News tagged with human pathogens

The secret life of proteins: Researchers discover dual role of key player in immune system

Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine researchers have identified a new and unusual role for a key player in the human immune system. A protein initially believed to regulate one routine function within the ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Jan 28, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Protein discovery could lead to new HIV drugs

(Medical Xpress) -- A team of researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health recently discovered a new protein that enables HIV to destroy human cells. The finding provides scientists with ...

Medicine & Health / HIV & AIDS

created Jan 27, 2012 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Polar growth at the bacterial scale reveals potential new targets for antibiotic therapy

(PhysOrg.com) -- An international team of microbiologists led by Indiana University researchers has identified a new bacterial growth process -- one that occurs at a single end or pole of the cell instead ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Jan 17, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New way to learn about, potentially block traits in harmful pathogens

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have developed a new way to identify the genes of harmful microbes, particularly those that have been difficult to study in the laboratory.

Medicine & Health / Diseases

created Jan 09, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New research illustrates how genome adapts to transposon invasion

Small, mobile sequences of DNA left over from viruses, called transposons or "jumping genes" because of their ability to move around the genome, pose a significant threat to the genetic integrity and stability of an organism. ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Dec 22, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Catching a coral killer

Coral reefs play an important role in marine ecosystems, so it's concerning to scientists, as well as ocean conservationists, that many coral reefs around the world are in distress or dying off.

Space & Earth / Environment

created Dec 20, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Researchers demonstrate new DNA detection technique

A team of researchers from the University of Notre Dame have demonstrated a novel DNA detection method that could prove suitable for many real-world applications.

Biology / Biotechnology

created Dec 16, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New leads on mechanisms that confer virulence to E.coli-type bacteria

A team headed by scientists from the IRB Barcelona reports how the protein Ler, which is found in pathogenic bacteria, interacts with certain DNA sequences, thereby activating numerous genes responsible for ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Dec 09, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Human cells build protein cages to trap invading Shigella

In research on the never-ending war between pathogen and host, scientists at the Pasteur Institute in Paris have discovered a novel defensive weapon, a cytoskeletal protein called septin, that humans cells deploy to cage ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Dec 04, 2011 | popularity 3 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New database for vital model organism launched

A new database promises to be an invaluable resource to scientists who use a unique single-celled fungus to study human diseases.

Biology / Biotechnology

created Nov 28, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Study finds a weak spot on deadly ebolavirus

Scientists from The Scripps Research Institute and the US Army's Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases have isolated and analyzed an antibody that neutralizes Sudan virus, a major species of ebolavirus ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Nov 21, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Targeting bacterial gas defenses allow for increased efficacy of numerous antibiotics

Although scientists have known for centuries that many bacteria produce hydrogen sulfide (H2S) it was thought to be simply a toxic by-product of cellular activity. Now, researchers at NYU School of Medicine have discovered ...

Medicine & Health / Research

created Nov 17, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Fleas collected from Norway rats in downtown LA carry human pathogen

Most fleas collected from rats trapped in downtown Los Angeles, California carried microbes from the genus, Bartonella, many of which are human pathogens, according to a paper in the November Applied and Environmental Mi ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Nov 17, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1

Report answers questions about E. coli: The good, the bad and the deadly

It has been the cause of infamous international foodborne disease outbreaks and yet it is the most studied bacterium in science, an essential part of the human digestive tract, and a backbone of the biotech industry. To enhance ...

Medicine & Health / Diseases

created Nov 15, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

'Vietnam time bomb' defused: Scientists find key mechanism by which bacterial pathogen causes melioidosis

A key mechanism by which a bacterial pathogen causes the deadly tropical disease melioidosis has been discovered by an international team of scientists.

Biology / Biotechnology

created Nov 10, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast