An Auburn University senior has been awarded a scholarship from the Fulbright Program to continue studying microbiology in Germany.

Paul Bergen, a microbiology and German double major, will continue his studies at the Technical University of Munich during the 2012-13 academic year.

The receipt of a Fulbright Scholarship to conduct research in Germany is a great honor, Bergen said in an email to the Opelika-Auburn News on Monday. I am excited to be able to continue conducting research in the field of microbiology in the country my ancestors called home. My grandparents emigrated from Germany in the 1950s and my grandmother always told me stories about life there.

After spending eight days in the summer of 2010 in Germany, I knew I wanted to go back. The Fulbright grants me that opportunity, along with the recognition of the excellence of my studies at Auburn University.

Bergen, 21, of Cooper City, Fla., has studied in Auburns Honors College for four years, accumulating a 3.97 overall GPA. In addition to receiving Auburns Presidential Scholarship, he has been selected for two fellowships and was named the College of Sciences and Mathematics top junior during the 2010-11 school year.

Bergen is Auburns fourth student to receive a scholarship from the Fulbright Program in as many years. After his 10-month stint in Germany, Bergen said he plans to pursue a doctorate in microbiology at the University of Missouri and then work on treatments for bacterial and viral diseases either in the private sector or in academia.

"Paul is an inquisitive and engaging young man with a range of interests and activities that go well beyond the lab and range from the study of German politics, culture and language to being an active member of Auburn's nationally recognized mock trial team," Paul Harris, associate director of the Auburn Honors College, said in a university news release. "He will gain so much from his classes and interactions with German students and faculty, and he will represent himself, Auburn University and the United States with distinction."

Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, the Fulbright Program was founded in 1946. It allows students, scholars and professionals the opportunity to study in more than 155 countries throughout the world.

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AU senior awarded Fulbright Program scholarship

Public release date: 27-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jim Sliwa jsliwa@asmusa.org 202-942-9297 American Society for Microbiology

Microorganisms can sometimes lose the ability to perform a function that appears to be necessary for their survival, and yet they still somehow manage to endure and multiply. How can this be? The authors of an opinion piece appearing in mBio, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology, on March 27 explain their ideas about the matter. They say microbes that shed necessary functions are getting others to do the hard work for them, an adaptation that can encourage microorganisms to live in cooperative communities.

The Black Queen Hypothesis, as they call it, puts forth the idea that some of the needs of microorganisms can be met by other organisms, enabling microbes that rely on one another to live more efficiently by paring down the genes they have to carry around. In these cases, it would make evolutionary sense for a microbe to lose a burdensome gene for a function it doesn't have to perform for itself. The authors, Richard Lenski and J. Jeffrey Morris of Michigan State University, and Erik Zinser of the University of Tennessee, named the hypothesis for the queen of spades in the game Hearts, in which the usual strategy is to avoid taking this card.

"It's a sweeping hypothesis for how free-living microorganisms evolve to become dependent on each other," says Richard Losick of Harvard University, who edited the paper. "The heart of the hypothesis is that many genetic functions provide products that leak in and out of cells and hence become public goods," he says.

As an illustration of the hypothesis, the authors apply it to one particular microbial system that has been a source of some confusion: one of the most common plankton species in the open ocean, Prochlorococcus, which has a much smaller genome than you might expect. Scientists have wondered how Prochlorococcus has managed to be extremely successful while shedding important genes, including the gene for catalase-peroxidase, which allows it to neutralize hydrogen peroxide, a compound that can damage or even kill cells. Prochlorococcus relies on the other microorganisms around it to remove hydrogen peroxide from the environment, say the authors, allowing it to fob off its responsibilities on the unlucky card holders around it. This is an instance of how one species can profit from paring down while relying on other members of the community to help out.

Losick says the Black Queen Hypothesis offers a new way of looking at complicated, inter-dependent communities of microorganisms. "I have a special interest in how bacteria form biofilms, complex natural communities that often consist of many different kinds of bacteria. The Black Queen Hypothesis provides a valuable new way to think about how the members of these biofilm communities coevolved."

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mBio is an open access online journal published by the American Society for Microbiology to make microbiology research broadly accessible. The focus of the journal is on rapid publication of cutting-edge research spanning the entire spectrum of microbiology and related fields. It can be found online at http://mBio.asm.org.

The American Society for Microbiology is the largest single life science society, composed of over 39,000 scientists and health professionals. ASM's mission is to advance the microbiological sciences as a vehicle for understanding life processes and to apply and communicate this knowledge for the improvement of health and environmental and economic well-being worldwide.

Link:
The Black Queen Hypothesis: A new evolutionary theory

Nortin Hadler, a professor of medicine and microbiology/immunology at UNC Chapel-Hill, has been warning for years about the lack of evidence supporting many popular medical treatments and tests.

His work is controversial. In books such as Stabbed in the Back: Confronting Back Pain in an Overtreated Society and Worried Sick: A Prescription for Health in an Overtreated America, Hadler argues for holding medical interventions to a high standard: Do they reduce mortality or substantially lessen the burden of illness? Do potential benefits significantly outweigh potential harms? Unless research proves this, the interventions should be avoided, Hadler insists.

In his newest book, Rethinking Aging: Growing Old and Living Well in an Overtreated Society, the 69-year-old Hadler turns his attention to older Americans. The following interview has been edited.

Q: Youve called your book Rethinking Aging. What do you want readers to understand about aging?

This book is a celebration of the fact that the baby boomers and the traditionalists the generation that came before the boomers are the first in the history of the world to hit age 60 and to be able to say, What do I want to do with the next 25 years of my life?

