microbiology
Human Cells Observed Foraging Similar to Amoebae and Bacteria
Vanderbilt University has published a study that reports human cells moving in what seem to be independent ways similar to amoebae and bacteria. These results are thought to be a first in cell biology and were inspired in a unique way. The researchers’ adopted some new assumptions

J. Craig Venter Searching for Energy Alternatives Using Biological Replacements
The man who helped to first sequence the human genome ten years ago, is looking to use biology to tackle the energy problem.

Microbes Produce Fuels Directly from Biomass
A collaboration led by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) has developed a microbe that can produce an advanced biofuel directly from biomass. Deploying the tools of synthetic biology, the JBEI researchers engineered a strain of Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria to produce biodiesel fuel and other important chemicals derived from fatty acids.


Hospital Disinfectants Could Breed Superbug
Researchers from the National University of Ireland in Galway have found that adding increasing amounts of disinfectant to cultures of the bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa resulted in the bacteria adapting in ways to survive the disinfectant itself - no real surprise there. However, the researchers also discovered that the disinfectant exposed bacteria had also developed resistance to a commonly used antibiotic known as ciprofloxacin, without

Second Generation Bioethanol Production Breakthrough
Researchers from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands have overcome three challenges in the production of bioethanol from agricultural waste by inserting a single gene from the bacterium Escherichia coli into the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The invention is published in this weeks journal of "Applied and Environmental Microbiology".

Ancient, frozen microbe may shed light on extraterrestrial life
Scientists from Pennsylvania State University have recently described a tiny new bacterium that has been isolated from the Greenland ice sheet. Dr. Jennifer Loveland-Curtze and her team named the new microbe Herminiimonas glaciei, and report the findings in the current issue of International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology.

Bacteria manage perfume oil production from grass
Italian microbiologists Pietro Alifano and Luigi Del Giudice, and plant biologist Massimo Maffei, have found bacteria in the root of the tropical Vetiver grass whose oils are used in the cosmetic and perfume industries.

Genetics May Help Brew a Better Beer
Learning about the genetic origins of microorganisms would typically lull most non-science types off to sleep. Some recent findings about a certain strain of yeast might just give the working man reason to stay focussed and read-on.

HIV Natural Immunity?
A team of researchers from the University of Manitoba and Winnipeg's National Microbiology Laboratory appear to have discovered what they describe as "markers" for natural immunity to HIV - the
Researchers Uncover Molecule that Keeps Pathogens Like Salmonella in Check
DALLAS, Texas, USA — Aug. 21, 2008
Scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found a potential new
way to stop the bacteria that cause gastroenteritis, tularemia and
severe diarrhea from making people sick.


