Feature Channels: Microbiome

Filters close
Released: 9-Jan-2020 1:45 PM EST
Harnessing Biology and Technology to Develop New Depression Treatments – Update from Harvard Review of Psychiatry
Wolters Kluwer Health: Lippincott

New research into the biology of depression, along with new and evolving technologies, provides the basis for developing the next generation of treatments for major depressive disorder (MDD), according to the special January/February issue of Harvard Review of Psychiatry. The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.

Released: 8-Jan-2020 3:30 PM EST
Persistence of gut microbial strains in twins, living apart after cohabitating for decades
University of Alabama at Birmingham

Using a genomics strain-tracking bioinformatics tool, analyzed two metagenomic sequencing databases from pairs of twins — one for children who were still living together and the other from adult twins, ages 36 to 80, who then lived apart for periods from one to 59 years.

6-Jan-2020 11:25 AM EST
A Mother’s Bugs
Harvard Medical School

-Newborn mice derive protective antibodies from their mothers’ microbiota -Antibodies derived from mothers’ microbiota ward off both localized and widespread systemic infections by the bacterium E. coli -Study points to the role of maternal microbes in offspring protection and neonatal immunity -Findings can inform development of microbe-based therapies against infectious diarrhea in infants

Released: 8-Jan-2020 8:50 AM EST
Gut Microbes May Improve Stroke Recovery
University of Kentucky

New research by the University of Kentucky's College of Medicine reveals that supplementing the body's short chain fatty acids could improve stroke recovery.

3-Jan-2020 2:25 PM EST
The Birds and the Bats: Evolving to Fly May Have Had Big Effect on Gut Microbiome
UC San Diego Health

UC San Diego researchers studied nearly 900 vertebrate species and found that bats have unusual gut microbiomes that more closely resemble those of birds than other mammals, raising questions about how evolutionary pressures change the gut microbiome

Released: 3-Jan-2020 3:05 PM EST
Investigadores de Mayo Clinic ven el período posterior a la menopausia como factor clave en el cáncer de endometrio
Mayo Clinic

El cáncer de endometrio es el más común de los cánceres ginecológicos en Estados Unidos y el cuarto más frecuente en las mujeres. Además, debido a que las tasas de incidencia del cáncer de endometrio van en aumento en el mundo occidental, eso plantea que los cambios en los factores ambientales, como la alimentación, el estilo de vida y el microbioma vaginal, pueden ser razones importantes para su causa.

Released: 3-Jan-2020 2:55 PM EST
Pesquisadores da Mayo Clinic consideram a pós-menopausa um fator-chave no câncer de endométrio
Mayo Clinic

O câncer de endométrio é a doença ginecológica mais comum nos EUA e o quarto câncer mais comum entre as mulheres. Além disso, as taxas de incidência de câncer de endométrio estão crescendo no Ocidente, indicando que alterações nos fatores ambientais, como dieta, estilo de vida e o microbioma vaginal, podem ser catalisadores importantes da causa da doença.

Released: 3-Jan-2020 2:55 PM EST
ينظر الباحثون في Mayo Clinic إلى مرحلة ما بعد انقطاع الطمث كعامل رئيسي في سرطان بطانة الرحم
Mayo Clinic

سرطان بطانة الرحم هو أكثر الأورام الخبيثة شيوعًا في أمراض النساء في الولايات المتحدة ورابع أكثر أنواع السرطان شيوعًا بين النساء. بالإضافة إلى ذلك ، فإن معدلات الإصابة بسرطان بطانة الرحم آخذة في الارتفاع في العالم الغربي، مما يشير إلى أن التغيرات في العوامل البيئية مثل النظام الغذائي ونمط الحياة و الحَيُّوم الدقيق المهبلي قد تكون من العوامل المهمة في سببه.

Released: 3-Jan-2020 2:20 PM EST
Forscher der Mayo Clinic betrachten Postmenopause als Hauptfaktor bei Gebärmutterkrebs
Mayo Clinic

Gebärmutterkrebs ist die häufigste bösartige gynäkologische Tumorform in den USA und die vierthäufigste Krebsart bei Frauen. Darüber hinaus steigt die Fallzahl von Gebärmutterkrebs in der westlichen Welt, was auf Veränderungen von Umweltfaktoren wie Ernährung, Lebensstil und vaginalem Mikrobiom als treibende Auslöser hindeutet.

Released: 3-Jan-2020 1:15 PM EST
Les chercheurs de Mayo Clinic considèrent la post-ménopause comme un facteur clé du cancer de l'endomètre
Mayo Clinic

Le cancer de l’endomètre représente la tumeur maligne gynécologique la plus fréquente aux États-Unis et le quatrième cancer le plus fréquent chez les femmes. De plus, les taux d'incidence du cancer de l'endomètre sont à la hausse dans le monde occidental, ce qui suggère que les modifications des facteurs environnementaux tels que l'alimentation, le mode de vie et le microbiome vaginal peuvent s’avérer être des facteurs importants dans son origine.

