bacteria

Super-resistant soil bacteria can thrive on antibiotics

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 06:59:59 -0400

It turns out that hundreds of bacteria can actually 'eat' antibiotics, according to researchers at Harvard Medical School. The scientific team isolated bacteria in soil and fed them 18 different antibiotics, including penicillin and ciprofloxacin. And almost all of them started to grow after the exposure. These bacteria could be classified as super resistant.

On the plus side, none of the bacteria found in the soil are a direct threat to humans. On the negative side, human pathogens could at least theoretically acquire resistance to antibiotics through one of their soil-dwelling cousins.

- read the report in the New York Times

ALSO: Researchers in Louisiana say that proteins discovered in alligator blood may prove a potent weapon against serious infections such as MRSA. The team determines that alligators are designed to fight off infections they have never been previously exposed to. And a cream made from alligator blood may prove an effective topical treatment. Report

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People, rainfall, biodiversity breed new diseases

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 06:59:59 -0500

An international team of scientists has identified 335 cases of emerging diseases that erupted between 1940 and 2004, with almost three out of four spurring disease in humans after spreading from animals. And they're calling for the creation of an early warning system to alert medical officials before new diseases spread from the world's "hot spots" in tropical regions. High rainfall, biodiversity and rapidly growing populations are considered breeding grounds for new outbreaks of diseases like SARS and Ebola. The 1980s saw the greatest growth in outbreaks of any of the decades studies, probably due to the emergence of HIV. Bacteria and viruses cause most outbreaks, with one in five triggered by antibiotic resistant microbes.

- read the article in The Guardian

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U.S. pipeline bone dry for new antibiotics

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 06:59:59 -0500

Even as the demand for new antibiotics grows, new research programs to advance fresh therapies have been drying up fast. While existing antibiotics steadily weaken against the onslaught of some scary strains of bacteria, developers have been turning away from the field, says a new report on the San Francisco Chronicle. Back in the '80s, 16 antibiotics were approved over a 5-year stretch. But in the last five years, only five have been approved by the FDA.

The Chronicle concludes that it's basically the result of economics. Developers are drawn more to chronic diseases that offer huge, ongoing returns rather than the occasional user who needs antibiotics for a week or two. At the same time, lawmakers took out a fresh set of incentives in the FDA reauthorization bill last fall that would have made it easier for antibiotic developers to extend legal safeguards against generic competition. To sum up: Don't look for this trend to change anytime soon.

- see the report
- read the article for more

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Concerns grow as biohazard research field booms

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 06:59:59 -0500

Before the 2001 anthrax attacks, the U.S. had only two biosafety level 4 (BSL4) labs, which conduct research involving the world's deadliest pathogens. Since then, however, spending in the area has increased tenfold, growing to $2 billion in 2006 at more than a dozen different facilities. And a new BSL4 lab is about to open in Boston. But the field has experienced some growing pains as new facilities open up. Once restricted to secure government facilities operating behind barbed wire, the work has spread to a host of locations.

Edward Hammond, who runs Project Sunshine, says that more than 200 research groups are studying anthrax alone. And as the money has flowed into the research field, there has been a spike in troubling incidents. Three mice infected with the plague escaped from a New Jersey lab, anthrax-causing bacteria was found on a freezer at a military lab, and research personnel have been bitten by animals infected with bird flu.

- check out the article from Newsweek

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Vaccine offers approach to blocking infections

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 06:59:59 -0500

A novel vaccine developed at The Scripps Research Institute at La Jolla may offer a new way to block infections without sparking bacterial resistance--a process that gradually dilutes the effectiveness of antibiotics. Reporting in Chemistry and Biology, the team focused on blocking the communication link among bacteria--which is necessary to make them virulent. The team designed a molecule that spurs production of antibodies by the immune system.