We shouldnt worry so much about what will kill us. We should be focusing on making it to age 85 and having a pleasing journey along the way.

Q: Youre concerned about the medicalization of aging. Explain why.

You can be healthy well beyond 60, but youll be different than you were when you were 20. Youll have different posture, wrinkles and other changes that are age appropriate. We have to be very, very careful about calling any difference from when we were younger an illness or a disease. And we have to be even more careful about telling people that we have things we can do to fix these differences, but this happens all the time. Thats the medicalization of aging.

Q: You talk about the importance of older people making informed medical decisions.

For the first time in the history, we have a tremendous amount of information about efficacy: what makes sense to do medically and what doesnt.

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UNC professor has a different prescription on aging

Public release date: 25-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Laura Udakis l.udakis@sgm.ac.uk 44-118-988-1843 Society for General Microbiology

The ripeness of fruit could determine how food-poisoning bacteria grow on them, according to scientists presenting their work at the Society for General Microbiology's Spring Conference in Dublin this week. Their work could lead to new strategies to improve food safety, bringing many health and economic benefits.

A wide range of fresh produce has been linked to outbreaks of Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica including melons, jalapeo and serrano peppers, basil, lettuce, horseradish sprouts and tomatoes. Researchers at Imperial College London are looking at how these bacterial pathogens latch onto fruits and vegetables and establish themselves in the first place.

They have discovered that strains of Salmonella behave differently when attached to ripe and unripe tomatoes. "Bacteria that attach to ripe tomatoes produce an extensive network of filaments, which is not seen when they attach to the surface of unripe tomatoes. This could affect how they are maintained on the surface," explained Professor Gad Frankel who is leading the research. "We are not completely sure yet why this happens; it might be due to the surface properties of the tomatoes or alternatively the expression of ripening hormones."

This is just one example of the subtle interplay between food-poisoning microbes and the fresh produce they contaminate, that determines how pathogens become established in the food chain. "Apart from Salmonella, strains of E. coli are also particularly devious in the way they interact with plant surfaces. They have hair-like appendages and flagella they can use as hooks to successfully secure themselves onto things like salad leaves."

Although fresh fruits and vegetables are recognized as important vehicles that transmit harmful bacteria, they are still important components of a healthy and balanced diet. "By and large, raw fruits and vegetables are safe to eat and provide numerous health benefits. By working out the reasons behind sporadic outbreaks of infections, we can control these better and help maintain consumer confidence. By improving food safety we would also see important economical and health benefits."

Understanding how bacteria interact with fresh produce is a crucial but only the first step, explained Professor Frankel. "Translating research into new policies or methods for decontamination is the challenge for future studies," he said.

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The time is ripe for Salmonella

Public release date: 25-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Laura Udakis l.udakis@sgm.ac.uk 44-118-988-1843 Society for General Microbiology

Viruses that can target and destroy bacteria have the potential to be an effective strategy for tackling hard-to-treat bacterial infections. The development of such novel therapies is being accelerated in response to growing antibiotic resistance, says Dr David Harper at the Society for General Microbiology's Spring Conference in Dublin.

Bacteriophages are viruses that can infect bacteria and multiply within them, breaking down the cell and destroying the bacteria - amplifying themselves in the process to deal with more bacteria. They are found everywhere including in river water, soil, sewage and on the human body. Soon after their initial discovery in 1915, bacteriophages were investigated as antibacterial therapeutic agents. A limited understanding of their mode of action meant early work was often unsuccessful and with the advent of the chemical antibiotic era, bacteriophages were passed over as therapeutics.

Dr Harper, Chief Scientific Officer at AmpliPhi Bioscience in Bedfordshire explains why bacteriophages are being revisited as antibacterial agents. "Each bacteriophage is highly specific to a certain type of bacteria and needs the right bacterial host cell in order to multiply. The more bacterial targets there are, the quicker they grow by killing the host cells. Therefore it seems very likely that infections harbouring high numbers of bacteria will benefit most from bacteriophage therapy for example chronically infected ears, lungs and wounds," he said. "For these types of infection, only a tiny dose of the virus is needed - as small as one thousandth of a millionth of a gram. This can usually be administered directly to the site of infection in a spray, drops or a cream. The major advantage to bacteriophages is that they don't infect human cells so seem likely to be very safe to use."

Increasing resistance to antibiotics has meant that bacterial infections are becoming more and more difficult to treat. With fewer antibiotics available to treat drug-resistant infections, research into bacteriophage therapy has been accelerated. "The rate of new antibiotics coming onto the market does not match the rate of increasing drug-resistance. The need for new approaches to counter such high resistance is both urgent and vital. New approaches will save lives," stressed Dr Harper.

Clinical trials for bacteriophage therapy are now underway. The first clinical trial for safety was reported in 2005 and the results demonstrating the effectiveness of bacteriophage therapy were published in 2009. This clinical trial was conducted by AmpliPhi. The company is planning further clinical trials in conditions where existing antibacterial therapies are not able to help. "With the results of further clinical trials, once regulatory issues are overcome and future investment secured in this area of research, this should lead to the development of novel products suitable for widespread use to tackle bacterial diseases and overcome antibiotic resistance", said Dr Harper.

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

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Using viruses to beat superbugs

Public release date: 25-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Laura Udakis l.udakis@sgm.ac.uk 44-079-908-26696 Society for General Microbiology

A vaccine could be developed to prevent Campylobacter being carried in chickens. This approach could drastically cut the number of cases of food poisoning, saving the UK economy millions each year, says an American scientist presenting his work at the Society for General Microbiology's Spring Conference in Dublin.