Released: 3-Jan-2020 11:55 AM EST
Versatile Bile Acids
Harvard Medical School

Could bile acids—the fat-dissolving juices churned out by the liver and gallbladder—also play a role in immunity and inflammation? The answer appears to be yes, according to two separate Harvard Medical School studies published in Nature.

Released: 30-Dec-2019 8:05 AM EST
Gut Bacteria Found to Have a Shocking Secret
Department of Energy, Office of Science

Scientists studied how the bacteria transport electrons across their cell wall. The bacteria use a method that’s different from other, known electricity-producing bacteria. They also found that hundreds of other bacterial species use this same process.

   
Released: 27-Dec-2019 8:05 AM EST
Simplifying Microbial Consortia Opens a Path to Understanding Soil Community Ecology
Department of Energy, Office of Science

New research demonstrates that microbial communities that are simplified but still representative may offer a way to explore more complex ones. In particular, they can help scientists uncover the mechanisms that drive the ecology of groups of soil microbes.

Released: 27-Dec-2019 8:05 AM EST
Droughts Spell Changes for Soil Microbes
Department of Energy, Office of Science

Scientists predict a warming Earth will cause more droughts that are more severe in the grasslands of the central United States. This research found that soil drying affects the microbial community in several ways.

Released: 27-Dec-2019 8:05 AM EST
Predicting How Microbial Neighbors Influence Each Other
Department of Energy, Office of Science

Researchers developed a new theoretical framework called minimal interspecies interaction adjustment (MIIA). It predicts how surrounding organisms and other factors drive changes in interactions in microbial communities.

Released: 23-Dec-2019 2:05 PM EST
UCI biologists spearhead creation of Microbiome Centers Consortium
University of California, Irvine

Irvine, Calif., Dec. 23, 2019 — From probing the ocean depths to deciphering human health mysteries, researchers across scientific disciplines are increasingly including microbiomes in their work. The Microbiome Centers Consortium has been launched by two University of California, Irvine School of Bioscience faculty members to advance growth in this life science field, increasingly recognized as relevant to many other disciplines and industrial applications.

17-Dec-2019 4:10 PM EST
Genetic variation gives mussels a chance to adapt to climate change
University of Chicago Medical Center

Existing genetic variation in natural populations of Mediterranean mussels allows them to adapt to declining pH levels in seawater caused by carbon emissions. A new study by biologists from the University of Chicago shows that mussels raised in a low pH experimental environment grew smaller shells than those grown at normal pH levels, but the overall survival rate of mussels grown under both conditions was the same.

Released: 19-Dec-2019 11:15 AM EST
How microbes reflect the health of coral reefs
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Microorganisms play important roles in the health and protection of coral reefs, yet exploring these connections can be difficult due to the lack of unspoiled reef systems throughout the global ocean. A collaborative study led by scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the Centro de Investigaciones Marinas - Universidad de La Habana (CIM-UH) compared seawater from 25 reefs in Cuba and the U.S. Florida Keys varying in human impact and protection, and found that those with higher microbial diversity and lower concentrations of nutrients and organic carbon—primarily caused by human activities—were markedly healthier.

Released: 17-Dec-2019 3:40 PM EST
Scientists discover how proteins form crystals that tile a microbe’s shell
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Many microbes wear beautifully patterned crystalline shells. Now scientists have zoomed in on the very first step in microbial shell-building: nucleation, where squiggly proteins crystallize into sturdy building blocks. The results help explain how the shells assemble themselves so quickly.

12-Dec-2019 12:55 PM EST
Case Western Reserve University researchers discover critical link to controlling inflammation in Crohn’s disease
Case Western Reserve University

Investigators at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine discovered that blocking interleukin-1α (IL1α), a protein that controls inflammation in the gut, markedly decreases the severity of intestinal inflammation in a mouse model of Crohn’s disease (CD).

16-Dec-2019 10:15 AM EST
Researchers discover how Zika virus remodels its host cell to boost viral production
The Rockefeller University Press

Researchers in China have discovered how a Zika virus protein reshapes its host cell to aid viral replication. The study, which will be published December 23 in the Journal of Cell Biology, reveals that the viral protein NS1 converts an interior cellular compartment called the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) into a protective region where the virus can survive and replicate. Blocking this process could be a novel therapeutic strategy to treat patients infected with Zika or similar viral pathogens, such as the yellow fever and dengue viruses.

