— The Human Microbiome Project (HMP). If asked what it is, perhaps you would see that the name resembles that of the Human Genome Project and guess that it is a large effort devoted to some sort of DNA sequencing involving humans. This is partially correct. Continue reading The Human Microbiome Project: the large effects of small inhabitants
Most visits to a doctor or hospital occur when a patient feels under the weather, but is unsure of the cause of the symptoms or the best way to treat them. For example, sniffles and a sore throat could be caused by seasonal allergies or the flu, each of which must be treated with different medications. In such cases, physicians rely on diagnostic tests to help them decide on the appropriate course of treatment.
Continue reading Improving diagnostic testing for infectious diseases
— Two groups of scientists — one based in the Netherlands and the other in the United States — have carried out detailed studies on the experimental evolution of the A/H5N1 virus, more commonly known as the “bird flu”. Public health officials have documented at least 600 cases of humans infected by A/H5N1 since it was first reported in Hong Kong in 1997. Half of those infected were killed, a strikingly high mortality rate compared to most strains of the flu. While this mortality rate has garnered widespread media attention, the impact of A/H5N1 on humans has remained relatively small due to its inability to transmit efficiently from human to human. However, the virus is highly transmissible in some non-human animals, especially birds, and has caused large-scale epidemics in these animals. Continue reading Laboratory-based flu evolution – dangerous or necessary?
— From a distance, malaria looks like a disease that we should have eradicated by now. Scientists have known for many years that most dangerous malaria cases are caused by the Plasmodium falciparum parasite. This parasite is transmitted to humans through the bite of an Anopheles mosquito, and has a complicated but well-understood lifecycle within its human host, involving invasion of both the liver and the blood. In humans, malaria causes fever, vomiting, headaches, and general achiness, but complications including brain damage, seizures, and red blood cell damage are responsible for most human deaths. With so many potential places to target malaria treatment – in the human liver, in human blood, or in the mosquito that carries the parasite from person to person – why did it still kill 655,000 people in 2010? Continue reading The modern challenges of combating malaria
Presented by Jason Silverstein, Jennifer Manne, and Karolina Maciag HD video coming soon! In the meantime, checkout our other videos on our Vimeo page! Continue reading Neglected Diseases of the Bottom Billion
— For the first time, recent advances in technology and space exploration have made the prospect of detecting evidence for life outside of our Solar System a foreseeable possibility. The pursuit of this evidence and the desire to learn more about the origin of life on Earth have led to the development of a new field called astrobiology. Astrobiology melds multiple disciplines including astronomy, chemistry, biology, geology and planetary science to answer one of humankind’s oldest questions: Are we alone in the Universe? Next generation telescopes, through their ability to detect signatures of life as we know it, can help answer this question. Continue reading Are We Alone? – How astronomers hope to find life in the Universe
Adapted from image by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center The World is Full of Bacteria There are over a billion microbes in just one liter of ocean water [1]. The same goes for a liter of soil. As the human population reaches 7 billion individuals worldwide in 2011 [2], it is a fitting time to reflect on the number of microbes that share our home, … Continue reading Metagenomics: Exploring the depths of the microbial world
— On a Monday morning, as he was sorting through Petri dishes of Staphylococci he had left on his laboratory bench before going on vacation, Dr. Alexander Fleming noticed one that had become contaminated with mold. Fungal contamination was not particularly unusual, but what was remarkable was that all of the bacterial colonies immediately surrounding the mold had died. Fleming subsequently identified the mold as belonging to the genus Penicillium and found that it naturally produced a substance that was lethal not only to staphylococci, but to a wide range of bacteria including those responsible for diseases like pneumonia, gonorrhea, meningitis, and scarlet fever. He named the miracle compound “penicillin.” Fleming’s serendipitous discovery marked the beginning of the modern medical era of antibiotics, played a critical role in the Allies’ victory during World War II, and has likely saved more lives than most other medical advances in history. Continue reading Antibiotic resistance: A battle of wits versus natural selection
— Every organism is an incredibly complex machine whose biological processes benefit from 3.6 billion years of refinement through natural selection. Thus, it should not be surprising that designing biological systems is still difficult for scientists and engineers. Despite the obstacles, successes in areas such as protein engineering are leading to useful applications like better medicines and cheaper biofuels. Now, a new method of artificial selection is helping to evolve useful proteins 100 times faster than was previously possible. Continue reading Evolving better proteins… with a little help from viruses
— The idea that we could grow fuel from a renewable resource is incredibly exciting. Researchers have been hard at work developing biofuels that will allow us to run our society using easily renewable resources. These efforts have gained a lot of media attention in recent years, and are being touted as a way for the US to decrease its dependence on foreign oil and to mitigate climate change. The longest standing method for creating biofuels is extracting ethanol from corn and sugar cane. More recently, researchers have begun engineering bacteria to produce biofuels, a method that may avoid many of the problems associated with making biofuels from plants, but that also presents new scientific and engineering challenges. Continue reading Green Energy from Bacteria