|
|
 |
 | Medical News Releases > University Groups > School of Medicine >
Molecular Microbiology
| News Stories & Tip Sheets: |
Showing Stories 1 through 3 of 46.
- Show More |
|
cWIDR
WUSTL center for study of women's infectious diseases officially opens
May 5,
2008 --
 |
| Photo courtesy of Scott Hultgren, John Heuser and Robyn Roth |
| A micrograph reveals an E. coli bacterium (in green) that is part of a community of bacteria known as a biofilm. |
Download
|
Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis this week held opening ceremonies for a new center to study infectious diseases that preferentially affect women. The center for Women's Infectious Disease Research (cWIDR) will focus on issues such as microorganisms that cause urinary tract infections (UTIs), infections that lead to premature delivery, and potential contributing roles for microorganisms in life-threatening conditions such as cancer.
|
Cutting communication
Disrupting common parasites' ability to "talk" to each other reduces infection
Jan. 9,
2008 --
 |
| T. gondii imaged just after reproduction inside a host cell. (Photo by Wandy Beatty.) |
|
Download
|
One of the most common human parasites, Toxoplasma gondii, uses a hormone lifted from the plant world to decide when to increase its numbers and when to remain dormant, researchers at the School of Medicine have found. The scientists report this week in Nature that they successfully blocked production of the molecule, known as abscisic acid (ABA), with a plant herbicide. Low doses of the herbicide prevented fatal T. gondii infection in mice.
|
Fighting infection
Bacteria that cause urinary tract infections invade bladder cells
Dec. 17,
2007 --
 |
| Scanning electron microscopy image of a filamentous bacterium from a patient with a UTI |
|
Download
|
Scientists at the School of Medicine have found definitive proof that some of the bacteria that plague women with urinary tract infections (UTIs) are entrenched inside human bladder cells. The finding confirms a controversial revision of scientists' model of how bacteria cause UTIs. Previously, most researchers assumed that the bacteria responsible for infections get into the bladder but do not invade the individual cells that line the interior of the bladder.
|
Showing Stories 1 through 3 of 46.
- Show More |
|
| Faculty Experts: |
Showing Experts 1 through 5 of 6.
- Show More |
|
Ralph Quatrano
Ralph S. Quatrano, Ph.D., is the Spencer T. Olin Professor in Arts and Sciences and chair of the Department of Biology at Washington University in St. Louis. He is internationally known for his plant science work on patterns of embryo formation, and how the patterns lead cells to acquire traits or ...
Expertise: Plants, plant biology, botany, moss, genome, algae, genes, …
Direct contact: (314) 935-6850
/
rsq@wustl.edu
|
Scott Hultgren
Helen L. Stoever Professor of Molecular Microbiology
Studies in the Hultgren lab are leading to new and better techniques for diagnosis and treatment of urinary tract infections. Scientists estimate half of all women will experience a UTI at some point in her life, and additional recurrent UTIs will affect 20 to 40 percent of these patients. Hultgren ...
Expertise: urinary tract infection, UTI, bacteria, bacteria-host interactions, biofilms, E. coli, recurrent infection
Media assistance: (314) 286-0122 / purdym@wustl.edu
|
Joseph Ackerman
William Greenleaf Eliot Professor of Physical Chemistry in Arts & Sciences
Joseph J. H. Ackerman, Ph.D. is William Greenleaf Eliot Professor of Chemistry and chair of the chemistry department. His work is concerned primarily with the development and application of magnetic resonance spectroscopic and imaging techniques for the study of functional biophysical and physiologic ...
Expertise: magnetic resonance techniques, spectroscopic techniques, imaging techniques, functional biophysical, physiologic events, intact biological systems, isolated cell preparations, …
Direct contact: (314) 935-6593
/
ackerman @wuchem.wustl.edu
|
Frank Yin
Stephen and Camilla Brauer Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Frank C. P. Yin, M.D., Ph.D., the Stephen and Camilla Brauer Professor of Biomedical Engineering and chair of the biomedical engineering department, is a world-renowned biomedical engineer. Yin heads a dynamic, young department, not yet five years old and already ranked among the top 20 in the nation. ...
Expertise: soft tissue mechanics, cell mechanics, hemodynamics
Direct contact: (314) 935-6164
/
yin@biomed.wustl.edu
|
Stephen Beverley
Marvin A. Brennecke Professor of Molecular Microbiology
Beverley is an international leader in the development of genetic and molecular tools for studying human parasites. He has put those innovations to use in extensive studies of Leismania major, a parasite that infects approximately 12 million people worldwide, causing significant death and disfigurement. ...
Expertise: Molecular genetics of protozoan parasites; genomics, virulence and drug resistance; leishmania, leishmaniasis
Media assistance: (314) 286-0122 / purdym@wustl.edu
|
Showing Experts 1 through 5 of 6.
- Show More |
|
Nurturing Our Microbes
Science News Online
March 3,
2008 -- Cover story on the impact gut bacteria have on our health includes the research of WUSTL microbiologist Jeffrey Gordon.
|
Plant-like protein underpins common parasites' ability to infect
DailyIndia.com (FL)
and 7 others
Jan. 10,
2008 -- WUSTL researchers led by WUSTL molecular microbiology professor David Sibley have revealed that Toxoplasma gondii, a common human parasite, uses a plant-like protein for signalling when to increase its numbers and when to be dormant. T. gondii is found in one in every four humans causing serious disease in patients with weakened immune systems.
|
Scientists find potential weakness in plague germ
Scientific American
and 3 others
Jan. 26,
2007 -- The germ that caused the plague epidemic that ravaged medieval Europe has a weakness that could help make a particularly dangerous form easier to treat, according to a study published on Thursday.
There are periodic natural outbreaks of pneumonic plague like one that started in 2005 in the Democratic Republic of Congo. There also is acute concern terrorists could harness the bacterium as an airborne germ warfare agent to spread pneumonic plague.
Writing in the journal Science, WUSTL scientists led by molecular microbiology professor William Goldman said experiments with mice showed that the onslaught of the bacterium slows markedly when the germ cannot use a key protein.
|
A common parasite's strongest asset: its stealth
The New York Times
June 20,
2006 -- On paper, Toxoplasma gondii looks as if it ought to be the most famous parasite on earth. This single-celled pathogen infects over half the world's population, including an estimated 50 million Americans. Each of Toxoplasma's victims carries thousands of the parasites, many residing in the brain. As Toxoplasma spreads through the body, it invades cells. Unlike other pathogens, Toxoplasma can enter almost every type of cell in the bodies of thousands of host species. David Sibley, an associate professor of molecular microbiology at Washington University in St. Louis, said, ''It just sits there, and the host doesn't recognize it as a foreign body it should destroy.''
|
Outbreak has bird-flu experts stumped
Chicago Tribune
and 11 others
May 25,
2006 -- Seven members of one family in a remote village in Indonesia have died of bird flu, and disease detectives from around the world are trying to determine the facts surrounding the case.
It remains unclear if the family members transmitted the deadly illness to one another or if all were infected by a source yet to be identified.
WUSTL molecular microbiology professor Andrew Pekosz comments.
|
Affiliated with Barnes-Jewish Hospital and St. Louis Children's Hospital, members of BJC HealthCare.
Please contact us and let us know how we can assist you.
Technical problems with this Web site? Email questions or comments.
Please review the WUSTL News & Information copyright/privacy policy.
| |
|
| | |
|
Show More Clips
Email this page
Print ready page