Updated on 26 January 2009

MRSA's 'Weak Point' Visualized By Scientists
LtaS, an enzyme that lives in MRSA and helps the dangerous bacterium to grow and spread infection through the human body has been visualised for the first time, according to a new study.
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E. Coli Persists Against Antibiotics Through HipA-induced Dormancy
By demonstrating in detail how the HipA protein freezes bacterial activity, the researchers have opened the possibility of adding a new class of drugs to therapy against chronic and multidrug resistant bacterial infection.
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Shedding Light On Emerging Seaborne Pathogen
A new research study at the University of Delaware seeks to determine why Vibrio parahaemolyticus, a microorganism that lives in seawater and is related to the bacterium that causes cholera, is expanding its range and virulence.
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New Technique To Tap Full Potential Of Antibody Libraries Developed
In hopes of more fully tapping the libraries' potential, a group of Scripps Research Institute scientists, has for the first time developed a new screening technique that enables antibody screening against equally massive libraries of targets. This technique makes it possible to accelerate searches for new treatments against cancer and other diseases.
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How Toxoplasma Gondii Gets Noticed
Researchers provide insight into how Toxoplasma gondii, a common parasite of people and other animals, triggers an immune response in its host.
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New Family Of Antibacterial Agents Uncovered
As bacteria resistant to commonly used antibiotics continue to increase in number, scientists keep searching for new sources of drugs. One potential new bactericide has now been found in the tiny freshwater animal Hydra.
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New Generation Of Salmonella-based, Single Dose Vaccine Candidates To Fight Infant Pneumonia
Two new vaccine strains designed in Curtiss' lab draw on the properties of an unlikely vaccine carrier—one generally associated with causing sickness rather than safeguarding the body against it.
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Structure Of Key Ebola Protein Discovered
A team led by Gaya Amarasinghe, an assistant professor in biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology, has recently solved the structure from a key part of the Ebola protein known as VP35.
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Hepatitis C May Increase Pancreatic Cancer Risk
A new study shows that infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) increases a person’s risk for a highly fatal cancer of the biliary tree, the bile carrying pathway between the liver and pancreas.
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Nose-spray Vaccine Against Botulism Effective In First Tests
A preclinical study found a new nasal spray vaccine to provide complete protection against a major botulism toxin, according to a study published January 8 in the Nature journal Gene Therapy.
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Structure Mediating Spread Of Antibiotic Resistance Identified
Scientists have identified the structure of a key component of the bacteria behind such diseases as whooping cough, peptic stomach ulcers and Legionnaires' disease. The research sheds light on how antibiotic resistance genes spread from one bacterium to another.
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New Bartonella Species That Infects Humans Discovered
Bartonella melophagi is such a newly discovered member of the genus Bartonella it is considered a "Candidatus" species, meaning that its name has yet to be formally accepted.
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New Method For Bacterial Toxin Transfer Discovered
Scientists have discovered a new way for bacteria to transfer toxic genes to unrelated bacterial species, a finding that raises the unsettling possibility that bacterial swapping of toxins and other
disease-aiding factors may be more common than previously imagined.
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