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Radical Vaccine Strategy Could Help Quash Parasite Afflicting Millions

AuroBlog - Aurous Healthcare Clinical Trials blog

Using viruses that infect bacteria to detect proteins sprouted by a notorious parasite, scientists have honed in on possible vaccine targets for schistosomiasis, a neglected tropical disease that currently affects an estimated 600 million people worldwide, causing 280,000 deaths per year.

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How bacteria cope with stress

Scienmag

When exposed to stress, bacteria allow their metabolism to take a break during which they suppress, for example, the incorporation of proteins into membranes. Scientists from Marburg, Freiburg and Munich have discovered this by biochemically investigating the stress response of microorganisms.

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Dual brake on transport protein prevents cells from exploding

Scienmag

To counter this, bacteria can increase their internal solute concentration. Scientists from the University of Groningen elucidated the structure of a transport protein OpuA, that imports glycine betaine to counter […].

Protein 88
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Excitement over new antibiotics that can kill drug-resistant bacteria

Drug Discovery World

A novel antibiotic class targeting a major global pathogen and threat to human health has been discovered by scientists from Roche and Harvard University (Cambridge, MA, US). New antibiotics directed against the world’s highest priority bacteria, like Acinetobacter baumannii , require novel development paths.

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Penn Medicine scientists engineer bacteria-killing molecules from wasp venom

Scienmag

Potential new antibiotics work by disrupting bacterial membrane and summoning immune cells in animal models PHILADELPHIA–A team led by scientists in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has engineered powerful new antimicrobial molecules from toxic proteins found in wasp venom.

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Scientists engineer safe, virus-resistant E coli for research

Drug Discovery World

In a step forward for genetic engineering and synthetic biology, US researchers have modified E coli bacteria to be immune to infection by all natural viruses tested so far. The team used two safeguard methods to prevent the bacteria and their modified genes from escaping into the wild.

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Scientists use mRNA to reprogramme the immune system

Drug Discovery World

Dr Kaustav Das Gupta and Professor Matt Sweet from UQ’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience discovered that a molecule derived from glucose in immune cells can both stop bacteria growing and dampen inflammatory responses. Coli bacteria from growing,” Dr Das Gupta said. “It