Women at Greater Risk for Zika Infection Due to Suppressed Vaginal Immune Response
November 16th 2016Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes discovered that the vaginal immune system is suppressed in response to RNA viruses, such as Zika. The delayed antiviral immune response allows the virus to remain undetected in the vagina, which can increase the risk of fetal infection during pregnancy.
Researchers Discover New Antibiotics by Sifting Through the Human Microbiome
November 16th 2016Most antibiotics in use today are based on natural molecules produced by bacteria--and given the rise of antibiotic resistance, there's an urgent need to find more of them. Yet coaxing bacteria to produce new antibiotics is a tricky proposition. Most bacteria won't grow in the lab. And even when they do, most of the genes that cause them to churn out molecules with antibiotic properties never get switched on.
Research on New, Rapid Screening Test Identifies Potential Therapies Against Drug-Resistant Bacteria
November 10th 2016Researchers at the National Institutes of Health’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), Clinical Center and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) have created a new way to identify drugs and drug combinations that may potentially be useful in combating infections that are resistant to many different antibiotics. They developed an assay (test) to rapidly screen thousands of drugs to determine how effective they were against a variety of types of resistant bacteria.
Scientists Reveal How a Common Virus Triggers Blood Cancer
November 10th 2016Scientists at the University of Sussex, trying to uncover how the common Epstein-Barr virus causes blood cancer in adults and children, have discovered how the virus takes control of two genes involved in cancer development so it can switch them on or off.
Tropical Bed Bug Reappears After 60-Year Absence
November 10th 2016For the first time in 60 years, a tropical bed bug has been confirmed in Florida, and University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences researchers urge the public to send them samples of suspected bed bugs for identification.