New findings raise questions about the role of microbes living in the lungs. More than 35 trillion bacteria live throughout the human body, forming microbiomes in the gut, mouth, lungs, skin, and urogenital tract. Researchers increasingly recognize that these microbial communities are connected to both health and disease, but much about what individual microbes do [...]

Even highly antibiotic-resistant bacteria become more vulnerable when their cell wall transport system is disrupted, according to a new study from Umeå University. The discovery reveals a previously overlooked weakness that could help researchers develop new strategies to combat antibiotic resistance.

Even highly antibiotic-resistant bacteria become more vulnerable when their cell wall transport system is disrupted, according to a new study from Umeå University. The discovery reveals a previously overlooked weakness that could help researchers develop new strategies to combat antibiotic resistance.

Learning is often thought to require a brain. But learning is a broad concept that does not necessarily depend on neurons.

Research underway in the lab of Rebecca Alexander, a professor in Wake Forest University's Department of Chemistry, is shedding light on an unusual human bacterium, Mycoplasma penetrans. Alexander's work to understand how and why this unique pathogen acts as it does could one day lead to new classes of drugs that better target illnesses associated with this particular pathogen, as well as others that act similarly.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we wore masks and kept 2 meters (6.6 feet) apart in an effort to reduce the spread of the tiny droplets we release into the air with every breath, conversation or cough. The main goal was to reduce the number of virus particles—known as virions—to which we were exposed. For each virus, a person must be exposed to a minimum infectious dose to develop disease, and in many cases, the larger the dose, the more severe the illness.

It can't be heard, but different parts of the human body are in constant conversation, communicating to keep the entire system running efficiently. For biologists, being able to listen in on this discussion is a long-sought-after goal. Over the years, researchers have caught snippets of these exchanges, but the complete dialogue has remained out of reach.

It can't be heard, but different parts of the human body are in constant conversation, communicating to keep the entire system running efficiently. For biologists, being able to listen in on this discussion is a long-sought-after goal. Over the years, researchers have caught snippets of these exchanges, but the complete dialogue has remained out of reach.

New research from Indiana University has uncovered a previously unknown vulnerability in how bacteria build the whip-like tails they use to move. The researchers found that building these tails can put stress on the protective wall surrounding a bacterial cell and uncovered systems bacteria use to keep that stress from becoming destructive.

A new study has demonstrated that regional microbial imprints can remain detectable under commercial winemaking conditions. The research, appearing in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, shows that inoculated fermentations do not "override" native microbial diversity and that vineyard management and environmental conditions affect wine quality. The study helps explain why wines from different regions taste distinct even when made with similar techniques and supports regional flavors and branding.

A bacterial molecule called gladiolin can disarm invasive Candida albicans and strengthen the effects of a major antifungal drug. Candida albicans usually lives harmlessly in the human body, but under the wrong conditions it can transform into an invasive form capable of damaging tissue and causing life-threatening infection. Researchers from Monash University and the University [...]

That’s now just 1 billion years for all the apparatus to hit on the lucky combination randomly, unless we start with design principles.

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A book sits atop a table. Although it's closed, its title, "Encyclopedia of Human Tissue," promises untold secrets. Perhaps with this book, you can learn about different cell types and what they look like under normal conditions or conditions of disease. Maybe you can learn how gene expression differs in the cells of younger and older people, or whether different patients' cells respond differently to the same treatments.

A genetically engineered bacterium can rapidly break down one of Earth's most abundant minerals, opening a promising new pathway for simultaneously removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and recovering critical elements used in electric vehicle batteries, according to new Cornell research.

Epithelial cells are the tiny shields that line and protect our bodies. In a developing embryo, epithelial cells grow, divide and move into positions to form the outer layers of our skin and the surfaces of our organs and blood vessels. When we scrape our skin, suffer an internal tear or undergo surgery, epithelial cells migrate to the site of injury to heal a wound. And when epithelial cells go haywire, they can turn malignant and spread through the body as cancer.

Baker's yeast is one of biotechnology's most important microorganisms. It has long been used to leaven bread and ferment beer. More recently, advances in synthetic biology have enabled engineered yeast to convert sugar into a wide range of products, including medicines, fuels and industrial chemicals. Yet even well-engineered yeast cells can be difficult to control in a precise and timely way.

Baker's yeast is one of biotechnology's most important microorganisms. It has long been used to leaven bread and ferment beer. More recently, advances in synthetic biology have enabled engineered yeast to convert sugar into a wide range of products, including medicines, fuels and industrial chemicals. Yet even well-engineered yeast cells can be difficult to control in a precise and timely way.

Every living cell, from the simplest bacterium to a human neuron, relies on the same basic machinery to read, interpret, and use its DNA. This molecular machinery is so fundamental that life as we know it cannot exist without it. And because it is so essential, it has long been a target for drugs; it shuts down a bacterium's ability to access its own genes and it quickly dies.

The global expansion of chicken farming has created conditions that allow Campylobacter to spread, mix and adapt more readily. Commercial poultry farms now hold billions of chickens, creating a vast habitat where bacteria can move, mix and adapt. An analysis from the Ineos Oxford Institute for Antimicrobial Research at the University of Oxford found that [...]

Photosynthetic microorganisms can use light energy to convert carbon dioxide into useful compounds under mild, environmentally compatible conditions. However, many current photosynthetic production systems rely on cells growing freely in large volumes of liquid. This creates a substantial demand for water and requires extensive mixing to keep the cells evenly distributed and exposed to light, increasing the resource and energy requirements of the process.