Food-borne illness costs the UK an estimated 2 billion each year. Campylobacter is the leading cause of food-borne illness and is responsible for about 30% of cases in the UK. Campylobacter jejuni was responsible for more than 371,000 estimated cases in England and Wales in 2009, resulting in more than 17,500 hospitalizations and 88 deaths.

Campylobacter jejuni is found in the gut of many animals, including chickens. If Campylobacter-contaminated poultry is not prepared and cooked properly, the micro-organism can be transmitted to humans where it may cause severe gastrointestinal disease.

Scientists at Washington State University are studying the maternal antibodies that are passed from hens to their chicks. "These antibodies protect chicks from becoming colonized by Campylobacter in the first week of life," explained Professor Michael Konkel who is leading the research. "Our group has now identified the bacterial molecules that these antibodies attack, which has given us a starting point for a vaccine against Campylobacter," he said. "We have already found that chickens injected with these specific molecules found on the surface of Campylobacter jejuni produce antibodies against the bacterium. This response partially protects them from colonization."

A vaccine could be a powerful weapon to help control food-borne illness. "Preventing contamination of poultry at slaughter has not been effective at reducing illness in humans. It has been shown that about 65% of chickens on retail sale in the UK are contaminated with Campylobacter," explained Professor Konkel. "Ideally, the best way to prevent contamination is to stop chickens on the farm from becoming colonized with this microorganism in the first place, which could be achieved by vaccination. Our goal within the next 6 months is to test a vaccine for chickens that will reduce Campylobacter colonization levels. There's still a long way to go, but I'm confident our lab and others are moving in the right direction."

Controlling food-borne illness through vaccination would have a significant impact both in the UK and globally. "A safe food supply is central to human health. If we can decrease the load of human pathogens in food animals, then we can reduce human illness. A 1% reduction in the number of cases of food-borne illness would save the UK around 20 million per year. In developing countries, where people and food animals often share the same environment, diseased animals also pose a direct public health risk; vaccination would help mitigate this risk," said Professor Konkel.

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Vaccinating chickens could prevent food-borne illness

Public release date: 25-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Laura Udakis l.udakis@sgm.ac.uk 44-118-988-1843 Society for General Microbiology

Oral bacteria that escape into the bloodstream are able to cause blood clots and trigger life-threatening endocarditis. Further research could lead to new drugs to tackle infective heart disease, say scientists presenting their work at the Society for General Microbiology's Spring Conference in Dublin this week.

Streptococcus gordonii is a normal inhabitant of the mouth and contributes to plaque that forms on the surface of teeth. If these bacteria enter into the blood stream through bleeding gums they can start to wreak havoc by masquerading as human proteins.

Researchers from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) and the University of Bristol have discovered that S. gordonii is able to produce a molecule on its surface that lets it mimic the human protein fibrinogen a blood-clotting factor. This activates the platelets, causing them to clump inside blood vessels. These unwanted blood clots encase the bacteria, protecting them from the immune system and from antibiotics that might be used to treat infection. Platelet clumping can lead to growths on the heart valves (endocarditis), or inflammation of blood vessels that can block the blood supply to the heart or brain.

Dr Helen Petersen who is presenting the work said that better understanding of the relationship between bacteria and platelets could ultimately lead to new treatments for infective endocarditis. "In the development of infective endocarditis, a crucial step is the bacteria sticking to the heart valve and then activating platelets to form a clot. We are now looking at the mechanism behind this sequence of events in the hope that we can develop new drugs which are needed to prevent blood clots and also infective endocarditis," she said.

Infective endocarditis is treated with surgery or by strong antibiotics which is becoming more difficult with growing antibiotic resistance. "About 30% of people with infective endocarditis die and most will require surgery for replacement of the infected heart valve with a metal or animal valve," said Dr Petersen. "Our team has now identified the critical components of the S. gordonii molecule that mimics fibrinogen, so we are getting closer to being able to design new compounds to inhibit it. This would prevent the stimulation of unwanted blood clots," said Dr Steve Kerrigan from the RCSI.

The team are also looking more widely at other dental plaque bacteria that may have similar effects to S. gordonii. "We are also trying to determine how widespread this phenomenon is by studying other bacteria related to S. gordonii. What our work clearly shows is how important it is to keep your mouth healthy through regular brushing and flossing, to keep these bacteria in check," stressed Dr Petersen.

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Dental plaque bacteria may trigger blood clots

Nearly 48 billion bases of DNA, the genetic building blocks, were collected in the stools of 12 individuals. The researchers then assembled the blocks like puzzle pieces to recreate whole virus genomes. Hundreds to thousands of likely distinct viruses were assembled per individual, of which all but one type were bacteriophages viruses that infect bacteria -- which the team expected. The other was a human pathogen, a human papillomavirus found in a single individual. Bacteriophages are responsible for the toxic effects of many bacteria, but their role in the human microbiome has only recently started to be studied.

To assess variability in the viral populations among the 12 individuals studied, Bushman's team, led by graduate student Samuel Minot, looked for stretches of bases that varied the most.

Their survey identified 51 hypervariable regions among the 12 people studied, which, to the team's surprise, were associated with reverse transcriptase genes. Reverse transcriptase enzymes, more commonly associated with replication of retroviruses such as HIV, copy RNA into DNA. Of the 51 regions, 29 bore sequence and structural similarity to one well-studied reverse transcriptase, a hypervariable region in the Bordetella bacteriophage BPP-1. Bordetella is the microbe that causes kennel cough in dogs.

