Microbe Magazine

Cover ImageVaccines are crucial for controlling the spread of influenza, but currently are only effective against a limited mix of strains. A universal vaccine remains elusive, but progress is being made (see p. 433). (Image © James King-Holmes/ Science Source.)

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Microbe Magazine, Cover Image

FEATURES

Helping Educational Reforms To Succeed in a Microbiology Department

Authors: Virginia S. Lee, and Michael Hyman

During the past decade, a rising chorus has called for major reforms in how we teach science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Part of the impetus for those reforms comes from concerns over growing numbers of students leaving the sciences, the eroding stature of the United States in the ... More...

The CRISPR System Protects Microbes against Phages, Plasmids

Authors: Rodolphe Barrangou, and Philippe Horvath

Many scientists believe that phages are the most abundant life form on Earth. Although phages outnumber their bacterial prey 10-fold, bacteria persist, sometimes relying on clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPRs) of DNA sequence as a defense mechanism. CRISPRs, first r... More...

Commensals: Underappreciated Reservoir of Antibiotic Resistance

Authors: Bonnie M. Marshall, Dorothy J. Ochieng, and Stuart B. Levy

Antibiotic resistance, reported for sulfonamides in the mid-1930s and for penicillins in the 1940s, remains a stubborn quandary. What was once confined mainly to hospitals increasingly involves multidrug resistance that encompasses communities and encircles the globe. Virtually all types of bacte... More...

CURRENT TOPICS

Biofuel Use Appears To Accelerate Global Warming

Author: Jeffrey L. Fox

Carbon dioxide emissions are growing three times faster than researchers once estimated, sea levels are rising more rapidly, and efforts to grow more corn for biofuels are reinforcing the threat to rain forests, according to scientists who spoke during symposia convened as part of the annual Amer... More...

When Earth Was Primordial Soup Stock, and Life Was Microbial

Author: Jeffrey L. Fox

Amid the scientists celebrating the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth are some quiet souls marveling at the peculiar and often pivotal roles that microbes play in the scheme of life. True, the earliest microbial stories are laced with conjecture and may not be altogether coherent. Yet, ... More...

Two-Step Process Leads to Rapid, Potentially Universal Vaccine-Like Response

Combining active and passive immunization approaches provides an effective two-stage process that targets specific cells and produces a “universal” and also very rapidly developed immune response, according to Carlos Barbas and collaborators at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif. “... More...

Several Promising Flu Vaccine Developments

Research on vaccines to protect humans against influenza virus remains highly active, and here is another set of promising developments:

Regulatory Gene Insert Enables V. fischeri To Change Host Species

Author: David Holzman

A simple genetic change can lead a bacterial species to switch its host specificity, according to Mark Mandel of the University of Wisconsin (UW), Madison, and his collaborators, whose findings appear in the February 1 issue of Nature. Thus, similar strains of luminescent Vibrio fischer... More...

Everything Microbial Is Not Everywhere and Other Oddities
Author: Jeffrey L. Fox
“Some microbiologists say ‘everything is everywhere,’” says Anne Pringle of Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., who spoke during the symposium “Microbes in a Changing World: the Lessons of Darwin,” which was convened as part of the annual American Association for the Advancement of Science (A... More...

Candidate Vaccines Show Promise against Anthrax, Smallpox

An oral vaccine in which Lactobacillus acidophilus bacteria deliver the Bacillus anthracis protective antigen induces “robust protective immunity” against anthrax when tested in mice, according to Todd Klaenhammer of North Carolina State University in Raleigh and his collaborators. ... More...

Human Oral Microbiome Shows Surprising Consistencies Worldwide

“The saliva microbiome does not vary substantially around the world,” says Mark Stoneking of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. Despite considerable diversity of bacteria within the saliva microbiome, both within and between individuals, these findings sug... More...

Topical Two-Component siRNA Partly Blocks Herpes Simplex 2 in Mice
Author: Carol Potera
A topically applied mixture containing two small interfering RNA (siRNA) molecules shows promise in protecting female mice against herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) infections, according to Judy Lieberman, director of the Division of AIDS at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Mass., and her coll... More...

405-nm Light Proves Potent at Decontaminating Bacterial Pathogens
Author: David Holzman
Visible light effectively kills many types of bacteria, including a range of gram-negative and gram-positive pathogens, according to Michelle Maclean from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland, and her collaborators. “The inactivation …was induced solely through exposure to 405-nm ligh... More...

