WUSTL researchers Ruth E. Lay and Jeffrey I. Gordon, along with colleagues, comment on different kinds of bacteria that do not harm the human body, but in fact help it.

References:

1. May 23, 2008 — Bacteria Thrive in Inner Elbow; No Harm Done in the The New York Times

and 2 others.

Cover story on the impact gut bacteria have on our health includes the research of WUSTL microbiologist Jeffrey Gordon.

References:

1. March 1, 2008 — Nurturing Our Microbes in the Science News Online

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.

References:

1. Jan. 10, 2008 — Plant-like protein underpins common parasites' ability to infect in the DailyIndia.com (FL)

and 7 others.

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.

References:

1. Jan. 25, 2007 — Scientists find potential weakness in plague germ in the Scientific American

and 3 others.

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.''

References:

1. June 20, 2006 — A common parasite's strongest asset: its stealth in the The New York Times

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.

References:

1. May 25, 2006 — Outbreak has bird-flu experts stumped in the Chicago Tribune

and 11 others.

US research has revealed that different types of bacteria that exist in our gut may help explain why some people pile on the kilos while others stay slim, regardless of what they eat. Microbiologists Jeffrey Gordon and Fredrik Backhed, from the Washington University School of Medicine in Saint Louis, Missouri, studied two groups of mice -- one exposed to normal intestinal microbes and another raised in a germ-free bubble.

References:

1. Sept. 20, 2005 — Bugged by weight in the Herald Sun (Australia)