BPP-1 uses reverse transcriptase and an error-prone copying mechanism to modify a protein to aid in entering and reproducing in a wide array of viral targets. Bushman and colleagues speculate that the newly discovered hypervariable regions could serve a similar function in the human virome, and microbiome, by extension.

"It appears there's natural selective pressure for rapid variation for these classes of bacteriophages, which implies there's a corresponding rapidly changing environmental factor that the phage must be able to quickly adapt to," says Minot. Possible reasons for change, say the authors, include evading the immune system and keeping abreast of ever-evolving bacterial hosts a kind of mutation-based host-pathogen arms race. Whatever the case, Minot says, such variability may be helping to drive evolution of the gut microbiome: "The substrate of evolution is mutation."

Evolutionary analysis of the 185 reverse transcriptases discovered in this study population suggests that a large fraction of these enzymes are primarily involved in generating diversity. Now, Minot says, the challenge is to determine the function of the newly discovered hypervariable regions, and understand how their variability changes over time and in relationship to disease.

"This method opens a whole new world of 'diversity-generating' biology to discover what these clearly important systems are actually doing," he says.

In addition to Bushman and Minot, co-authors are Stephanie Grunberg (Department of Microbiology); Gary Wu (Division of Gastroenterology); and James Lewis (Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology), all from Penn.

Provided by University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (news : web)

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Genetic variation in human gut viruses could be raw material for inner evolution

Delta College will move ahead with plans to convert an underutilized lecture room in its science wing into a new classroom/lab for the schools microbiology program.

Deltas board of trustees Tuesday evening gave the go-ahead for the project by awarding a $559,226 contract to Saginaw-based J.R. Heineman & Sons, Inc., the low bidder for the work.

The colleges microbiology program is currently located in the Health Professions Building (F-Wing) and will now be relocated to the C-wing so it will be near Deltas other science and biology programs. Larry Ramseyer, Deltas facilities management director, said the move is prudent for a number of reasons, most notably the impact it will have on student success. It also reflects a shift in instructional philosophy.

Over the years instruction has shifted away from large lecture-style rooms to smaller classrooms, Ramseyer said. As a result, we noticed this 103-seat lecture room was getting less and less usage. We determined that the microbiology program was a perfect match for this space.

The C-wing was renovated in 1998 as part of Deltas Science & Learning Technology project and was the preferred site then for the microbiology program but budget issues scrapped that plan.

A lot of other biology program spaces are similarly designed to our plans for the microbiology renovations, Ramseyer said. Its going to provide a closer connection to other biology and science programs, consolidate lab support space and open up space in the F-Wing for the other health and wellness programs. This all adds up to a better learning environment for students.

Work is expected to begin on April 30 and be substantially completed before the fall 2012 semester, Ramseyer said. Total price tag for the project is $750,000.

Trustees also awarded a $133,800 contract to Wobig Construction of Saginaw to upgrade restrooms and a conference room at Deltas Midland Center. Ramseyer said the 50-year-old building, originally designed to serve as a Catholic Girls High School in 1962, needs a total makeover but that doesnt catch the attention of people quite like inadequate restroom facilities do.

Students and staff have consistently identified the existing restroom facilities as outdated and inadequate, Ramseyer said. They need updating, and one of the critical points is to make them ADA compliant.

Delta has owned the facility since 1991 and serves about 1,500 students annually, college officials said.

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Delta College plans work at college, Midland Center

Public release date: 8-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Peggy McNult pmcnult@asmusa.org 202-942-9225 American Society for Microbiology

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) estimates that about one in every 20 patients develops an infection each year related to their hospital care. The key to preventing an outbreak of potentially deadly healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) -- such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) or C. difficile -- is identifying them before affected individuals can pose a transmission risk.

But, according to a survey released today by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) and the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), the typical turnaround time for laboratory test results may not be meeting expectations. Greater collaboration between labs and infection preventionists may hold the key to addressing the gap -- and to more effective management of some HAIs.

Most (51 percent) of the infection preventionists (IPs) surveyed indicated that they need results for MRSA screening tests within 12 hours to initiate the necessary precautions; however, MRSA cultures -- a traditional method for screening -- typically take 24 to 48 hours to complete.

The survey identified two factors that could be addressed to help resolve the discrepancy and reduce HAIs: the need for increased communication between IPs and lab professionals, and the lack of tools and resources for training and educating all healthcare personnel.

"These survey results indicate that there are areas for improvement in the relationship between IPs and lab professionals to ensure the best patient outcomes," said Lance Peterson, MD, clinical advisor to ASM, director of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Research at NorthShore University Health System (Evanston, IL), and clinical professor at the University of Chicago. "In collaboration, APIC and ASM have the ability to improve communication between the laboratory and infection prevention and facilitate a more rapid response to HAIs."

IPs and lab professionals surveyed indicated that they would value assistance in relationship building between the two groups (70 percent), hearing about other facilities' experience in creating partnerships (83 percent), more education about best practices (78 percent), and resources for educating themselves and other staff (62 percent). Only 63 percent said their facility has effective infrastructure in place for training and educating staff about HAIs.

"As governing organizations increase penalties, scrutiny and reporting of HAIs, testing for HAIs will become even more important," said Lillian Burns, MT, MPH, CIC, clinical advisor to APIC, and administrative director of Epidemiology/Infection Control, Staten Island University Hospital. "A collaborative working relationship between these two professional groups can significantly improve patient safety and care."

