A targeted sequence panel for detecting 34 vertebrate virus families at once
The challenge in detecting a set of viruses simultaneously in clinical samples lies in the large variety of their genomes, i.e. there is no gene that is present in all viruses. With the advent of new sequencing technologies, including high throughput parallel sequence...
MIME: Mutational Interference Mapping Experiment – RNA viruses
MIME (Mutational Interference Mapping Experiment) is used to investigate the interaction of RNA with its respective interaction partners in greater detail. In this approach, the RNA of interest is randomly mutated and amplified. The vast pool of resulting mutated RNAs...
New ancestral origin for Hepatitis A
Hepatitis A virus (HAV) is a single stranded RNA virus that belongs to the picornaviridae (from pico: very small and RNA viruses). The virus causes hepatitis in humans, especially in areas of low socioeconomic status. Until now no related virus has been found in other...
Chestnut leaf extracts and antibiotic resistance
An interesting publication about the sensitivity of Staphylococcus aureus to European Chestnut (Castanea sativa) leaf extracts. These extracts were traditionally used in folk medicine to treat skin and soft tissue infections. The active compounds within the chestnut...
On the reprogramming of gut bacteria
Switching gene expression on and off altered Bacteroides thetaiotamicron's response (after reintroduction into mice) through adaptation of the diet. Full text @ http://www.cell.com/cell-systems/pdfExtended/S2405-4712%2815%2900006-X
Quote of the Day
Today I read a beautiful inspirational quote from Doris Lessing, who won the nobel prize for literature in 2007. It said:
An interesting link between Alzheimer’s disease and MK5
Admitted, this one is a bit of an odd one out between all the microbial stuff, but it is a subject near to my heart, as I used to work with MK5 (essentially, an enzyme that transfers phosphate groups to its substrate). During our work with the protein we suspected...
A missing link between the brain and the immune system
A new discovery that will change textbooks forever: Previously it was thought that these vessels were absent in the brain, as they hadn't been found. However, now scientists have discovered through the use of live imaging that there exist lymphatic vessels within the...
This site is in progress
Please be aware that this site is still under construction. Work in progress includes content as well as graphics. In the meantime, should you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at nens _ wp @ yellowcouch . org (thank you for...
Teixobactin: A new hope against some pretty horrible bugs ?
Hurrah, it's been a long time since a completely novel antibiotic has been discovered, i.e. without tampering or enhancing old ones. A group at Boston university has now found an antibiotic, termed teixobactin, that can be used against Clostridium difficile...