Penicillin News and Research

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Penicillin (sometimes abbreviated PCN or pen) is a group of antibiotics derived from ''Penicillium'' fungi. Penicillin antibiotics are historically significant because they are the first drugs that were effective against many previously serious diseases such as syphilis and Staphylococcus infections.

New drug patent may help overcome problems associated with MDR-TB

A chemist based at the University of Copenhagen has just taken out a patent for a drug that can make previously multidrug-resistant bacteria once again responsive to antibiotics.

18 Feb 2014

University of Liège joins IMI programme to develop new antibiotics against Gram-negative pathogens

More than 30 European universities and companies, led by GlaxoSmithKline, are joining forces in a six-year programme funded by the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) for the sum of EUR 85 millions with the aim of developing new antibiotics against Gram-negative pathogens.

14 Feb 2014

Drug used for treating breast cancer also kills fungal disease

Tamoxifen, a drug currently used to treat breast cancer, also kills a fungus that causes a deadly brain infection in immunocompromised patients. The findings, which could lead to new treatments for a disease that kills more HIV/AIDS patients than tuberculosis, appear in mBio-, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM.)

11 Feb 2014

Researchers discover unusually large bacteriophage that infects anthrax bacterium

From a zebra carcass on the plains of Namibia in Southern Africa, an international team of researchers has discovered a new, unusually large virus (or bacteriophage) that infects the bacterium that causes anthrax.

28 Jan 2014

Use of twice-daily pill could turn deadly blood cancer into highly treatable disease

Use of a twice-daily pill could turn a deadly blood cancer into a highly treatable disease, according to scientists at Weill Cornell Medical College who led a multinational research team.

24 Jan 2014

Scientists develop new genetic platform that yields novel antibiotic from ocean bacteria

Scientists at the University of California, San Diego have developed a new genetic platform that allows efficient production of naturally occurring molecules, and have used it to produce a novel antibiotic compound.

23 Jan 2014

Study: Variations in non-coding sections of genome might be main contributors to type 2 diabetes risk

Variations in non-coding sections of the genome might be important contributors to type 2 diabetes risk, according to a new study.

13 Jan 2014

Weill Cornell Medical College received a $75M grant to expand, enhance cancer research, care programs

Weill Cornell Medical College announced today that it has received a $75 million gift from Sandra and Edward Meyer and the Sandra and Edward Meyer Foundation to expand and enhance the medical college's distinguished cancer research and care programs.

9 Jan 2014

Crowdsourcing fungal metabolites with antitumor activity: an interview with Dr. Robert H. Cichewicz, University of Oklahoma

Fungi have played a large role in the development of many important drugs that are in wide use today. The most well-known of these are the penicillins.

7 Jan 2014

Viewpoints: Stop 'bailout' of Obamacare; health law not to blame for all insurance woes; 'theft' of Medicare advantage money

Shrinking revenues and rising costs could bring on the "death spiral" -; an unbalanced patient pool forcing huge premium increases (to restore revenue) that would further unbalance the patient pool as the young and healthy drop out. End result? Insolvency

6 Jan 2014

Scientists discover new way to stop malaria parasites from multiplying

Scientists have taken an important step towards new malaria treatments by identifying a way to stop malaria parasites from multiplying.

22 Dec 2013

Poland's entry into EU may have led to consequence of increasing allergies in rural villages

Poland's entry into the EU may have had the surprising consequence of increasing allergies in rural villages, according to a new study. Surveys show that the prevalence of atopy, a predisposition towards allergic reactions, jumped from seven per cent to 20 per cent in villages in southwest Poland between 2003 and 2012.

17 Dec 2013

Viewpoints: States need to expand Medicaid to benefit all; lies about immigrants and doctors; antibiotics and animals

Expanding Medicaid costs states a pittance compared with the financial and social benefits they'll receive. Denying your constituents a chance to get health insurance out of political pique comes perilously close to governmental malpractice.

16 Dec 2013

Psychiatrists increasingly refuse to accept private insurance as payment

Access to mental health care has become a prominent issue in Congress following mass shootings around the country. But a new study in JAMA Psychiatry, led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College, suggests that unless those in need of help have deep pockets, they might have a hard time finding a psychiatrist that will provide the needed services.

13 Dec 2013

Valuable new approach to cancer treatment

Since the discovery of penicillin, fungi have been a nearly inexhaustible source for the discovery of new drugs. “Crowdsourcing”, the cooperation of a large number of interested nonscientists, has helped to find a new fungus from which American researchers have now isolated and characterized an unusual metabolite with interesting antitumor activity.

11 Dec 2013

Biosimulation and epilepsy treatments: an interview with Dr. Serge Bischoff, CEO of Rhenovia and RHENEPI program director

The need for biosimulation is primarily to do with the very high attrition rate in drug development and especially in the development of drugs for the central nervous system.

10 Dec 2013

Children hospitalized for pneumonia have similar outcomes with big gun antibiotics or penicillin

Children hospitalized for pneumonia have similar outcomes, including length of stay and costs, regardless of whether they are treated with "big gun" antibiotics such as ceftriaxone or cefotaxime or more narrowly focused antibiotics such as ampicillin or penicillin, according to a Vanderbilt study published in Pediatrics.

10 Dec 2013

Presence of ERG protein in biopsied prostate tissue increases likelihood of cancer development

Researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College have shown that the presence of a particular protein in biopsied prostate tissue substantially increases the likelihood that cancer will develop in that organ. The discovery will likely help physicians decide how closely to monitor men potentially at risk for the cancer -- among the most confusing and controversial dilemmas in health care.

4 Dec 2013

Genetic variation linked to increased levels of triglycerides associated with heart disorders

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College have found that a genetic variation that is linked to increased levels of triglycerides -- fats in the blood associated with disorders such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity and stroke -- is far more common than previously believed and disproportionally affects people of African ancestry.

26 Nov 2013

Steroid injections given before premature birth may increase child's mental health risks

Steroid injections given to pregnant women before premature birth may increase the child's risk of later behavioural and emotional difficulties, a study has found.

23 Nov 2013