   
13-Dec-2019 1:10 PM EST
Asthma severity linked to microbiome of upper airway
Washington University in St. Louis

A new study led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests there is a link between bacteria that live in the upper airway and the severity of asthma symptoms among children with mild to moderate asthma.

13-Dec-2019 1:20 PM EST
Mayo Clinic researchers look at post menopause as key factor in endometrial cancer
Mayo Clinic

Endometrial cancer is the most common gynecological malignancy in the U.S. and the fourth most common cancer among women. In addition, endometrial cancer incidence rates are on the rise in the western world, suggesting that alterations in environmental factors such as diet, lifestyle, and the vaginal microbiome may be important drivers in its cause.

Released: 11-Dec-2019 11:05 AM EST
Princeton researchers listen in on the chemical conversation of the human microbiome
Princeton University

The microbes populating the human body play an important role in health and disease, but with few exceptions, how individual microbial species affect health and disease states remains poorly understood. A new study by Princeton researcher Mohamed Abou Donia and his colleagues, appearing in the Dec. 13 issue of the journal Science, gives scientists new tools to explore and understand the human microbiome.

Released: 10-Dec-2019 7:30 AM EST
Influenza IMPRINT Cohort Study Receives Funding Boost
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center

The Influenza IMPRINT Cohort study will explore the emerging idea that a person’s very first influenza virus exposure impacts the magnitude, durability and breadth of their immune response to all future flu exposures.

9-Dec-2019 12:00 AM EST
Giving Common Antibiotic Before Radiation May Help Body Fight Cancer
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

The antibiotic vancomycin alters the gut microbiome in a way that can help prime the immune system to more effectively attack tumor cells after radiation therapy

Released: 9-Dec-2019 3:15 PM EST
Researchers identify ‘Achilles’ heel’ of drug-resistant superbug
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

Researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) have identified a protein that allows vancomycin-resistant enterococci to defy antibiotic treatment and immune system attacks. Their discovery opens the door for future treatment options in the fight against antibiotic resistance.

Released: 6-Dec-2019 11:20 AM EST
Texas A&M researchers uncover the science behind zapping bacteria with ultraviolet light
Texas A&M University

In the perennial clash between man and microbe, ultraviolet light has emerged as one of man’s powerful tools against many pathogens. Although ultraviolet light can wipe out several germs, the exact mechanisms that orchestrate the radiation’s damaging action have long been elusive. Texas A&M scientists can now explain how it works

Released: 5-Dec-2019 1:05 PM EST
Physical forces affect bacteria’s toxin resistance, study finds
Cornell University

A random conversation between two Cornell researchers at a child’s birthday party led to a collaboration and new understanding of how bacteria resist toxins, which may lead to new tools in the fight against harmful infections.

2-Dec-2019 2:45 PM EST
More Than a Watchdog
Harvard Medical School

Study in mice shows the nervous system not only detects the presence of Salmonella in the gut but actively stops the organism from infecting the body Nerves in the gut prevent Salmonella infection by shutting the cellular gates that allow bacteria to invade the intestine and spread beyond it As a second line of defense, gut neurons help avert Salmonella invasion by maintaining the levels of key protective microbes in the gut Findings reveal prominent role for nervous system in infection protection and regulation of immunity

Released: 2-Dec-2019 1:15 PM EST
Malaria deaths could be reduced thanks to Warwick engineers
University of Warwick

The resurgence of Malaria in high-risk areas calls for new methods to combat the potentially dangerous situation. A collaboration between researchers at the University of Warwick and Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine have found adding a barrier above a bednet can significantly improve the bednet’s performance, reduce the quantity of insecticide while expanding the range of insecticides that can be safely delivered via a bednet.

   
Released: 27-Nov-2019 2:15 PM EST
The Greenest Diet: Bacteria Switch to Eating Carbon Dioxide
Weizmann Institute of Science

Weizmann Institute scientists have converted bacteria to consume CO2 – basically, to live on air – instead of sugar. Such bacteria may contribute to new, carbon-efficient technologies, from food production to green fuels.

Released: 25-Nov-2019 2:50 PM EST
Gut microbes alter characteristics of norovirus infection
Washington University in St. Louis

The highly contagious norovirus causes diarrhea and vomiting and is notorious for spreading rapidly through densely populated spaces, such as cruise ships, nursing homes, schools and day care centers. There are no treatments for this intestinal virus. A new study led by scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has shown that gut microbes can tamp down or boost the severity of norovirus infection based on where along the intestine the virus takes hold.

