutrophils--a common type of circulating immune cell--may drive the life-threatening blood clots and inflammation that occur in some patients with COVID-19.

29 Jun 2020

Raw milk can hold huge amount of antimicrobial-resistant genes

Raw or unpasteurized cows' milk from U.S. retail stores can hold a huge amount of antimicrobial-resistant genes if left at room temperature, according to a new study from researchers at the University of California, Davis.

29 Jun 2020

Study identifies small molecule inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 which block key cellular kinases

Antiviral drug screen of kinase inhibitors, which was done by researchers from the University of California and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, identified cellular signaling pathways critical for SARS-CoV-2 replication and revealed an important mechanism of host-pathogen interaction vital for further drug research. Their results are available on the bioRxiv* preprint server.

28 Jun 2020

Mathematical model reveals the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection after fecal microbiota transplantation

In their new paper available on the bioRxiv* preprint server, US researchers from the OpenBiome nonprofit organization used a mathematical model to simulate the usefulness of different testing strategies for fecal samples and showed that the probability of releasing a fecal microbiota donation with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is low when several important variables are taken into account.

28 Jun 2020

BATM provides business and trading update

BATM, a leading provider of real-time technologies for networking solutions and medical laboratory systems, provides the following business and trading update.

26 Jun 2020

Antibody tests may give false hope of immunity, health experts warn

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, health experts warn against the use of antibody tests to determine if a person has immunity against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). An antibody test determines if a person developed antibodies against the infection due to past exposure.

26 Jun 2020

Global research community revises WHO COVID-19 research priorities

Researchers have described the results of a survey aiming to determine the current applicability of the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Research Roadmap and whether there are new priorities that should be focused on at this point in time during the pandemic.

25 Jun 2020

Immune response variations across the COVID-19 spectrum

A new study published on the preprint server medRxiv in June 2020 describes differences in the adaptive and innate immune response in mild, moderate, and severe COVID-19. This may mean that permanent immune responses occur only in patients who recover from severe COVID-19.

25 Jun 2020