"Bacteria basically sense they have enough of their buddies around to allow them to say, 'OK, we're in a favorable environment to start turning on certain genes,'" says team leader Professor Kim Janda, director of the Worm Institute for Research and Medicine at Scripps Research. But if you stop bacteria from communicating, they can't organize an assault on the body.

- read the release on the vaccine program

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Synthetic biology spawns fresh approach to antibiotics

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 06:59:59 -0400

The amazingly hot field of synthetic biology has now spawned an engineered virus that attacks bacteria. Timothy Lu, a doctoral student in the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, says he and colleagues created the virus by drawing from a library of genes. In this particular case, the researchers took a gene that produced the enzyme dispersin B and inserted it into the genome of the T7 virus. The enzyme is known to degrade bacteria's molecular "scaffolding." At a later stage, he says, the scientists should be able to design new viruses engineered to attack specific bacteria. And these new viruses could be used to create a new generation of antibiotics--as well as industrial cleaners.

- read the report from MSNBC

ALSO: The New York Times' Nicholes Wade reviews the potential of synthetic biology after J. Craig Venter announced plans to develop new forms of synthetic life. At MIT, one program's to-do list includes "grow a house." Article

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New compounds in works for tuberculosis

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 20:01:39 -0400

There's new evidence to support the theory that the enzyme protein kinase G offers a promising target in the fight against tuberculosis. The enzyme is secreted by the microbe that triggers TB and is believed to provide essential protection for the bug from the host's immune system, which tracks down and kills most pathogens. Scientists say they have a compound that can block the protein, but were worried about interfering with the action of other proteins also secreted by the microbe. Using X-ray crystallography, the researchers were able to pinpoint the exact method of inhibition and determined that it was unique to that one protein.

"Since we now know exactly what the requirements should be for a good blocker and how to avoid interference with host kinases, we should now be able to rationally design compounds that are highly effective against PknG," said lead author Jean Pieters, a professor of biochemistry at the University of Basle in Switzerland.

- read the report on the TB research from AFP

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Targets found for antibiotic development

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 20:01:39 -0400

Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham have new information on the structure of a key enzyme in bacteria that could lead to improved antibiotics and less antibiotic resistance. In findings published online in two complementary papers in Nature, the research team describes the differences in an enzyme called RNA polymerase in bacterial cells as opposed to human cells. These differences provide potential new targets for drug design.

"Knowing how RNA polymerase differs in human and bacterial cells means antibiotics can be designed with a greater probability that they will interact with and kill bacteria, while leaving healthy human cells alone," says Dmitry Vassylyev, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry and molecular genetics and lead author of both papers.

- check out the release on antibiotics

ALSO NOTED: Federal audits provoke researchers' fears; Viralytics studies effects of virus on cancer;

Mon, 21 May 2007 20:01:38 -0400

Stem Cell Research

Scientists are using stem cells to treat incontinence. Report

Fear of federal audits has inspired researchers in Boston to mark each piece of lab equipment that is approved for use on embryonic stem cell projects. Report

Teng Ma, an associate professor of chemical and biomedical engineering at the Florida A&M University-FSU College of Engineering, and two colleagues have received an $824,000, four-year grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to research ways of generating bone cells in a laboratory that then could be transplanted into human patients. Release

UC Irvine neurobiologist Hans Keirstead and his research team has launched a project to develop stem cell lines that genetically match human patients. Release

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is establishing a new Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center. Release

Cancer Research

The biotech company Viralytics is funding a study to determine if a cold virus can kill cancer cells in humans. Australian researchers say that the approach has worked in animal models. Scientists say that the coxsackie virus can kill cancer cells in a test tube in six to 12 hours while leaving normal cells alone. Report

New research into the p53 gene, which researchers believed helped eliminate cancer cells, indicates that p53 may actually help some cancers make a comeback. Report

New research in lymphatic cancer shows that bacteria can cause cancer to be more aggressive. Patients with skin lymphoma may benefit from antibiotic treatments used for bacteria-infections. Release