The survey is a first step in the collaboration between APIC and ASM to reduce infections and improve patient outcomes. As part of APIC's Building Bridges initiatives, the IP Col-lab-oration Project aims to improve patient outcomes by bridging the communication gap between IPs and lab professionals, augmenting tools and resources currently available, and educating healthcare personnel. For more information, please visit http://www.apic.org/labproject.

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Collaboration needed to facilitate rapid response to health-care-associated infections, survey says

Public release date: 7-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Clare Doggett clare@sfam.org.uk 44-123-432-6661 Wiley-Blackwell

Yeasts which cause hard-to-treat mouth infections are killed using silver nanoparticles in the laboratory, scientists have found. These yeast infections, caused by Candida albicans and Candida glabrata target the young, old and immuno-compromised. Professor Mariana Henriques, University of Minho, and her colleagues hope to test silver nanoparticles in mouthwash and dentures as a potential preventative measure against these infections.

Professor Henriques and her team, who published their research in the Society for Applied Microbiology's journal Letters in Applied Microbiology today, looked at the use of different sizes of silver nanoparticles to determine their anti-fungal properties against Candida albicans and Candida glabrata. These two yeasts cause infections including oral thrush and dental stomatitis, a painful infection affecting around seven out of ten denture wearers1. Infections like these are particularly difficult to treat because the microorganisms involved form biofilms2.

The scientists used artificial biofilms in conditions which mimic those of saliva as closely as possible. They then added different sizes and concentrations of silver nanoparticles and found that different sizes of nanoparticles were equally effective at killing the yeasts. Due to the diversity of the sizes of nanoparticles demonstrating anti-fungal properties the researchers hope this will enable the nanoparticles to be used in many different applications.

Some researchers have expressed concerns around the safety of nanoparticle use but the authors stress this research is at an early stage and extensive safety trials will be carried out before any product reaches the market.

Professor Henriques comments: With the emergence of Candida infections which are frequently resistant to the traditional antifungal therapies, there is an increasing need for alternative approaches. So, silver nanoparticles appear to be a new potential strategy to combat these infections. As the nanoparticles are relatively stable in liquid medium they could be developed into a mouthwash solution in the near future.

Moving forward Professor Henriques hopes to integrate silver nanoparticles into dentures which could prevent infections from taking hold.

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Wash your mouth out with silver

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/154bc3/discover_the_world) has announced the addition of John Wiley and Sons Ltd's new book "Discover the World of Microbes: Bacteria, Archaea, and Viruses" to their offering.

This title is an essential primer for all students who need some background in microbiology and want to become familiar with the universal importance of bacteria for all forms of life.

Written by Gerhard Gottschalk, Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and one of the most prominent microbiologists in our time, this text covers the topic in its whole breadth and does not only focus on bacteria as pathogens.

The book is written in an easy-to-read, entertaining style but each chapter also contains a `facts' section with compact text and diagrams for easy learning. In addition, more than 40 famous scientists, including several Nobel Prize winners, contributed sections, written specifically for this title. The book comes with color figures and a companion website with questions and answers.

Key Features:

Author:

Gerhard Gottschalk studied Chemistry at the Humboldt-University in Berlin. He finished his Ph.D. in Gottingen in 1963 and worked as a Post-Doc from 1964 - 1966 at the Department of Biochemistry at University of California, Berkeley (USA). He became full professor for microbiology in Gottingen in 1970, where he worked until 2003. He was visting professor in UC Davis in 1973 und UC Berkeley in 1979, and was head of the laboratory for Genome analysis at the Institute for Microbiology and Genetics in Gottingen from 1999 to 2007.

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/154bc3/discover_the_world

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Research and Markets: Discover the World of Microbes: Bacteria, Archaea, and Viruses

Public release date: 6-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jim Sliwa jsliwa@asmusa.org 202-942-9297 American Society for Microbiology

In the controversy surrounding the newly developed strains of avian H5N1 flu viruses, scientists and policy makers are struggling with one question in particular: what level of biosafety is best for studying these potentially lethal strains of influenza? In a pair of commentaries, researchers from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and the University of Michigan argue their different views of how to safely handle H5N1 flu viruses. The commentaries will be published in mBio, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology, on Tuesday, March 6.

This fall, the U.S. National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) set off a debate when it asked the authors of two recent H5N1 research studies and the scientific journals that planned to publish them to withhold crucial details of the research in the interest of biosecurity. The researchers had taken H5N1, a virus that cannot easily transmit from human to human, and developed strains of the virus that can transmit easily between ferrets, which are a common model for human influenza.

These H5N1 strains and others like them that might be developed in the future could pose a grave threat to human life, but researchers and others argue that studying these H5N1 strains could help bolster preparedness efforts and vaccine development to help fend off a potential H5N1 pandemic. How can we balance the need to protect human life from the accidental escape of an H5N1 strain with the need to continue research that might prevent a naturally occurring outbreak? Which biosafety level (BSL) is right for the H5N1 virus?

In the commentaries appearing in mBio, two experts offer opposing views of the appropriate level of security for dealing with H5N1 viruses. The authors agree that, with a reported case fatality rate that could be as high as 50% or more, H5N1 could create a pandemic of disastrous proportions, but they differ in their opinions of how to strike a balance between biosecurity and potentially life-saving research.

"The existence of mammalian transmissible H5N1 immediately poses the question of whether the current biosafety level of containment is adequate," writes mBio Editor in Chief Arturo Casadevall in an accompanying editorial. "It is important to understand that the choice of BSL level has profound implications for society."

