Tag Microbiology
A hidden world of communication, chemical warfare, beneath the soil
New research from the University of Wisconsin–Madison shows how some harmful microbes have to contend not just with a farmer’s chemical attacks, but also with their microscopic neighbors — and themselves turn to chemical warfare to ward off threats.
Coral skeletons may resist the effects of acidifying oceans
Coral skeletons are the building blocks of diverse coral reef ecosystems, which has led to increasing concern over how these key species will cope with warming and acidifying oceans that threaten their stability.
New campus initiative targets microbiome research
The initiative aims to position UW–Madison faculty to be more competitive when applying for federal funding.
Finding useful chemicals from fungi, faster
Fungi are rich sources of natural molecules for drug discovery, but many challenges have pushed pharmaceutical companies away from tapping into this bounty. Now scientists…
Termite gut holds a secret to breaking down plant biomass
In the Microbial Sciences Building at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, the incredibly efficient eating habits of a fungus-cultivating termite are surprising even to those well acquainted with the insect’s natural gift for turning wood to dust.
Experiments test how easy life itself might be
UW scientists are trying to understand how life could arise from lifelike chemical reactions under the right conditions, with implications for understanding how common life might be in the universe.
Byzantine skeleton yields 800-year-old genomes from a fatal infection
Researchers discovered extraordinarily well preserved microfossils — mineralized ‘ghost cells’ — that closely resembled bacteria from the genus Staphylococcus.
UW biotech spinoff Mirus Bio celebrates two decades in business
The company makes cutting-edge products based on discoveries by three UW scientists for delivering DNA and RNA into cells.
UW-Madison seeks to capitalize on push to harness helpful microbes
The federal government has launched the National Microbiome Initiative to “foster the integrated study of microbiomes across different ecosystems.”
In these microbes, iron works like oxygen
Two new studies can shed some light on the perennial question of how life arose, but they also have practical applications in the search for life in space.
Deadly fish virus still present in Wisconsin lake
In May 2007, hundreds of freshwater drum - also known as sheepshead - turned up dead in Lake Winnebago and nearby Little Lake Butte des Morts, both inland lakes near Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The fish were splotched with red and their eyes were swollen and bulging.
The color of blood: Pigment helps stage symbiosis in squid
The small but charismatic Hawaiian bobtail squid is known for its predator-fooling light organ.
Microbiome and human health workshop
The opportunity to couple this emerging field and a traditional strength of UW–Madison — large longitudinal studies such as the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study; the Beaver Dam Eye Study; MIDUS, Midlife in the United States; and the Wisconsin Sleep Cohort — will be explored in a small, one-day workshop to be sponsored by the Center for Demography of Health and Aging and the Center for Demography and Ecology.
Tuberculosis genomes portray secrets of pathogen’s success
By any measure, tuberculosis (TB) is a wildly successful pathogen. It infects as many as two billion people in every corner of the world, with a new infection of a human host estimated to occur every second.
Swimming through complex bodily fluids gets simpler
It's an uncomfortable truth of life that our bodily fluids are chock full of microscopic swimming organisms - maybe even more uncomfortable to researchers that those little swimmers do laps faster than the theories describing their motion would allow.
Essential mechanism of symbiosis found in Hawaiian squid
Experiments at the University of Wisconsin–Madison with a small squid that glows in the dark have uncovered a complex conversation that allows the newly hatched squid to attract the glowing, symbiotic bacteria that disguises it against predators.
Microbe shown to regulate its host’s biological clock
At a time when scientists are beginning to recognize the pervasive influence of microbes in a legion of plant and animal functions, new research shows a symbiotic bacterium setting the biological clock of its host animal.
In sync: Squid, glowing companions march in genetic harmony
Most humans are blissfully unaware that we owe our healthful existence to trillions of microbes that make their home in the nooks and crannies of the human body, primarily the gut.