Microbiology // Current

Gallery - The year's best pictures from the world of medicine - Image 2 - New Scientist

Wellcome Images is part of the Wellcome Trust, a charity that funds health research.... more

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Gary Carlson - Illustration & Animation - Medical & Biological

If you dare to take a look, see what goes on inside us at a cellular level.

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A Sprinkling of Carbon Nanotubes Makes Plants Grow Faster

Tiny they may be, but carbon nanotubes have found a remarkable range of uses, from... more

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Capturing Carbon Dioxide In Tiny Bowls: Global Warming Fix From Microbes?

The accidental discovery of a bowl-shaped molecule that pulls carbon dioxide out of... more

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4 months ago
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Concerns growing over superbugs in our food

About two years ago, dozens of workers at a large chicken hatchery in Arkansas began... more

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4 months ago
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Want Clean Water? Turn on the Lights

The Big Apple wants to use the sun's power to provide clean drinking water for its... more

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5 months ago
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MWV Episode 28 - Cheese and Microbes

Fine cheeses are like fine wines. Producing and aging them properly is both an art and... more

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5 months ago
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Scientists Find High-Flying Microbes, The Clouds are Alive!

Scripps researcher Kerri Pratt with aerosol time-of-flight mass spectrometer (ATOFMS)... more

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6 months ago
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Canadian scientist arrested for smuggling ebola virus into U.S.

A Canadian scientist was stopped at the U.S. border last week after authorities found... more

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1.5 million year old Antarctic microbe community discovered

A living time capsule of sorts has been found buried under hundreds of feet of Antarctic ice -a colony of microbes that have been sealed off from the rest of the world for more than 1.5 million years.

The finding, detailed in the April 17 issue of the journal Science, could serve as a model for how life might survive on icy planets elsewhere in the galaxy.

The microbes, which live without light or oxygen, were detected in meltwater flowing out from Taylor Glacier, one of the outlet glaciers of the vast East Antarctic Ice Sheet in the otherwise ice-free McMurdo Dry Valleys.

The Dry Valleys are considered one of Earth's most extreme deserts, devoid of animals and complex plants.

Scientists took water samples from Blood Falls, a curious blood-red waterfall-like feature that sporadically flows from the edge of Taylor Glacier.

Analyses revealed that the glacier water held microorganisms that use sulfur compounds to extract iron in the bedrock below the glacier (this iron also accounts for the rusty hue of the water).

"When I started running the chemical analysis on [the samples], there was no oxygen. That was when this got really interesting, it was a real 'eureka' moment," said researcher Jill Mikucki, who conducted the research, which was supported by the National Science Foundation, while a graduate student at Montana State University and a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard University. She currently works at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.

The researchers can't drill down to the pool that is home to the microbes because the ice is too thick and too far back from the edge of the glacier, but they think the pool is less than 3 miles (5 kilometers) across and was formed about 1.5 million to 2 million years ago.

Genetic tests suggest that the microbes are similar to ones found in marine environments today, which the researchers think are a remnant of a larger population of microbes that once lived in a fjord or sea that was cut off when sea levels fell and left the pool behind. The pool was eventually capped off by the flowing glacier.

"It's a bit like finding a forest that nobody has seen for 1.5 million years," said study team member Ann Pearson of Harvard. "Intriguingly, the species living there are similar to contemporary organisms, and yet quite different - a result, no doubt, of having lived in such an inhospitable environment for so long."

end of excerpt.A living time capsule of sorts has been found buried under hundreds of feet of... more

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Life thrives beneath Antarctic glacier

Researchers have discovered a new kind of microbial life flourishing in a dark,... more

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TEDTalks: Talking Bacteria [video]

This interesting video is a TEDTalk. TED -- for Technology, Entertainment, Design --... more

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7 months ago
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Stratosphere Reveals New Bacteria

All have been identified in the upper stratosphere, 10 kilometers (6 miles) and 50... more

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Three New Species Discovered -- in the Stratosphere!

According to a recently published press release, three new species of bacteria have... more

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MWV Episode 27 - ASMCUE MWV27

The American Society for Microbiology Conference for Undergraduate Educators (ASMCUE)... more

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MicrobeWorld Video Ep. 26 - Germ Proof Your Kids

Parents are often presented with conflicting messages about germs and cleanliness. On... more

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Bacteria Lab MWV25

What kinds of bacteria are growing in your sink or your refrigerator? How about on... more

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Synthetic viruses could explain animal-to-human jumps

In a technical tour de force with potentially profound implications for the study of... more

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Antibiotics: Is a Strong Offense the Best Defense? MWV21 Part 2

