Microbiology Lab

A new breakthrough achieved by researchers from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and University of California (UC) Berkeley introduces sustainable alternatives to chemical manufacturing from fossil fuels via an engineered bacteria that can be a sustainable source of carbon-based products. In a process described in the study as...

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and University of Michigan (U-M) have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) system, dubbed BacterAI, which is making it possible for robots to conduct autonomous scientific experiments—as many as 10,000 per day—potentially driving a drastic leap forward in the pace of discovery in...

University of Massachusetts Amherst microbiologists say they have identified a long-sought gene that plays a critical role in the growth and survival of the tuberculosis (TB) pathogen. The discovery offers a potential target for drug therapies for a deadly disease that has few effective treatments and in 2021 alone sickened...

A team of researchers have developed an easy-to-use colorimetric assay for the detection of food contaminated with salmonella. The assay is based on a novel nucleic acid probe that is cleaved by an RNase enzyme specific to the salmonella species. As the team report in the journal Angewandte Chemie, this...

The National Institute of Health (NIH) records the incidence of postoperative complications in general surgery patients at around 5.8-43.5% with a mortality rate projected at n 0.79-57%. Most complications are attributed to infections in surgical wounds, which on certain occasions can be fatal. A new study, however, that it is...

A new project from TED Audacious Project has been funded following a study that theorized disease may be prevented via changes in the microbial environment in a child’s body. Researchers from the University of California (UC) in San Francisco (SF) and Berkeley campuses are working toward editing genes of microbes...

For years, there has been little success in developing effective vaccines and drugs against norovirus given its exceptionally difficult to study due to the fact that it doesn’t infect mice or rats, or any other ordinary lab animals. Rotavirus, on the other hand, had its first vaccines in 2006, significantly...

In a new study, the common environmental bacterium, Comamonas testosteroni , was found to potentially become nature’s plastic recycling center, following the determination of its ability to digest what is indigestible. Contrary to most bacteria preferring sugars as their food source, C. testosteroni was observed to have a natural appetite...

Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), a common respiratory viral infection presents itself as a cold but can become severe in young children, older adults, and immunocompromised patients. Annually, about 58,000 children are hospitalized in the United States, accounting for 100 and 500 deaths among children below five years. Since its discovery...

A study proves that tough, woody lignin can be broken down by fungi in an anaerobic environment. Such findings are a key milestone in plant-based biofuel production in the future. Lignin is a structural and organic polymer that gives woody plants and trees strength and rigidity. Lignin is one of...

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis is a complex and long-term condition characterized by persistent and debilitating exhaustion including brain fog. The underlying cause of the condition remains unknown but it has significantly affected between 836,000 to 2.5 million Americans as per a 2015 estimate from the...

Antimicrobial resistance continues to be a major concern in the medical field the status quo. Various research endeavors have been centered on investigating bacteria-killing techniques through bacteriophages (phages), viruses that are found to infect bacteria. A novel genetic screening approach invented by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is in the works...

A new technology developed by Wayne State University was found to quickly and easily detect active Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) infection antibodies. Contrary to the gold standard tests available to determine infection of active TB via sputum smear and culture tests, the novel non-sputum-based technology is highly specific and sensitive to...

One of the deadliest types of cancer from the nervous system, glioblastoma is a malignant tumor growing in the brain or the spinal cord and affects over 13,000 Americans every year as per the report from the National Brain Tumor Society in 2022. Standard treatments are limited to surgical removal...

Digestion is one of the most complex processes in our body. The gut, which contains a diverse microbial population that interacts and cooperates with intestinal cells makes it possible to digest food and drugs. Digestive problems and other related diseases are strongly linked to the disruption in the gut’s microbiome....