News tagged with microbial cells

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

Navy researchers investigate small-scale autonomous planetary explorers

Robotic exploration to remote regions, to include distant planetary bodies, is often limited by energy requirements to perform, in repetition, even the simplest tasks. With this in mind, researchers at the ...

Technology / Engineering

created Jan 03, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Fluorescent probes increase understanding of bacterium's electron transfer

(PhysOrg.com) -- When it comes to transporting a cell's valuable electrons, the metal-reducing microbe Shewanella oneidensis only trusts stable, mature proteins, according to scientists at Pacific Northwest ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Dec 12, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Bacterial attachment mimics the just-in-time industrial delivery model

(PhysOrg.com) -- In the human world of manufacturing, many companies are now applying an on-demand, just-in-time strategy to conserve resources, reduce costs and promote production of goods precisely when ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Nov 30, 2011 | popularity 3 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers determine how Legionnaires' bacteria proliferate, cause disease

A University of Louisville scientist has determined for the first time how the bacterium that causes Legionnaires' disease manipulates our cells to generate the amino acids it needs to grow and cause infection and inflammation ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Nov 17, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Research team explores how microbial diversity defends against disease

Amphibians are among the most threatened creatures on earth, with some 40 percent of amphibian species threatened or endangered. One of their primary threats is a rapidly spreading disease that attacks the ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Nov 08, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Urine could be the answer to cheaper electricity

(PhysOrg.com) -- Urine can be an abundant fuel for electricity generation, according to British scientists in the first study of its kind.

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Nov 01, 2011 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (12) | comments 23 | with audio podcast

Last universal common ancestor more complex than previously thought

Scientists call it LUCA, the Last Universal Common Ancestor, but they don't know much about this great-grandparent of all living things. Many believe LUCA was little more than a crude assemblage of molecular parts, a chemical ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Oct 05, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (11) | comments 11 | with audio podcast

Tuberculosis bacterium's outer cell wall disarms the body's defense to remain infectious

The bacterium that causes tuberculosis has a unique molecule on its outer cell surface that blocks a key part of the body's defense. New research suggests this represents a novel mechanism in the microbe's evolving efforts ...

Medicine & Health / Diseases

created Oct 03, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Saltwater boosts microbial electrolysis cells to cleanly produce hydrogen

A grain of salt or two may be all that microbial electrolysis cells need to produce hydrogen from wastewater or organic byproducts, without adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere or using grid electricity, ...

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created Sep 19, 2011 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (5) | comments 9 | with audio podcast

New discovery turns seaweed into biofuel in half the time

University of Illinois scientists have engineered a new strain of yeast that converts seaweed into biofuel in half the time it took just months ago. That's a process that's important outside the Corn Belt, said Yong-Su Jin, ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Aug 29, 2011 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (4) | comments 6 | with audio podcast

Tuning natural antimicrobials to improve their effectiveness at battling superbugs

Ongoing research at the Institute of Food Research, which is strategically funded by BBSRC, is exploring the use of virus-produced proteins that destroy bacterial cells to combat potentially dangerous microbial ...

Medicine & Health / Diseases

created Aug 22, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Bacteria -- energy producers of the future? (w/ video)

All of us use water and in the process, a lot of it goes to waste. Whether it goes down drains, sewers or toilets, much of it ends up at a wastewater treatment plant where it undergoes rigorous cleaning before it flows back ...

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created Aug 22, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Onstott's discovery of worms in Earth's depths raises questions about life in space

After digging holes in the Earth's crust for nearly two decades, Princeton University geoscientist Tullis Onstott is now making headlines for unearthing "worms from hell."

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jul 12, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (11) | comments 7 | with audio podcast

Gatekeepers: Study discovers how microbes make it past tight spaces between cells

There are ten microbial cells for every one human cell in the body, and microbiology dogma holds that there is a tight barrier protecting the inside of the body from outside invaders, in this case bacteria. ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Jun 16, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0