WSU BIOL209 Microbiology

help identify a new target for antibiotics and prevent other biofilms from forming

regulator of biofilm formation, a protein called SinR, acts in the model bacterium, Bacillus subtilis.

Unfortunately, when laboratory methods rely solely on cultivation of pathogens and traditional phenotypic methods of pathogen characterization, physicians are forced to deduce the presence of BSI based on clinical symptoms, which are often nonspecific. Subsequently, antibiotic therapy is initiated based on clinical and epidemiologic profiles (28) rather than on laboratory evidence. Typically, within 1 to 3 days a microscopic Gram stain category (Gram-positive bacteria, Gram-negative bacteria, or fungi) provides physicians with a general direction for antibiotic therapy. Definitive results that eliminate the need for broad-spectrum therapy and enable de-escalation and the tailoring of treatment to the most effective antibiotic regimen often require more than 3 to 5 days. This gap has been implicated as one reason for high mortality and the emergence of drug-resistant microbes.

antibodies against a protein in the saliva of a pathogen's transmitting agent

has been shown to confer immunity when administered protectively as a vaccine.

Lyme bacterium known as

“In 15 years, we will all be drinking specific, personalized probiotic cocktails. I suggest that every healthy person freezes a fecal sample now so they will be able to treat themselves in the future.”

We modified the virus so that it replicates only in the presence of an active prostate-specific antigen and, therefore, is highly specific to prostate cancer. We also tested its efficacy in a tumor model in vitro," Subbiah said. "The recombinant virus efficiently and specifically killed prostate cancer cells, while sparing normal human cells in the laboratory, but it would take time for this to move from the discovery phase to a treatment for prostate cancer patients."

Another paradox of city life: it seems it is healthier to inhale the subway’s air than the shower’s mist.

the deluge of bacteria that hit your face and flow deep into your lungs in the morning shower

Aside from the thought of being sprayed in the face by a bacterial cocktail every morning, the shower bacteria present no serious danger

gut microbiota differs at the phylum level depending on weight status

human obesity is associated with a low abundance of intestinal Bacteroidetes and high abundance of Firmicutes

The mere presence of gut microbiota has recently been shown to contribute to obesity