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AssuredBio Blog
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A new microfluidics chip developed by researchers at Princeton University is showing that bacteria evolve resistance to antibiotics much more quickly, and more predictably, than previously thought, reports Technology Review's Lauren Gravitz. The chip, dubbed the "death galaxy" by its inventor Robert Austin, simulates the complex environment that bacteria experience in the human body — it contains more than 1,000 hexagonal chambers, each of which is a microhabitat, Gravitz says. In his experiment, Austin flowed nutrients around one side of the chip and the antibiotic ciprofloxacin around the other. The solutions flow into the chambers at different concentrations and build different bacterial ecologies in each chamber. The researchers began to see resistant strains emerge within five hours and, after 10 hours, the resistant strains were spreading to cover even the most antibiotic-saturated chambers, Gravitz says. "The researchers also discovered that the evolution occurred predictably. Every time they ran the experiment, they got the same result, with the same four resistance-conferring mutations emerging over and over again," she adds. The chip could be valuable in the development of new antibiotics and could be used to improve strains of beneficial bacteria, like those that are used to degrade pollutants. Austin says he's even planning an application for use in cancer research by using the chip to study how cancer cells develop resistance to chemotherapy. |
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AssuredBio Blog
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Written by Dr. Sobek
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I talked my wife into going to see the premiere of Contagion last Friday. We had already planned to go out for dinner and a movie to celebrate our 16th anniversary. She’s a science teacher, hence, it was easy to convince her that it would be a worthwhile venture. We were pleasantly surprised that many of her students showed up. Young science students out to see a science movie; what more could a teacher ask for? Perhaps a great movie. That's what we were all secretly hoping for. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a great movie, but we got a decent movie, with interesting science. However, the film felt more like a documentary than fictional drama.
The premise of the film revolves around a new virus, a chimeric combination that leaps from bats to pigs to humans, then spreads worldwide, passing from human to human. The director attempts to follow the epidemiology of viral spread, bringing in the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) perspective to track the virus and predict total mortality. Using subplot, the film follows the lives of several individuals from the beginning of transmission to the development of the vaccine. The lives of the characters, in each subplot, are tied to the main plot that plays out on the world stage as the virus spreads and people perish.
An important variable for understanding viral spread and the movie is R0 (pronounced: ‘R-nought’). The spread of the virus is measured using R0, and referenced many times throughout the movie. R0 is defined as the average number of new cases caused by one infectious person entering a totally susceptible population. In other words. The higher the R0 the more rapidly the virus spreads, and the more people die. The R0 is finally figured out midway through the movie and is found to be double the R0 of the great influenza outbreak of 1918, which killed more than 50 million people worldwide.
Many scientist may frown upon the methods and examples in the film that describe virus epidemiology. I however ignored the particulars and felt the director blended a decent amount of science fact in this fictional drama. Enough to provoke thought and concern among the general populous, which in itself makes this film worth seeing.
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AssuredBio Blog
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There is a fascinating artilce posted on Nature News about the link between the use of antibiotics and the emergence of so-termed 'super-strains' of bacteria, like the recent E. coli strain (O104:H4) in the news.
According to the article, the bacterium in this outbreak, currently recognised as strain O104:H4, makes Shiga toxin, which is responsible for the severe diarrhoea and kidney damage in patients whose E. coli infections develop into haemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). The genes for the Shiga toxin are not actually bacterial genes, but phage genes being expressed by infected bacteria. So when an E. coli bacterium gets infected with a Shiga-toxin-producing phage, it becomes pathogenic to humans. Our use of antibiotics may be helping those viral genes to spread. If bacteria are exposed to some types of antibiotics they undergo what is called the SOS response, which induces the phage to start replicating. Active replication of the phage causes the bacterial cells to burst open, which releases the phage. It also releases the toxin, which is why antibiotics are not usually used to treat E. coli infection.
To read more visit: Nature News - Phages
Posted by: Dr. Tim Sandle |
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AssuredBio Blog
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Written by Dr. Sobek
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Tuesday, 28 June 2011 08:19 |
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The first case of an epidemic strain of Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) thought to have been acquired in Australia has been identified at a hospital in Melbourne, and further clusters have been reported in residential aged care facilities.
Learn More Click Here: CLOSTRIDIUM |
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AssuredBio Blog
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Written by Dr. Sobek
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Friday, 17 June 2011 14:21 |
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Mold carried by dirt and debris in Joplin tornado is the source of serious fungal infections. The infections are caused by an aggressive strain of Mucor pusillus that was driven into victims' skin and eyes by the twisters strong winds. Click on the below to learn more about the symptoms of infection:
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AssuredBio Blog
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Written by Dr. Sobek
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Wednesday, 08 June 2011 15:27 |
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Watch out for those Ice machines at hotels. They may be fine for cooling down canned or bottled beverages, but I don't recommend putting the ice directly into a drink. I found out firsthand when this lovely bacteria and mold encrusted biofilm came out with the ice.
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AssuredBio Blog
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Written by Administrator
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Friday, 03 June 2011 14:28 |
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THE killer E.coli outbreak sweeping Europe has been unmasked as a new super– virulent mutant strain.
Read more: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/health-news/2011/06/03/e-coli-outbreak-linked-to-cucumbers-is-deadly-mutant-strain-115875-23175656/#ixzz1OF7MSTDp |
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