ANIMALCULES

ASM NEWS

Learning Interventions Institute: an Introduction to Behavioral and Social Science Research

How do the benefits of tutoring, mentoring, and research experience affect a student’s ability, success, and interest in science? And why do some students thrive in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines while others do not? These are just two of many questions that 22 part... More...

Fostering Microbiology Worldwide Through the ASM/UNESCO Visiting Resource Person Program

For 10 years, the ASM/UNESCO Visiting Resource Person (VRP) Program has allowed microbiologists around the world to share scientific knowledge and develop international connections. ASM is pleased to announce that ASM and UNESCO have signed an agreement to continue the program through 2010.

ASM Corporate Activities Program (CAP)

The ASM Corporate Activities Program (CAP) is comprised of leaders in the medical, pharmaceutical, and diagnostic industries. They are ASM’s most valued colleagues in the advancement of the Society’s mission to support educational initiatives in leading-edge science. To date, several areas, such ... More...

Education Board

International Affairs

Membership
Authors: Marian Thompson-Johnson, and Joan W. Bennett

JOURNAL HIGHLIGHTS

Boosting Gene Targeting in Toxoplasma gondii

The foodborne pathogen Toxoplasma gondii is an excellent model to study obligate intracellular parasites from the phylum Apicomplexa. However, nonhomologous recombination has frequently frustrated attempts to target gene disruptions to a genetic locus of interest. Now, David J. Bzik and co... More...

Gallium Maltolate Kills Bacteria by Imitating Ferric Iron: Antimicrobial Apps May Follow

Approximately half a million Americans are treated for burns, and 4,000 die every year. In underdeveloped nations, mortality for burns that cover >40% of the body approaches 100%. The cause of death is infection in >75% of cases. Kendra Rumbaugh of Texas Tech University Health Sciences Cent... More...

New Models Permit In Vitro Studies of Porcine Infections

Porcine respiratory diseases inflict massive harm on pork producers worldwide. Mario Jacques of the University of Montreal, Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, Canada, et al. have developed in vitro models to study interactions between the highly contagious and oft-fatal pathogen Actinobacillus pleuropne... More...

Heterologous Immunity Pushes Boundaries

Unexpected T cell-dependent heterologous immunity (a phenomenon in which memory T cells generated by a previous infection are reactivated following a second, unrelated infection) can occur in humans and mice and has been linked to cross-reactive CD8 T cells. Keisha S. Mathurin, Raymond M. Welsh, ... More...

More Insights Into Genetics of Antibiotic Resistance in Acinetobacter species

Acinetobacter baumannii is a gram-negative nosocomial pathogen with an increasing incidence of multidrug resistance. This resistance pattern includes, at minimum, resistance to β-lactams, particularly to carbapenems which possess an exceptionally wide spectrum of antibiotic ... More...

Volumes & Issues

Microbe Magazine

FEATURES

Helping Educational Reforms To Succeed in a Microbiology Department

The CRISPR System Protects Microbes against Phages, Plasmids

Commensals: Underappreciated Reservoir of Antibiotic Resistance

CURRENT TOPICS

Biofuel Use Appears To Accelerate Global Warming

When Earth Was Primordial Soup Stock, and Life Was Microbial

Two-Step Process Leads to Rapid, Potentially Universal Vaccine-Like Response

Several Promising Flu Vaccine Developments

Regulatory Gene Insert Enables V. fischeri To Change Host Species

Everything Microbial Is Not Everywhere and Other Oddities

Candidate Vaccines Show Promise against Anthrax, Smallpox

Human Oral Microbiome Shows Surprising Consistencies Worldwide

Topical Two-Component siRNA Partly Blocks Herpes Simplex 2 in Mice

405-nm Light Proves Potent at Decontaminating Bacterial Pathogens

ANIMALCULES

ASM NEWS

Learning Interventions Institute: an Introduction to Behavioral and Social Science Research

Fostering Microbiology Worldwide Through the ASM/UNESCO Visiting Resource Person Program

ASM Corporate Activities Program (CAP)

Education Board

International Affairs

Membership

JOURNAL HIGHLIGHTS

Boosting Gene Targeting in Toxoplasma gondii

Gallium Maltolate Kills Bacteria by Imitating Ferric Iron: Antimicrobial Apps May Follow

New Models Permit In Vitro Studies of Porcine Infections

Heterologous Immunity Pushes Boundaries

More Insights Into Genetics of Antibiotic Resistance in Acinetobacter species

Volumes & Issues

Microbe Magazine

May 2009

FEATURES

CURRENT TOPICS

ANIMALCULES

ASM NEWS

JOURNAL HIGHLIGHTS

Volumes & Issues