Under current U.S. guidelines H5N1 is classified as a select agent and must be worked with under BSL-3 with enhancements. The BSL-3 designation is given to pathogens that can be transmitted through the air and can cause serious or fatal disease but for which treatment exists. Most facilities in the United States with infectious disease research programs have BSL-3 laboratories. In addition, many hospitals have areas that can be operated at this level; these areas are used for isolating patients with highly contagious diseases. In contrast, BSL-4 is reserved for pathogens for which there is no known treatment and BSL-4 laboratory requirements are such that there are only four working BSL-4 laboratories in the United States.

Adolfo Garca-Sastre of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine argues that the H5N1 viruses in question may well be less pathogenic than they were before passage through ferrets, but they could still be quite dangerous, so preventing human exposure is crucial. However, he says, the ultimate level of biosecurity, BSL-4, is excessive in this case and would stifle the pace of discovery. There are both therapeutics and vaccines available for H5N1, says Garca-Sastre, so he advocates for conducting the research in enhanced BSL-3 facilities, which he says offer the necessary security measures, including interlocked rooms with negative pressure, HEPA-filtered air circulation, and appropriate decontamination and/or sterilization practices for material leaving the facility.

Michael Imperiale and Michael Hanna of the University of Michigan, on the other hand, make their case that the H5N1 viruses merit BSL-4 containment. Although H5N1 that cannot be transmitted from human to human would normally be handled in a BSL-3 facility, researchers changed the virus' biosafety profile when they enhanced its ability to transmit between mammals. According to Imperiale and Hanna, the vaccine for H5N1 is not widely available, and drug resistance and a slow distribution system for antiviral drugs mean a small outbreak could never be contained.

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New H5N1 viruses: How to balance risk of escape with benefits of research?

Public release date: 5-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jim Sliwa jsliwa@asmusa.org 202-942-9297 American Society for Microbiology

Life on a Dead Deep-Sea Vent

When a deep-sea thermal vent goes cold and dormant the microbial life around it does not just stop. Instead, it adjusts and picks up the slack according to researchers from University of Southern California (USC) in the current issue of mBio, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.

A hydrothermal vent is a fissure in a planet's surface from which geothermally heated water issues. The area around deep-sea hydrothermal vents is relatively more biologically active than other areas on the ocean floor and scientists have been studying the microbial diversity around these vents since the 1970s. Katrina Edwards and her colleagues from USC and the University of Minnesota chose to study the microbial communities surrounding inactive vents and found some striking differences.

They found that the microbes that thrive on hot fluid methane and sulfur spewed by active hydrothermal vents are supplanted, once the vents go cold, by microbes that feed on the solid iron and sulfur that make up the vents themselves. Scientists have long known that active vents provided the heat and nutrients necessary to maintain microbes, but dormant vents were once thought to be devoid of life.

http://mbio.asm.org/content/3/1/e00279-11

New Genomic Data Could Aid Rapid Detection of Hospital Infections

Enterococci bacteria, and in particular vancomycin-resistant enterococci, have emerged as a leading cause of multidrug-resistant hospital-acquired infections. Key to treating and controlling these infections is rapid identification of the pathogen and treatment with the appropriate antibiotics to be effective.

Researchers from Harvard Medical School and The Broad Institute report new genomic sequencing data that can help aid in the advance detection of pathogenic enterococci. They report their findings in the current issue of mBio, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.

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Tips from the journal mBio

GAITHERSBURG, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

OpGen, Inc., a whole-genome analysis company developing and commercializing a complete suite of break-through products and services based on its proprietary Whole Genome Mapping technology, announced today the company’s participation in the European Union’s Patho-NGen-Trace research program. This multi-year project aims to bring Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) from a specialized basic research method to a standard routine tool for medical and bio-industrial microbiology applications, providing faster pathogen identification with whole sequence genetic characterization. OpGen’s Whole Genome Mapping technology will be used with NGS to generate more accurate sequences of the model pathogens, and to characterize genetic markers for drug-resistance, virulence and whole genome evolution that may not be detected by NGS alone.

Funded by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme, the international consortium of leading experts in clinical microbiology will focus on developing NGS combined with Whole Genome Mapping as next generation DNA analysis tools that can be used for the genotyping and diagnosis of pathogens. Three pathogens will serve as models for the development project?Mycobacterium tuberculosis, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Campylobacter species. All three pathogens are found worldwide and pose a serious medical threat and an important challenge when it comes to their treatment.

“We are very pleased to be a part of this international consortium and look forward to advancing the organization’s long-term goal to control, predict and contain the spread of disease,” said Douglas White, chief executive officer of OpGen. “Combining NGS with Whole Genome Mapping will provide powerful new DNA analysis tools to overcome existing obstacles facing microbiologists and scientists and translate into public health and clinical diagnostic applications.”

Continuing advances in sequencing technologies and the decreasing cost of sequencing have resulted in vast amounts of data that must be assembled and analyzed. There is a growing backlog of sequence data resulting from the costly and time consuming bioinformatics and computing required to complete the assemblies and analysis. Transforming this time- and resource-intensive process to a rapid, validated workflow could be adopted for routine use in public health epidemiology and diagnostic workflows.

OpGen’s Whole Genome Mapping technology has been shown to accelerate and streamline the sequence data analysis workflow. This unique and powerful technology rapidly generates high-resolution, ordered, whole genome maps from single DNA molecules. The result is an easy-to-interpret view of the genome that reveals genome architecture in a single image and provides better accuracy for NGS applications.

About OpGen, Inc.

