A new study finds that a Rutgers-driven proposal to create a “microbial Noah’s ark” to protect the long-term health of humanity is feasible and should move forward into a pilot project phase.
DALLAS – June 9, 2020 – Serotonin, a chemical known for its role in producing feelings of well-being and happiness in the brain, can reduce the ability of some intestinal pathogens to cause deadly infections, new research by UT Southwestern scientists suggests. The findings, publishing online today in Cell Host & Microbe, could offer a new way to fight infections for which few truly effective treatments currently exist.
Weizmann Institute scientists show that bacteria live inside all cancer cells, from brain to breast to bone, and that each type of cancer has its own type of bacteria. Understanding this relationship could help predict treatment effectiveness or lead to ways of using the bacteria to boost treatments.
A new study shows that people with a rare genetic disease that causes bleeding in the brain have gut microbiomes distinct from those without the disease.
A research team led by the University of Adelaide has found that revegetation of green spaces within cities can improve soil microbiota diversity towards a more natural, biodiverse state, which has been linked to human health benefits.
In the study, published in the journal Restoration Ecology, researchers compared the composition of a variety of urban green space vegetation types of varying levels of vegetation diversity, including lawns, vacant lots, parklands, revegetated woodlands and remnant woodlands within the City of Playford Council area in South Australia.
Using rabies virus injected into the stomach of rats, researchers trace the nerves back to the brain and find distinct "fight or flight" and "rest and digest" circuits. These results explain how mental states can affect the gut, and present new ways to treat gastrointestinal problems.
A microbiome “fingerprint” method shows that an individualized mosaic of microbial strains is transmitted to the infant gut microbiome from a mother giving vaginal birth. The study analyzed existing metagenomic databases of fecal samples from mother-infant pairs and used a germfree mouse model.
Scientists have traced the molecular connections between genetics, the gut microbiome and memory in a mouse model bred to resemble the diversity of the human population. Researchers from two U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories identified lactate, a molecule produced by all species of one gut microbe, as a key memory-boosting molecular messenger.
Antibiotic treatment — which depletes gut microbes — drastically changes the parts of a rat’s brain that are activated during opioid addiction and withdrawal.
The Pathogen and Microbiome Institute (PMI) at Northern Arizona University (NAU) today announced that it is launching the COVID-19 Testing Service Center (CTSC) to grow the SARS-CoV-2 virus and test new drugs against it. By repurposing its existing biodefense research infrastructure for the new testing facility—labs rated at Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3), one of the highest levels of biocontainment—PMI is dedicating much of its significant research capacity to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
University of California San Diego researchers have ported the popular UniFrac microbiome tool to graphic processing units (GPUs) in a bid to increase the acceleration and accuracy of scientific discovery, including urgently needed COVID-19 research.
A team of researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) has characterized how the gut microbiome develops in the first hours of infancy, providing a critical baseline for how changes in this environment can impact health and disease later in life.
A Ludwig Cancer Research study has discovered a novel means by which bacterial colonies in the small intestine support the generation of regulatory T cells—immune cells that suppress autoimmune reactions and inflammation.
Some types of gut bacteria are better than others at stimulating certain immune cells, specifically CD8+ T cells. And while these CD8+ T cells normally help protect the body against cancer, overstimulating them may promote inflammation and exhaust the T cells — which can actually increase susceptibility to cancer, according to new mouse model study published in Cell Reports.
Research findings suggest gut microbes can effect allergic immune responses. Tasuku Ogita who has recently joined Shinshu University is an expert on teas and their effects on gut bacteria.
Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis studied the gut microbiomes of wild apes in the Republic of Congo, of captive apes in zoos in the U.S., and of people from around the world and discovered that lifestyle is more important than geography or even species in determining the makeup of the gut microbiome.
Infants who were started on solid foods at or before three months of age showed changes in the levels of gut bacteria and bacterial byproducts, called short-chain fatty acids, measured in their stool samples, according to a study from researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Patients with poorly controlled type 2 diabetes who underwent a novel, minimally invasive, endoscopic procedure called Revita® duodenal mucosal resurfacing (DMR) had significantly improved blood glucose (sugar) levels, liver insulin sensitivity, and other metabolic measures three months later, according to new data from the REVITA-2 study.
A new literature review from scientists at George Washington University and the National Institute of Standards and Technology suggests that nutrition and diet have a profound impact on the microbial composition of the gut.
The first study looking at the effect of chlorhexidine mouthwash on the entire oral microbiome has found its use significantly increases the abundance of lactate-producing bacteria that lower saliva pH, and may increase the risk of tooth damage.
Pollution alters the human gut microbiome in ways that may boost risk of diabetes, obesity, inflammatory bowel disease and other chronic illnesses, according to a new study. Ozone is particularly harmful, the researchers found.
Cleveland Clinic researchers have identified a gut microbe generated byproduct – phenylacetylglutamine (PAG) – that is linked to development of cardiovascular disease, including heart attack, stroke and death. The study was published in Cell today.
A “decoy” mechanism has been found in human and animal cells to protect them from potentially dangerous toxins released by foreign invaders, such as bacteria.
Netherton syndrome is exacerbated by the presence of Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis living on human skin report University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers.
Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and University of Chicago have discovered that bacteria that usually live in the gut can accumulate in tumors and improve the effectiveness of immunotherapy in mice. The study, which will be published March 6 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine (JEM), suggests that treating cancer patients with Bifidobacteria might boost their response to CD47 immunotherapy, a wide-ranging anti-cancer treatment that is currently being evaluated in several clinical trials.
Using e-cigarettes alters the mouth’s microbiome—the community of bacteria and other microorganisms—and makes users more prone to inflammation and infection, finds a new study led by researchers at NYU College of Dentistry.
A comparison of normal and germ-free mice revealed that as much as 70 percent of a mouse’s gut chemistry is determined by its gut microbiome. Even in distant organs, such as the uterus or the brain, approximately 20 percent of molecules were different in the mice with gut microbes.
Forget what you know about bile because that's about to change, thanks to a new discovery made by Michigan State University and published in the current issue of Nature. Much of our knowledge about bile hasn’t changed in many decades. It’s produced in the liver, stored in our gall bladder and injected into our intestine when we eat, where it breaks down fats in our gut.
The microbiome of our ancestors might have been more important for human evolution than previously thought, according to a new study published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.
Louise D. McCullough, MD, PhD, a physician-scientist at UTHealth is a recipient of the American Heart Association’s (AHA) prestigious $1 million Merit Award to investigate whether the maternal microbiome influences stroke risk in offspring.
Reporters and bloggers are invited to attend Nutrition 2020, the flagship meeting of the American Society for Nutrition. The meeting will be held May 30–June 2 at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle.
Popular diets low in carbs and high in fat and protein might be good for the waistline, but a new UNLV study shows that just the opposite may help to alleviate the hospital-acquired infection Clostridioides difficile. The results appeared in a study published Feb. 11 in mSystems, an open access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.
UC San Diego and IBM researchers reveal a new understanding of how our microbiomes change as we age, setting the stage for future research on the role microbes play in accelerating or decelerating the aging process and influencing age-related diseases.
Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute have shown that two prebiotics, mucin and inulin, slowed the growth of melanoma in mice by boosting the immune system’s ability to fight cancer. The study, published today in Cell Reports, provides further evidence that gut microbes have a role in shaping the immune response to cancer, and supports efforts to target the gut microbiome to enhance the efficacy of cancer therapy.
A new collaborative study published by a research team from the Wayne State University School of Medicine, the CReATe Fertility Centre and the University of Massachusetts Amherst provides the first in-depth look at the microbiome of human sperm utilizing RNA sequencing with sufficient sensitivity to identify contamination and pathogenic bacterial colonization.
Infectious disease scientists identified strains of group A streptococcus that are less susceptible to commonly used antibiotics, a sign that the germ causing strep throat and flesh-eating disease may be moving closer to resistance to penicillin and other related antibiotics known as beta-lactams.
People who eat high fiber diets are more likely to experience bloating if their high fiber diet is protein-rich as compared to carbohydrate-rich, according to a study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
UC San Diego scientists have completed the first study in humans demonstrating that a common algae improves gastrointestinal issues related to irritable bowel syndrome. The green, single-celled organism called Chlamydomonas reinhardtii was found to help with diarrhea, gas and bloating.
Imagine a device that could swiftly analyze microbes in oceans and other aquatic environments, revealing the health of these organisms – too tiny to be seen by the naked eye – and their response to threats to their ecosystems. Rutgers researchers have created just such a tool, a portable device that could be used to assess microbes, screen for antibiotic-resistant bacteria and analyze algae that live in coral reefs. Their work is published in the journal Scientific Reports.
In Nature, a team led by U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Genome Institute (JGI) researchers uncovered a broad diversity of large and giant viruses that belong to the nucleocytoplasmic large DNA viruses (NCLDV) supergroup, expanding virus diversity in this group 10-fold from just 205 genomes.
Teens with obesity and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) have more “unhealthy” gut bacteria suggesting the microbiome may play a role in the disorder, according to new research published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
A bacteria typically linked to periodontal disease, Fusobacterium nucleatum (F. nuc), could play an important role in the rising incidence of colorectal cancer in people under the age of 45. Another type of bacteria, Moraxella osloensis, has been found in colorectal cancer tumors at a nearly four-fold higher rate in people over 75 than in those under 45 years of age, pointing out how differences in the bacteria that comprise what is known as the body’s microbiome could affect cancer outcomes to varying degrees.
These are the preliminary findings of an ongoing study that will be presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium in San Francisco from January 23-25, 2020.
Changes in the lung microbiome may help predict how well critically ill patients will respond to care, according to new research published online in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
A comprehensive analysis of 10,575 genomes as part of a multi-national study led by researchers at UC San Diego has revealed close evolutionary proximity between the microbial domains at the base of the tree of life, the branching pattern of evolution described by Charles Darwin more than 160 years ago in his book, On the Origin of Species.
The lungs and placentas of fetuses in the womb — as young as 11 weeks after conception — already show a bacterial microbiome signature, which suggests that bacteria may colonize the lungs well before birth. How the microbes or microbial products reach those organs before birth is not known.