On September 18, 2008 at the Koshland Science Museum in Washington, D.C., Dr. Stuart Levy, professor of Molecular Biology and Microbiology at Tufts University School of Medicine and Dr. Linda Tollefson, Assistant Commissioner for Science at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, discussed how to optimize antibiotic use and how to minimize the emergence of drug resistant pathogens. In part 2 of this 3 part video series, Dr. Levy discusses how antibiotic resistance develops, the development practices drug companies employ when producing antimicrobials, and how this process may change in the future. Dr. Tollefson outlines how the FDA is encouraging the development of antibiotics in an industry that is mostly focussed on manufacturing drugs for chronic illnesses. Dr. Levy is Professor of Molecular Biology and Microbiology at Tufts University School of Medicine where he is the Director of the Center for Adaptation Genetics and Drug Resistance. He directs research on mechanisms of bacterial antibiotic resistance. Stuart Levy is also Staff Physician at the Tufts Medical Center and he also serves as the president of The International Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics. Dr. Tollefson is Assistant Commissioner for Science at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). She previously served as Deputy Director of the Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM), where she led CVM's efforts to implement a risk-based approach to address antimicrobial resistance, fulfilling a 2001 Congressional mandate, and was instrumental in the founding of the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System for Enteric Bacteria. Tollefson also served as Chief of Epidemiology in the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition where she successfully investigated numerous outbreaks of food borne disease and served as liaison to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Part 3 will be published next week. To view part one visit the MicrobeWorld Video archives at www.microbeworld.org/look/MicrobeWorldVideo.aspxOn September 18, 2008 at the Koshland Science Museum in Washington, D.C., Dr. Stuart... more

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Antibiotics - Is a Strong Offense a Good Defense? (Part 1)

Will we become defenseless against bacteria? Will bacteria always find a way to infect and even kill us? The emergence of antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria poses an enormous problem around the world. Scientists believe that the overuse of antibiotics is increasing the appearance of these pathogens. In the US, increasing casualties resulting from drug resistant staphylococcus infections received wide media attention.

While antibiotics only work on bacterial infections, many patients and doctors regard antibiotics as a front-line form of treating any type of infection. Antibiotics are often prescribed because the specific pathogen that is causing an illness is often difficult to determine. In some cases they are used as a preventative measure. But is this the best defense? Are there ways to beat bacteria at their own game?

On September 18, 2008 at the Koshland Science Museum in Washington, D.C., Dr. Stuart Levy, professor of Molecular Biology and Microbiology at Tufts University School of Medicine and Dr. Linda Tollefson, Assistant Commissioner for Science at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, discussed how to optimize antibiotic use and how to minimize the emergence of drug resistant pathogens.

In part 1 of this 3 part video series, Dr. Levy discusses the basics of microbial pathogens, bacteria, and antibiotic resistance. And, Dr. Tollefson outlines the various types and classes of antibiotic drugs, approved uses, and current levels of effectiveness.

Dr. Levy is Professor of Molecular Biology and Microbiology at Tufts University School of Medicine where he is the Director of the Center for Adaptation Genetics and Drug Resistance. He directs research on mechanisms of bacterial antibiotic resistance. Stuart Levy is also Staff Physician at the Tufts Medical Center and he also serves as the president of The International Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics.

Dr. Tollefson is Assistant Commissioner for Science at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). She previously served as Deputy Director of the Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM), where she led CVM's efforts to implement a risk-based approach to address antimicrobial resistance, fulfilling a 2001 Congressional mandate, and was instrumental in the founding of the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System for Enteric Bacteria. Tollefson also served as Chief of Epidemiology in the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition where she successfully investigated numerous outbreaks of food borne disease and served as liaison to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Will we become defenseless against bacteria? Will bacteria always find a way to infect... more

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tagged w/ Microbiology

Gallery - The year's best pictures from the world of medicine - Image 2 - New Scientist

Gary Carlson - Illustration & Animation - Medical & Biological

A Sprinkling of Carbon Nanotubes Makes Plants Grow Faster

Capturing Carbon Dioxide In Tiny Bowls: Global Warming Fix From Microbes?

Concerns growing over superbugs in our food

Want Clean Water? Turn on the Lights

MWV Episode 28 - Cheese and Microbes

Scientists Find High-Flying Microbes, The Clouds are Alive!

Canadian scientist arrested for smuggling ebola virus into U.S.

1.5 million year old Antarctic microbe community discovered

Life thrives beneath Antarctic glacier

TEDTalks: Talking Bacteria [video]

Stratosphere Reveals New Bacteria

Three New Species Discovered -- in the Stratosphere!

MWV Episode 27 - ASMCUE MWV27

MicrobeWorld Video Ep. 26 - Germ Proof Your Kids

Bacteria Lab MWV25

Synthetic viruses could explain animal-to-human jumps

Antibiotics: Is a Strong Offense the Best Defense? MWV21 Part 2

Antibiotics - Is a Strong Offense a Good Defense? (Part 1)

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