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Casey Finnerty

Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) Program - 0 views

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    Great information on the FDA's Whole Genome Sequencing Program
Casey Finnerty

The Virus That Learns - Phenomena: The Loom - 0 views

  • Likewise, restriction enzymes are a dangerous defense, because they can chop up the distinctive stretches of DNA in a bacterium’s own genes. It avoids attacking itself by capping those sequences in its own DNA, so that the restriction enzymes can’t reach them.
  • Some species can muck up the production of new viruses, stealing their proteins before they can form shells. Others commit suicide upon infection, so as to avoid becoming an incubator for new viruses that would then kill their nearby relatives.
  • CRISPR genes can produce RNA molecules with a matching sequence. They grab onto the virus’s RNA and prevent them from being turned into proteins. The virus factory grinds to a halt.
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  • The bacteria hold onto an invading virus’s DNA, so that they are now prepared for a fresh attack. And over time, bacteria can build up little libraries of these virus barcodes. 
  • Last year, scientists at Indiana University surveyed the bacteria in people’s mouths and discovered 8,000 different viral barcodes–many of them corresponding to viruses scientists have yet to discover.
  • But if you build up a healthy store of antibodies to various strains of flu, smallpox, and other diseases, all that knowledge dies with you.
  • Not so for bacteria. When a microbe reproduces, it passes down its CRISPR genes and all of their viral barcodes to its descendants–including the ones it acquired in its own lifetime.
  • Last fall, for example, University of Cambridge scientists discovered viruses that carry an antidote for the suicide toxin made by their hosts. When the bacteria want to die, the virus forces them to live on. And just last month, University of Toronto scientists even discovered anti-CRISPR genes in viruses, which the viruses use to shut down the production of virus-killing molecules.
  • the scientists demonstrated that the ICP1 virus uses its CRISPR immune system to attack its host’s virus-attacking genes.
Tyrell Varner

New device can extract human DNA with full genetic data in minutes - 0 views

  • The device will give hospitals and research labs a much easier way to separate DNA from human fluid samples, which will help with genome sequencing, disease diagnosis and forensic investigations.
Jenna Veldhuizen

Discovery holds potential in destroying drug-resistant bacteria - 0 views

  • Dr. Montelaro and his colleagues found that a particular sequence of amino acids on the tail end of HIV allow the virus to "punch into" and infect cells. The team manufactured a synthetic and more efficient version of this sequence -- called engineered cationic antimicrobial peptides, or "eCAPs" -- that laboratory tests have shown to rapidly destroy bacteria that are otherwise resistant to most standard antibiotics.
  • Traditional antibiotics typically work by poisoning important metabolic processes after being taken up by the target bacteria, a process that may take hours, or days, to clear a bacterial infection. In contrast, the eCAPs are specifically attracted to the surface of target bacteria where they disrupt the bacterial membrane, causing death within seconds, or minutes.
  • eCAPs work well against biofilms
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    very interesting...the same mechanism HIV uses to infect cells can be manufactured and used to destroy antibiotic-resistant bacteria
Whitney Hopfauf

Could new flu spark global flu pandemic? New bird flu strain seen adapting to mammals, ... - 0 views

  • "The human isolates, but not the avian and environmental ones, have a protein mutation that allows for efficient growth in human cells and that also allows them to grow at a temperature that corresponds to the upper respiratory tract of humans, which is lower than you find in birds,
    • Whitney Hopfauf
       
      These are the same researchers who did the infamous bird flu study that was temporarily banned
  • new virus has sickened at least 33 people, killing nine.
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    • Whitney Hopfauf
       
      This is so concerning... and yet it seems that the general population is oblivious to the implications of this virus
  • majority of the viruses in the study -- from both humans and birds -- display mutations in the surface protein hemagglutinin, which the pathogen uses to bind to host cells.
  • The same mutation, Kawaoka notes, lets the avian virus thrive in the cooler temperatures of the human upper respiratory system
  • the new strain could be treated with another clinically relevant antiviral drug, oseltamivir.
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    Genetic sequencing of the current H7N9 outbreak in China has revealed the ability of the virus to adapt to a human host
Amanda Bergstedt

Researchers use metagenomics to identify the cause of outbreaks of bacterial infection - 0 views

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    Researchers have been able to reconstruct the genome sequence of a bacterial strain which bypasses the need for growing bacteria in the lab. This could stop an outbreak in its tracks due to the increased speed of identifying the bacteria.
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