Researchers in the U.K. say that LHRH agonists, which includes the drug Zoladex, can stop the production of female hormones that can encourage a tumor to grow. Report

In a new study published online May 16 in the journal Nature, a team of scientists at The Wistar Institute and the University of California, San Diego, report identification of an important new gene-silencing mechanism, one that blocks the cellular machinery responsible for translating messenger RNA into proteins at specific genes. Release

ALSO

Researchers are exploring ways to develop "DNA computers" that can diagnose disease and trigger therapies. Report

By comparing mice that had been given Prozac with mice given an alternate drug, researchers from Rockefeller University have identified a new class of chemicals that could offer better control over serotonin and more effective treatments for the debilitating mental illness. Release

Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have regenerated hair in mice using molecular processes similar to embryonic development. The research points to a possible cure for baldness. Report

Single-tablet combinations of drugs may be what it takes to get blood pressure under control, even in people with moderate hypertension, according to results from a new international study involving more than 10,700 people with high blood pressure. Release

A new Brown University study shows that nerve cells grown in three-dimensional cultures use 1,766 genes differently compared to nerve cells grown in standard two-dimensional petri dishes. Release

A venture capital gathering in Glasgow has inspired a new report outlining the economic impact of 590 organizations employing 30,000 people in Scotland's life sciences sector. Scotland is a leader in stem cell research. Report

A new study has shown that modified bone marrow cells can help recovery in an animal model of multiple sclerosis. Harald Neumann and colleagues from the University of Bonn modified myeloid precursor cells to express a protein, which is normally made by microglia--a cell from the nervous system--and injected these TREM2-expressing cells into the veins of mice with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. Release

Rheumatology researchers have discovered that a well-known cell receptor sends a signal to dampen the immune system. Release

An ongoing effort to identify the microorganisms that make us sick has discovered a new virus potentially linked to unexplained respiratory infections. Release

Chemists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have designed a powerful analytical tool capable of measuring molecular structures quickly and accurately enough to catch moving proteins in mid-fold and see the shapes of intermediate steps. As described in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the first applications of the technique offer a glimpse into the contorted form of a human protein that is implicated in type II diabetes. Release

Recent evidence suggests that therapy currently used to treat Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection, a major cause of upper gastrointestinal disorders, is unsuccessful in around 25 percent of cases. A new study, published in The American Journal of Gastroenterology, finds that adding a bovine protein called lactoferrin to the existing treatment may yield more effective results, with fewer of the side effects associated with common antibiotic treatment. Release

Scientists have created two mouse strains that will permit researchers to trace, in a live animal, the activity of an enzyme believed to play a crucial role both in the normal immune response as well as autoimmunity and B cell tumor development. Release

Anti-psychotic drugs do most of their work in the brain, but they also leave behind in the bloodstream a trail of hundreds of chemicals that may be used in the future to direct better treatment for schizophrenia and other psychiatric conditions, say Duke University Medical Center researchers. Release

Implanting dopamine generators (dopaminergics) in brain cells has produced improvement in the symptoms in Parkinson's, according to the results of tests carried out with monkeys by the Navarra University Hospital. Release

Bacteria may help treat depression

Mon, 09 Apr 2007 20:01:39 -0400

An experimental cancer therapy may help point the way to a new treatment for clinical depression. The approach was inspired by work done by Dr. Mary O'Brien at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London, who injected lung cancer victims with Mycobacterium vaccae, a harmless version of bacteria that causes tuberculosis and leprosy. After the therapy was injected, the physician noted not only fewer symptoms of cancer, but an improvement in emotional health as well. Researchers followed that observation with an animal study to see if the bacteria would trigger an immune response that caused mice to produce additional amounts of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that is often in short supply among depressed patients. The positive response in mice, which responded with a stress-free attitude to swimming, is spurring a new look at a theory that ultra-hygienic environments for children may be contributing to higher rates of depression.

- read the report on the study from The Economist

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