E. coli News and Research

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E. coli or Escherichia coli is the name of a type of bacteria that lives in your intestines. Most types of E. coli are harmless. However, some types can make you sick and cause diarrhea. One type causes travelers' diarrhea. The worst type of E. coli causes bloody diarrhea, and can sometimes cause kidney failure and even death. These problems are most likely to occur in children and in adults with weak immune systems. You can get E. coli infections by eating foods containing the bacteria. To help avoid food poisoning and prevent infection, handle food safely. Cook meat well, wash fruits and vegetables before eating or cooking them, and avoid unpasteurized milk and juices. You can also get the infection by swallowing water in a swimming pool contaminated with human waste. Most cases of E. coli infection get better without treatment in 5 to 10 days.

Study shows how bacteriophage lysis genes could be key to developing new antibiotics

A study from the Center for Phage Technology, part of Texas A&M's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and Texas A&M AgriLife Research, shows how the "hidden" genes in bacteriophages -- types of viruses that infect and destroy bacteria -- may be key to the development of a new class of antibiotics for human health.

7 Feb 2021

Discovery of ‘Achilles heel’ in gut bacteria may lead to targeted therapies for Crohn’s disease

The discovery of an "Achilles heel" in a type of gut bacteria that causes intestinal inflammation in patients with Crohn's disease may lead to more targeted therapies for the difficult to treat disease, according to Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian investigators.

6 Feb 2021

Synthetic biology can help create complex embryo

Richard Feynman, one of the most respected physicists of the twentieth century, said "What I cannot create, I do not understand". Not surprisingly, many physicists and mathematicians have observed fundamental biological processes with the aim of precisely identifying the minimum ingredients that could generate them. One such example are the patterns of nature observed by Alan Turing.

2 Feb 2021

New platform using green algae tests for SARS-CoV-2 virus

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, have demonstrated the potential of using green algae to make recombinant viral proteins that could be used in large scale assays to detect antibodies against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) - the agent that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

1 Feb 2021

New platform for detecting and monitoring SARS-CoV-2 antibody responses

Researchers in the U.S. have released a new study that describes a powerful but inexpensive tool designed to detect and monitor specific antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 over time.

1 Feb 2021

New study shows link between intestinal microbiota and maternal behavior

As scientists learn more about the microorganisms that colonize the body--collectively called the microbiota--one area of intense interest is the effect that these microbes can have on the brain.

30 Jan 2021

American scientists receive the 2021 Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize

FRANKFURT am MAIN. Two American scientists, Bonnie L. Bassler and Michael R. Silverman, receive the 2021 Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize, which is endowed with 120,000 €.

28 Jan 2021

Codon frequency optimization shows SARS-CoV-2 antiviral potential

A study conducted by researchers in the US has revealed that optimization of codon for bacterial expression causes the production of an inactive enzyme non-structural protein 12 (Nsp12), a catalytic subunit of RNA-dependent RNA polymerase of SARS-CoV-2.

26 Jan 2021

Study: Vast majority of U.S. infants may be suffering from gut microbiome deficiency

A new peer-reviewed study reveals that the vast majority of U.S. infants may be suffering from a substantial deficiency in an important bacterium key to breast milk utilization and immune system development, as well as protection against gut pathogens linked to common newborn conditions such as colic and diaper rash.

21 Jan 2021

Researchers use SARS-CoV-2 to bioengineer universal vaccine platform

Using SARS-CoV-2, a team of scientists from the United States has recently developed a bioengineered bacteriophage T4 nanoparticle structure using CRISPR technology that can be used as a universal platform to produce vaccines.

21 Jan 2021

COVID-19 has transformed the world of vaccines

Researchers at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in Italy and Belgium say the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is transforming the world of vaccinology by accelerating vaccine development and the availability of powerful technologies.

20 Jan 2021

Mapping antibody reactivity in COVID-19 patients by using multi-coronavirus protein microarray

In an exciting, state-of-the-art study currently available on the medRxiv* preprint server, US researchers created a multi-coronavirus protein microarray containing full-length proteins, peptide libraries, and overlapping protein fragments from the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), as well as four other human coronaviruses.

19 Jan 2021

Researchers design new biosynthetic pathways for short-chain primary amines

Researchers report a new strategy for the microbial production of multiple short-chain primary amines via retrobiosynthesis.

17 Jan 2021

Study shows how new antibiotic resistance genes arise from random DNA sequences

An important and still unanswered question is how new genes that cause antibiotic resistance arise. In a new study, Swedish and American researchers have shown how new genes that produce resistance can arise from completely random DNA sequences. The results have been published in the journal PLOS Genetics.

8 Jan 2021

Researchers demonstrate lab tool that simplifies simulations of the human intestine

Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine researchers have found a way to mimic conditions in intestines, giving them a mechanical model for the real-time growth of bacterial infections.

8 Jan 2021

Researchers examine the role of Shiga toxin in the immune system

E. coli food poisoning is one of the worst food poisonings, causing bloody diarrhea and kidney damage. But all the carnage might be just an unintended side effect, researchers from UConn Health report in the 27 November issue of Science Immunology.

7 Jan 2021

Researchers identify new weapon to battle the rising tide of antibiotic-resistant bacteria

As scientists around the globe wage war against a novel, deadly virus, one University of Colorado Boulder lab is working on new weapons to battle a different microbial threat: a rising tide of antibiotic-resistant bacteria which, if left unchecked, could kill an estimated 10 million people annually by 2050.

23 Dec 2020

Researchers develop a harmless air sterilization prototype to kill microbes

With COVID-19 raging around the globe, researchers are doubling down on methods for developing diverse antimicrobial technologies that could be effective in killing a virus, but harmless to humans and the environment.

23 Dec 2020

Research shows how colanic acid extends lifespan in C. elegans

Baylor College of Medicine researcher Meng Wang had already shown that bacteria that make a metabolite called colanic acid (CA) could extend the lifespan of worms in her lab by as much as 50%, but her collaboration with Rice University synthetic biologist Jeffrey Tabor is providing tools to answer the bigger question of how the metabolite imparts longer life.

22 Dec 2020

RUDN chemists discover previously unknown derivatives of chitin

Chemists from RUDN University discovered previously unknown derivatives of chitin, a biopolymer that forms the exoskeletons of insects and carapaces of crayfish and other arthropods.

14 Dec 2020