Connecting You to Tomorrow's Biotechnology Innovations
The amoeba Naegleria fowleri is commonly found in warm swimming pools, lakes and rivers. On rare occasions, the amoeba can infect a healthy person and cause severe primary amebic meningoencephalitis, a “brain-eating” disease that is almost always fatal. Other than trial-and-error with general antifungal medications, there are no treatments for the infection. Researchers at Skaggs […]
Public health officials are expanding efforts to get the HIV prevention pill into the hands of those at risk, in a nationwide effort to curb infections. But the officials are hitting roadblocks — the drug’s price tag, which has surged in recent years, and changes in insurance coverage that put a heftier financial burden on […]
Higher daily doses of rifampin, a cornerstone of tuberculosis treatment, killed more TB bacteria in sputum cultures, and the higher doses did so without increasing the adverse effects of treatment, according to a randomized controlled trial published online in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. In “Efficacy and Safety of High-Dose Rifampin […]
These immune cells could become therapeutic targets to treat Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. In preclinical experiments, Laurie Harrington, Ph.D., and colleagues at the University of Alabama at Birmingham have discovered a subset of immune cells that create and sustain chronic inflammatory bowel disease. These cells could become potential therapeutic targets to ameliorate or cure Crohn’s disease […]
Researchers from the University of California, Irvine and Harvard University have discovered how the Clostridium difficile toxin B (TcdB) recognizes the human Frizzled protein, the receptor it uses to invade intestinal cells and lead to deadly gastrointestinal infections. The findings, published today in Science, could pave the way for new C. diff antitoxins and also […]
New tests to detect early Lyme disease – which is increasing beyond the summer months – could replace existing tests that often do not clearly identify the infection before health problems occur. In an analysis published on December 7 in Clinical Infectious Diseases, scientists from Rutgers University, Harvard University, Yale University, the National Institute of Allergy […]
One way to fight diseases including HIV infection and autoimmune disorders could involve changing how a naturally occurring enzyme called SAMHD1 works to influence the immune system, new research suggests. The study, led by researchers from The Ohio State University, details how the enzyme influences proteins that stimulate the immune response. SAMHD1 isn’t a molecular […]
Jakub Famulski, an assistant professor of biology in the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences, has received a grant for over $1.8 million from the National Institutes of Health to study the early formation of the anterior segment of the eye. The research has the potential to lead to more treatment options for patients with blinding disorders. […]
In a study of 61 people treated for the bacteria that causes Lyme disease, Johns Hopkins researchers conclude that fatigue, pain, insomnia and depression do indeed persist over long periods of time for some people, despite largely normal physical exams and clinical laboratory testing. “Post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS) is a real disorder that causes […]
Malaria*1 is one of three major infectious diseases*2 affecting approximately 300 million people every year, accounting for about 500,000 deaths, but effective vaccine development has not been successful. Among malaria parasites infecting humans, Plasmodium falciparum (P. falciparum)*3 causes especially severe disease. In addition, acquired immunity to malaria is inefficient, even after repeated exposures to P. […]
This aids goal to use stem cells in therapy, where an important hurdle is efficient differentiation. The more than 200 different types of human cells have the same DNA but express different ensembles of genes. Each cell type was derived from embryonic stem cells, which are called pluripotent stem cells because they can differentiate to […]
Researchers at the University of Maryland and Duke University have designed a novel protein-sugar vaccine candidate that, in an animal model, stimulated an immune response against sugars that form a protective shield around HIV. The molecule could one day become part of a successful HIV vaccine. “An obstacle to creating an effective HIV vaccine is […]
Individuals with certain types of bacteria in their gut may be more likely to respond well to cancer immunotherapy, researchers at the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center found in a study of patients with metastatic melanoma. The incidence of melanoma has been increasing over the past 40 years. Immunotherapies have dramatically improved the outlook […]
The immune system is constantly performing surveillance to detect foreign organisms that might do harm. But pathogens, for their part, have evolved a number of strategies to evade this detection, such as secreting proteins that hinder a host’s ability to mount an immune response. In a new study, a team of researchers led by Igor […]
A team of researchers is exploring the possibility that next-generation probiotics – live bacteria that are good for your health – would reduce the risk of infection with the bacterium Clostridium difficile. In laboratory-grown bacterial communities, the researchers determined that, when supplied with glycerol, the probiotic Lactobacillus reuteri produced reuterin, an antibacterial compound that selectively […]
By learning how a recently discovered immune cell works in the body, researchers hope to one day harness the cells to better treat allergies and infections, according to new Cornell University research. Type 1 regulatory (Tr1) cells are a type of regulatory immune cell that help suppress immune responses, including inflammation and tissue damage, but […]
Thousands of patients suffering from invasive fungal infections in intensive-care units or after organ transplantation will benefit from the latest insights into diagnostic and therapeutic interventions, published today in the prestigious journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases. Fungal infections invading the bloodstream, lungs or other organs can cause prolonged illness and in extreme cases can lead […]
New research from the University of Liverpool, published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood journal, shows a strong link between childhood obesity and hip diseases in childhood. Significant hip deformities affect around 1 in 500 children. Slipped Capital Femoral Epiphysis (SCFE) is the most common hip disease of adolescence. The condition always requires surgery, […]
Loyola Medicine is enrolling patients in the first major study of a rare, debilitating lung disease that disproportionately affects people from Puerto Rico. The hereditary disease is called Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome (HPS). It can cause bleeding problems, low vision, albinism and in some patients, a debilitating and often fatal lung disease called pulmonary fibrosis, said Loyola […]
Researchers in Germany have developed a transgenic mouse that could help scientists identify new influenza virus strains with the potential to cause a global pandemic. The mouse is described in a study, “In vivo evasion of MxA by avian influenza viruses requires human signature in the viral nucleoprotein,” that will be published April 10 in […]