American scientists have developed a smartphone app that can identify types of bacteria in one hour, down from a typical turnaround of 18 to 28 hours. The reduced detection time should mean faster diagnosis, treatment and recovery for patients, as well as reduced costs.
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We may be a step closer to new treatments for cystic fibrosis, as two research teams are now reporting the discovery of a new type of cell in the airways. These rare cells seem to be where most activity of a certain gene is located, mutations of which are known to cause cystic fibrosis.
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To improve our understanding and find new potential ways to treat Alzheimer's disease, researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital have produced one of the most detailed models of “Alzheimer’s-in-a-dish,” using cultures of human neural cells that display neuroinflammation.
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The ranks of the ebolavirus genus have grown for the first time in a decade, with the identification of a new strain in free-tailed bats in Sierra Leone. It is not yet known if it is harmful to humans, but its discovery will assist efforts to understand how the virus hides between outbreaks
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The world is in desperate need of new antibiotics, as bacteria continue to evolve and develop resistance to the ones we have. Now, researchers at La Trobe University have found a peptide in the flower of a tobacco plant that could be the first of a new kind of antibiotic.
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Allowing scientists to make cut-and-paste edits to an organism’s genome, the CRISPR gene-editing tool may be powerful, but it’s still a bit clumsy. Now, researchers have developed a neater new version dubbed MAGESTIC, which they describe as swapping the scissors for a word processor.
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If we really want to cut down on the hundreds of millions of malaria cases they cause every year, we need more effective weapons. Now, researchers have used the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing tool to engineered mosquitoes that are highly resistant to the malaria parasite, by deleting one specific gene.
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Needles are usually seen as a necessary evil, but maybe they don’t have to be - plenty of painless alternatives are in the works. Now, a pain-free jet-injection device has emerged from development limbo with a commercialization deal that should see it soon hit the market.
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Legionnaires’ disease can spread when water in a building's air conditioning system becomes infected with Legionella bacteria. Checking for that bacteria takes up to two weeks, and requires water samples to be sent away. The Spartan Cube, however, can do the job on location in less than an hour.
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A team of researchers has found that house flies and blow flies can spread a whole host of bacteria that was previously unsuspected to hitch a ride on the insects. But this bacteria-carrying capability could be hijacked and used in a public health surveillance capacity to track pathogen outbreaks
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