Released: 21-Nov-2019 3:15 PM EST
Germ-free lungs of newborn mice are partially protected against hyperoxia
University of Alabama at Birmingham

A novel newborn mouse model probes the effect of high oxygen concentration, or hyperoxia, on lung development of pups that are germ-free — with no microbes in their lungs. The model will show how different types of microbes that colonize human lungs at birth protect or make an infant more susceptible to life-threatening bronchopulmonary dysplasia.

Released: 14-Nov-2019 3:40 PM EST
NAU team awarded prestigious Chan Zuckerberg grant to build global community around bioinformatics software
Northern Arizona University

Greg Caporaso is leading the effort, which is aimed at building a more diverse community of users and developers of QIIME 2, an open source and free bioinformatics software, by making it easier for microbiome scientists and software developers around the world to learn and contribute to the program.

Released: 11-Nov-2019 2:10 PM EST
The gut may be the ticket to reducing chemo’s side effects
Ohio State University

In a new study, scientists observed several simultaneous reactions in mice given a common chemotherapy drug: Their gut bacteria and tissue changed, their blood and brains showed signs of inflammation, and their behaviors suggested they were fatigued and cognitively impaired.

Released: 7-Nov-2019 7:00 AM EST
Exercise, Weight Loss May Induce Metabolism-related Changes to Molecules in Gut
American Physiological Society (APS)

New research finds that exercise causes changes to some of the body’s metabolites—small molecules the body produces during metabolism—and also triggers change in blood levels of unique “foreign” molecules not thought to stem from our own metabolism. These changes to the global metabolome—the entire group of metabolites found throughout the body in the blood, tissues or urine—may help scientists better understand the body’s response to exercise.

Released: 6-Nov-2019 1:50 PM EST
Rogers examines the effects of ancient microbes in new book
Bowling Green State University

The idea of freezing a life in ice and thawing it out years, even centuries, later has been used extensively in novels, movies and comics. According to BGSU biology professor Scott Rogers in his new book this concept may be more fact than fiction, and the outcomes of this are just as worrying as they are exciting.

5-Nov-2019 3:15 PM EST
Quantitative Biology Opens Trail to Ecological Exploration, Evolutionary Prediction
University of California San Diego

New papers published in Nature uncover surprising new findings on bacterial chemotaxis—the movement of bacterial cells in response to chemical stimuli. The results open the door to a more comprehensive understanding of fundamental questions of ecological exploration and evolutionary prediction.

Released: 5-Nov-2019 10:05 AM EST
Straight from the source
Washington University in St. Louis

Ever since scientists discovered that certain microbes can get their energy from electrical charges, researchers have wondered how they do it. Bacteria don’t have mouths, so they need another way to bring their fuel into their bodies. New research from Washington University in St. Louis reveals how one such bacteria pulls in electrons straight from an electrode source.

Released: 4-Nov-2019 12:15 PM EST
City Apartments or Jungle Huts: What Chemicals and Microbes Lurk Inside?
Rutgers University-New Brunswick

Researchers at Rutgers and other universities found city homes to be rife with industrial chemicals, cleaning agents and fungi that love warm, dark surfaces, while jungle huts had fresher air, more sunlight and natural materials with which humans evolved.

Released: 1-Nov-2019 9:50 AM EDT
Cyp2F2-Mediated Lung Cancer, Rapid Risk Assessment of Color Additives, and More Featured in November 2019 Toxicological Sciences
Society of Toxicology

Toxicological Sciences continues to deliver cutting-edge research in toxicology in the November 2019 issue. This issue features research on computational toxicology and databases, developmental and reproductive toxicology, and more.

Released: 1-Nov-2019 8:00 AM EDT
Science Snapshots from Berkeley Lab
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Gamers designing proteins, raw food changing the gut, and a toxin-absorbing MOF

Released: 30-Oct-2019 11:05 AM EDT
Gut Bacteria Is Key Factor in Childhood Obesity
Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist

New information published by scientists at Wake Forest Baptist Health suggests that gut bacteria and its interactions with immune cells and metabolic organs, including fat tissue, play a key role in childhood obesity.

Released: 28-Oct-2019 12:05 PM EDT
New Study Points to Possible Correlation Between Sleep and Overall Good Health
Nova Southeastern University

As if you didn’t already have enough to worry about to keep you up at night, a new study indicates that poor sleep can negatively affect your gut microbiome, which can, in turn, lead to additional health issues.

23-Oct-2019 1:50 PM EDT
Synthesis of the vitamin biotin
McMaster University

With the increasing rate of multi-drug resistance, it is fundamental to identify new antibiotics. In this study, researchers found the synthesis of the vitamin biotin is integral for the growth of drug-resistant bacteria in human plasma. They were able to treat drug-resistant infections by inhibiting biotin synthesis in an infection mimicking human conditions. By inhibiting biotin synthesis, they have the potential to produce a novel class of antibiotics.



close
1.453