OpGen, Inc. is a leading innovator in rapid, accurate genomic and DNA analysis systems and services. The company’s Argus® Whole Genome Mapping System, GenomeBuilder™ and MapIt® Services provide high resolution, whole genome maps for sequence assembly and finishing, strain typing and comparative genomics in the life sciences market. OpGen’s powerful technology dramatically improves the quality of data and time-to results by providing sequence information from single DNA molecules more rapidly and less expensively than previously possible. The company is dedicated to positively influencing individual healthcare outcomes, advancing scientific research and enhancing public health by delivering precise, actionable information and results to customers in the life science and healthcare communities. OpGen’s customers include leading genomic research centers, biodefense organizations, academic institutions, clinical research organizations and biotechnology companies. For more information, visit http://www.opgen.com.

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OpGen Announces Participation in New European Union Clinical Microbiology Research Consortium

SACRAMENTO — Jonathan A. Eisen, professor of medical microbiology and immunology at UC Davis Health System, has been elected as a fellow in the American Academy of Microbiology, the honorific leadership group of the American Society for Microbiology, which is the world's oldest and largest life-science organization.

As a fellow, Eisen joins a group of eminent leaders in the field of microbiology recognized for their excellence, originality, creativity and exemplary careers in basic and applied research, teaching, clinical and public health, industry or government service. The academy relies on fellows for authoritative advice and information on critical issues in microbiology, from responding to congressional inquiries to organizing meetings and workshops.

Eisen is an expert in microbial genomics, diversity and evolution. He has led many microbial genome sequencing projects, including the "Genomic Encyclopedia of Bacteria and Archaea" at the Department of Energy-Joint Genome Institute. In addition, he has helped pioneer the field of phylogenomics, which involves integrating genome analyses with evolutionary reconstructions.

From a research point of view, Eisen has focused on the origin of new functions and processes in microbes, including studies of uncharacterized branches on the tree of life and of symbioses involving microbes. He has studied many medically and economically important symbioses, including microbes in the human gut and nitrogen-fixing symbionts of plants and microbes that live in the guts of insect pests, such as the glassy winged sharpshooter, a vector for Pierce's disease in grapes.

"I am interested in understanding the mechanisms by which organisms acquire new functions, learning how communities of microbes and their genomes function in nature, and using genomics to explore less-studied branches in the tree of life," said Eisen, who has published more than 200 scientific papers and is a co-author of the textbook Evolution. In addition, he is an active and award-winning blogger, a strong advocate for open access to scientific literature and academic editor-in-chief of PLoS Biology.

Eisen will be recognized at the Academy Fellows Luncheon at the 112th American Society for Microbiology meeting in San Francisco on June 19.

The UC Davis School of Medicine is among the nation's leading medical schools, recognized for its research and primary-care programs. The school offers fully accredited master's degree programs in public health and in informatics, and its combined M.D.-Ph.D. program is training the next generation of physician-scientists to conduct high-impact research and translate discoveries into better clinical care. Along with being a recognized leader in medical research, the school is committed to serving underserved communities and advancing rural health. For more information, visit UC Davis School of Medicine at medschool.ucdavis.edu.

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Professor named microbiology fellow

SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- A study published in the March 2012 issue of the Journal of Clinical Microbiology demonstrates that Great Basin Corporation's Staph ID/R rapid, automated DNA multiplex assay can identify major pathogenic strains of Staphylococcus to the species level as well as the presence or absence of the methicillin-resistance determinant gene, mecA. In this study, the assay was 99 percent accurate in comparison to DNA sequencing results.

Staphylococcal infections are one of the leading causes of hospital acquired infections (HAI) worldwide, and up to 60 percent of all staphylococcal infections are methicillin resistant (MRSA). More than 2 million people are diagnosed with an HAI in the U.S. each year, causing approximately 90,000 deaths. Studies have shown that reducing the time to diagnose patients with staphylococcal infections decreases the length of stay at hospitals as well as the rates of morbidity and mortality.

"Great Basin is focused on developing low-cost technology that enables healthcare providers to diagnose patients faster, resulting in better patient outcomes and decreased costs associated with unnecessary tests," said Ryan Ashton, CEO and president, Great Basin Corporation. "The results of this study are particularly encouraging, especially since staphylococcal sepsis infections, such as MRSA, remain an important public health problem that still lack complete information at an appropriate cost."

Researchers from Great Basin Corporation, Denver Health Hospital and the Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago assessed the sensitivity and specificity of the Staph ID/R test and determined that Staph ID/R has excellent specificity with no non-specific cross-reactivity observed. 

"The use of Staph ID/R could positively affect patient management and laboratory workflow," said Robert Jenison, chief technology officer for Great Basin Corporation and lead author of the study. "A significant advantage of the Staph ID/R test is that it can provide species information that may significantly speed up the diagnosis process, ensuring patients get the right treatment sooner.  Also, nearly one-third of all positive blood cultures are from contamination and this test can identify these cases to remove patients from costly and unnecessary therapeutic interventions."

Great Basin's highly sensitive, easy-to-use, integrated cartridge system allows for more accurate and information-rich detection of infectious diseases, allowing providers to diagnose and define a clear treatment path sooner for improved patient outcomes, shorter hospital stays and significant cost savings. The company's goal is to deliver assays that can be performed in a CLIA-rated waived or moderately complex laboratory at a lower cost than other molecular diagnostic solutions. 

