A small group of scientists on the biofilm mitigation team at NASA's Marshall Space Center in Huntsville, Alabama, study solutions to combat fast-growing colonies of bacteria or fungi, known as biofilm, for future space missions.
Space Exploration
Jul 11, 2024
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22
From plaque sticking to teeth to scum on a pond, biofilms can be found nearly everywhere. These colonies of bacteria grow on implanted medical devices, our skin, contact lenses, and in our guts and lungs. They can be found ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jul 10, 2024
1
60
Antibiotic resistant bacteria are experts in evolving new strategies to avoid being killed by antibiotics. One such bacterium is Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which is naturally found in soil and water, but also hospitals, nursing ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jul 1, 2024
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69
Antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections are becoming a major societal challenge. To solve this problem, researchers are working on new drugs that kill bacteria without promoting resistance, and on new materials that prevent ...
Biotechnology
Jun 27, 2024
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48
Research spearheaded by four biologists within the College of Arts and Sciences at Indiana University Bloomington has uncovered a new regulatory mechanism shared by many bacteria, which may have profound implications for ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jun 27, 2024
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0
Carnegie Mellon University biologists have discovered that Vibrio cholerae, the bacteria behind the cholera disease, can sense when its relatives die. Bacterial cell death is often accompanied by lysis, where the cell explodes, ...
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 26, 2024
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0
If left to their own devices, bacteria on our teeth or wounded skin can encase themselves in a slimy scaffolding, turning into what is called biofilm. These bacteria wreak havoc on our tissue and, being shielded from antibiotic ...
Bio & Medicine
Mar 13, 2024
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52
Bacteria can be tricked into sending death signals to stop the growth of their slimy, protective homes that lead to deadly infections, a new study demonstrates.
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 5, 2024
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1
Researchers from the University of Tsukuba have developed an innovative methodology for measuring the electrical conductivity of microbial communities. This methodology holds promise for the development of batteries and electrochemical ...
Cell & Microbiology
Feb 29, 2024
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2
Bacteria are traditionally imagined as single-cell organisms, spread out sparsely over surfaces or suspended in liquids, but in many environments the true bacterial mode of growth is in sticky clusters called biofilms.
Cell & Microbiology
Feb 1, 2024
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7
A biofilm is an aggregate of microorganisms in which cells are stuck to each other and/or to a surface. These adherent cells are frequently embedded within a self-produced matrix of extracellular polymeric substance (EPS). Biofilm EPS, which is also refered to as "slime," is a polymeric jumble of DNA, proteins and polysaccharides. Biofilms may form on living or non-living surfaces, and represent a prevalent mode of microbial life in natural, industrial and hospital settings . The cells of a microorganism growing in a biofilm are physiologically distinct from planktonic cells of the same organism, which by contrast, are single-cells that may float or swim in a liquid medium. Microbes form a biofilm in response to many factors, which may include cellular recognition of specific or non-specific attachment sites on a surface, nutritional cues, or in some cases, by exposure of planktonic cells to sub-inhibitory concentrations of antibiotics . When a cell switches to the biofilm mode of growth, it undergoes a phenotypic shift in behavior in which large suites of genes are differentially regulated .
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