Microbe Magazine

Gas plasmas consisting of ionized air at ambient temperature can disinfect contact lenses in 2 minutes, according to Michael G. Kong of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., and his collaborators at several universities in the United Kingdom. The procedure is effective against bacteria, spores... More...

Lytic and lysogenic bacteriophages generate different patterns within bacterial plaques, which scientists at the University of Copenhagen in Copenhagen, Denmark, have exploited to study phage dispersal during infection. Combining computer simulations with growth experiments, first author Namiko M... More...

Scientists at the University of California, Davis, found that some breast milk constituents specifically interact with human gut microbes. Bifidobacterium longum subspecies infantis is one of the first colonizers of infants after birth... More...

A new Journal of Clinical Microbiology study assessed the error rate of Gram stains at four major U.S. clinical microbiology centers. Standardized criteria were used to compare the abilities of technicians from different labs to correctly identify respiratory, fluid, biopsy/tissue, and wou... More...

An Applied and Environmental Microbiology study used a clever approach to recover bacterial cells along with molecules removed from contaminated water: a magnetic field. The research team, led by first author Masayoshi Tanaka and senior author Tadashi Matsunaga, used More...

Scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have identified a subset of molecules that may be useful in future gene therapy applications. First author Sarah Nicolson and senior scientist R. Jude Samulski screened an FDA-approved small molecule library for those that facilitate r... More...

Research from Duke University in Durham, N.C., and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in Philadelphia, Pa., suggests certain bacteria can influence development of asthma at a young age. First author Jessica McCann and senior author Patrick Seed tested the effect of nontypeable More...

Researchers have discovered that cities have distinct microbial signatures. A collaboration led by first author John Chase at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, along with scientists at San Diego State University in San Diego, Calif, and the University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario, Canad... More...

Research published in mSystems describes a new technique to understand which nutrients heterotrophic oceanic microbes utilize. A team of scientists at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Ore., Lawrence Livermore National Lab in Livermore, Calif., and Oak Ridge National Lab in Oak Ridge, Tenn., ... More...