Great Basin's technology entails an integrated disposable cartridge containing all necessary reagents and an inexpensive bench-top analyzer that executes the assay, interprets the results and provides electronic output to the clinician. The platform has several key advantages over other molecular solutions:

Results in less than one hour, depending on the target of interest True sample-to-result with no more than two to three hands-on steps On-demand testing; no batching tests that delay results Multiplexes up to 64 distinct targets in a single assay

In addition to Jenison, the study was authored by Brian Hicke, Chris Pasco, John Dunn, Heidi Jaeckel, Dan Nieuwlandt, and Evelyn Woodruff of Great Basin Corporation; Diane Weed of Denver Health Hospital; and Xiaotian Zheng of Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago.

In November 2011, the company submitted a 510(k) application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its first molecular diagnostic test for Clostridium difficile (C. diff). The company intends to begin clinical trials for the Staph ID/R assay in 2012.

About Great Basin Corporation

Great Basin Corporation is a privately held life sciences company that commercializes breakthrough chip-based technologies for the molecular, rapid diagnostic testing market.  The company is dedicated to the development of simple, yet powerful, sample-to-result technology and products that provide fast, multiple-pathogen diagnoses of infectious diseases. By providing more diagnostic data per sample, healthcare providers are able to treat patients with the right medication sooner, improving outcomes and reducing costs. The company's vision is to make molecular diagnostic testing so simple and cost-effective that every patient will be tested for every serious infection, reducing misdiagnoses and significantly limiting the spread of infectious disease. More information can be found on the company's website at http://www.gbscience.com. 

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Journal of Clinical Microbiology Publishes Study Demonstrating Accuracy and Specificity of Great Basin Corporation's ...

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/2920a3/emerging_microbiol) has announced the addition of the "Emerging Microbiology Tests and Companies Developing New Technologies and Products" report to their offering.

This 650-page report provides a comprehensive marketing and technological assessment, as well as medical rationale and diagnostic prospects for nearly 80 infectious diseases and viruses, including their scientific background, clinical significance and market needs for both current and emerging tests, vaccines, drugs and extensive listings of companies developing or marketing new technologies and products.

The report contains 650 pages and 47 tables.

Key Topics Covered:

1. AIDS

2. Adenovirus

3. Aeromonas

4. Anthrax/Bacillus Anthracis

5. Arboviruses

6. Babesiosis

7. Bacillary Epithelioid Angiomatosis (BEA) And Other Bartonella (Rochalimaea)

8. Blastocystis Hominis

9. Brucella

10. Campylobacter

11. Candida

12. Chagas Disease

13. Chancroid

14. Chlamydia

15. Clostridium Difficile

16. Coronaviruses

17. Coxsackieviruses

18. Creutzfeldt-Jakob's Disease

19. Cryptosporidium Parvum

20. Cyclospora Cayetanensis

21. Cytomegalovirus

22. Ebola Virus

23. E. Coli

24. EchoVirus

25. Encephalitis

26. Enteroviruses

27. Epstein-Barr Virus

28. Giardia Lamblia

29. Gonorrhea

30. Granuloma Inguinale

31. Hantavirus

32. Helicobacter Pylori

33. Hepatitis

34. Herpes Simplex Virus

35. Human Herpes Virus-6 (HHV-6)

36. Influenza Viruses

37. Legionella

38. Lyme Disease

39. Lymphogranuloma Venereum (LGV)

40. Malaria

41. Measles (Rubeola)

42. Meningitis

43. Microsporidium

44. Mononucleosis

45. Mumps

46. Mycoplasma

47. Papillomaviruses

48. Parvovirus B19

49. Pneumonia

50. Polyomaviruses

51. Pseudomonas Aeruginosa

52. Rabies

53. Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV)

54. RhinoViruses

55. RotaVirus (REOVIRUS)

56. Rubella(MEASLES)

57. Salmonellosis

58. Septicemia

59. Shigellosis

60. Staphylococcus Aureus

61. Streptococci

62. Syphilis

63. Toxoplasmosis

64. Trichomonas Vaginalis

65. Tuberculosis

66. Vibrio

67. West Nile Virus

68. Yersina

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/2920a3/emerging_microbiol

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Research and Markets: Emerging Microbiology Tests and Companies Developing New Technologies and Products

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/8faa73/future_us_microbio) has announced the addition of the "Future US Microbiology Testing Market Outlook" report to their offering.

The Future US Microbiology Testing Market Outlook is a comprehensive 1,037-page analysis of the US microbiology testing market.

Key highlights:

Major issues pertaining to the US microbiology laboratory practice, as well as key economic, regulatory, demographic, social and technological trends with significant market impact during the next ten years. Current scientific views on the definition, epidemiology, and etiology of major infectious diseases and microorganisms. Ten-year test volume and sales forecasts for nearly 80 microbiology tests performed in US hospitals, blood banks, physician offices, public health and commercial laboratories. Instrumentation technologies and feature comparison of leading analyzers. Sales and market shares of leading suppliers. Emerging diagnostic technologies and their potential market applications. Product development opportunities. Profiles of current and emerging suppliers, including their sales, market shares, product portfolios, marketing tactics, technological know-how, new products in R&D, collaborative arrangements and business strategies. Business opportunities and strategic recommendations for suppliers.

The report contains 1,037 pages and 177 tables.

Key Topics Covered:

Major Microbiology Tests Instrumentation Review and Market Needs Emerging Diagnostic Technologies Business Environment Market Structure Market Size and Growth Personal Testing

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/8faa73/future_us_microbio

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Research and Markets: Future US Microbiology Testing Market Outlook

17-11-2009 04:51 For more information on careers in health and social care visit our website. speakers: Adrian Smith, Steven Slim http://www.wlv.ac.uk Promotional video by University of Wolverhampton in conjunction with NHS West Midlands

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