Miracle in the Mucin... Discovered in 2004, Akkermansia muciniphila is a relative newcomer to microbiology. Akkermansia was named for the microbial ecologist Antoon Akkermans, and muciniphila meaning preferring mucin. This organism in the phylum Verrucomicrobia was the result of a study that used purified mucin as...

Genetic engineering can help preserve endangered species

Since 1978, Escherichia coli has been used in the development of synthetic “human” insulin (1). More recently, E. coli has become an essential part in the development of cancer drugs (2). Researchers at The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for...

As the COVID-19 pandemic moves into its third year, new treatment options to combat the coronavirus disease are being authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. In December, 2021, the FDA issued emergency use authorization (EUA) for two oral antiviral treatments for COVID-19, Molnupiravir and Paxlovid.(1,2)
This comes at a crucial time in the pandemic as new variants emerge and COVID-19...

Is there a cranial microbiome? Can it be harmful?

Over the decades, scientists have dedicated their entire careers to studying microorganisms on and in our bodies. Although the brain has largely been considered a sterile environment, research has shown evidence of microorganisms living harmlessly in the brain.

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Salmonella Infantis

Globally, Salmonella causes illness in 93.8 million people and causes approximately 155,000 deaths each year.(1) Within the United States alone, Salmonella is responsible for 1.35 million infections, 26,000 of which...

How can you be sure the bacteria and parasites are dead?

In the United States, 62% of the population has tried sushi at least once. (1) However, recent studies from Norway and Brazil indicate that consumers should be checking that their sushi and sashimi were recently prepared and stored properly. To define our terms, many...

Plastic is invaluable to the scientific community from Petri plates to syringes and almost everything in between. Scientific research alone accounts for approximately 1.8% of global plastic production.(1) With the COVID-19 pandemic the need of the scientific community is increasing due to the increased need for plastic used for PPE, plastic tubes, pipets, etc.(2) While plastic use is vital for many...

Hans Christian Gram, credited as the inventor of the Gram staining technique, was a pioneering biologist who devised the system of classification which led to as many as 30,000 formally named species of bacteria being investigated. Gram, working with German pathologist and microbiologist Karl Friedländer, devised the technique in Berlin in the early 1880s.

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Is a New and Better Vaccine Coming Soon?

A new player in the field of COVID vaccines could be arriving soon. The trials so far are encouraging for both safety and efficacy. It even has some advantages over the Pfizer, Moderna, and J&J vaccines that have become so familiar to us.

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Medieval doctors didn’t always prescribe what was best for an ailing patient (leeches were a popular therapy). However, a medical manuscript from the 10th Century called Bald’s Leechbook recently found in the British Library details a concoction of wine, oxbile, and two species of Allium (garlic, onion, or leek) used to treat styes, now known as an infection caused by Staphylococcus aur...

Saving Patient Lives with Rapid Pneumonia Testing

Streptococcus...

Bacteria are commonly considered a culprit leading to cancer. However, recent research suggests that some bacteria, being a potential enemy can also be a friend, and thus be utilized to create novel cancer therapeutics and treatments.(1, Figure 1)

A great deal of research ahs centered on using bacteria to reduce the size of tumors...

CBD: How Pet Parents are Leading the Pack -The current landscape for pets and medical cannabis products In America, around 70% of households own a pet. This means that roughly 90.5 million families have welcomed a four legged (or maybe feathered) friend into their homes. (Rainwalk...

Bacteria are becoming more resistant to drugs while pharmaceutical companies are slowing their antibiotic research. Due to low profits and high time consumption, there are fewer drugs discovered and manufactured by drug companies.(1) Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE), and multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections...