Dangerous new pathogens such as the Ebola virus invoke scary scenarios of deadly epidemics, but even ancient scourges such as the bubonic plague are still providing researchers with new insights on how the body responds to infections.

A microbe developed to clean up nuclear waste and patented by a Michigan State University researcher has just been improved.

Understanding just how sugar makes its way into the cell could lead to the design of better drugs for diabetes patients and an increase in the amount of fruits and vegetables farmers are able to grow.

Discovery of three new bacteria that could break down PCBs more effectively.

One of the most important business acquisitions in the history of Analytik Jena AG has been closed.

The fast and safe technique developed at the Salk Institute circumvents problems that have hindered regenerative medicine.

The current Ebola outbreak now requires a “rapid response at a massive global scale”, according to experts at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. 

Researchers from North Carolina State University, Duke University and the University of Copenhagen have created the world’s largest DNA origami, which are nanoscale constructions with applications ranging from biomedical research to nanoelectronics.

Problem: PCR is used to detect or quantify nucleic acid sequences in research and diagnostic settings. While high specificity is often achieved, experimental design sometimes necessitates that primers be placed in suboptimal locations. This can lead to problems like the formation of primer dimers or off-target amplification of homologous sequences. The formation of primer dimers consumes primers and other reaction components, which can result in reduced target amplification. These structures can also generate false positive signals in real-time PCR assays that use DNA intercalating dyes to monitor amplification. Off-target amplification is particularly problematic with low copy-number targets because of the high number of cycles required for amplification and in multiplex assays, where many different primers must function well together.

Caltech researchers have developed a novel way to visualize proteins generated by microorganisms in their natural environment—including the murky waters of Caltech's lily pond, as in this image created by Professor of Geobiology Victoria Orphan and her colleagues. The method could give scientists insights to how uncultured microbes (organisms that may not easily be grown in the lab) react and adapt to environmental stimuli over space and time. 

A ‘game changer,’ says UCLA’s Dr. Antoni Ribas, the study’s principal investigator.

Infant rhesus monkeys receiving different diets early in life develop distinct immune systems that persist months after weaning, a study by researchers from UC Davis, the California National Primate Research Center (CNPRC) at UC Davis and UC San Francisco has shown. The study, which compares breast- and bottle-fed infants, appears online September 3 in Science Translational Medicine.