News

Groundbreaking research from the University of Alberta has identified the structure of the infectious prion protein, the cause of mad cow disease, chronic wasting disease in deer and elk, and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans, which has long remained a mystery.

A factor found in umbilical cord blood could become the basis for developing a new therapy to fight harmful inflammation, University of Utah School of Medicine researchers report. When given to mice, the newly discovered factor countered signs of inflammation and sepsis, such as fever, fluctuations in respiratory rate, and death. The factor circulates in the blood of newborns for about two weeks after birth and is not found in older babies or adults, according to the study published online Sept. 6, 2016, in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Scientists have built a new sensor that can detect the potentially deadly E. coli bacteria in 15 to 20 minutes, much faster than traditional lab tests. E. coli can be transmitted in contaminated food and water, posing particular risks to children and the elderly. In the late spring of 2011 a serious outbreak of E. coli bacteria sickened thousands of people in Germany and killed more than 50.