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Bacteria Use CRISPR-Cas to Control Diverse Innate Defense Systems

All cellular life-from humans to bacteria-possesses two layers of immunity: innate and adaptive. Scientists have long understood how these two types of immunity work together in higher organisms but not in the microbial world.

23 Jul 2026

Soil Microbial Communities Reorganize to Enhance Stability During Ecosystem Retrogression

This study, led by Dr. Javier A. Ceja-Navarro at Northern Arizona University, examined how soil microbial communities respond to ecosystem retrogression, a stage of ecosystem development characterized by declining productivity and increasing nutrient limitation.

22 Jul 2026

UC San Diego and Innovative Genomics Institute Partner to Develop Cutting-Edge Genomic Tools

The University of California San Diego and the Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI), founded by Nobel laureate and CRISPR gene editing co-discoverer Jennifer Doudna, announced a new partnership today to jointly develop cutting-edge genomic tools for addressing large-scale challenges in health and the environment.

21 Jul 2026

Superbug Discovery Overturns Long-Held Public Health Beliefs

A new study published in Nature Communications reveals a hidden source of antibiotic resistance, providing an early warning sign for researchers and public health officials.

16 Jul 2026

New Microbiome Study Reveals Natural Defense Mechanism Restricting Candida Albicans

A metabolic byproduct formed when gut bacteria break down dietary fiber appears to protect against dangerous fungal infections common in immunocompromised patients, a study led by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers shows.

15 Jul 2026

Genetically Stable Bacteriophages Open New Frontiers for Fighting Crop Disease

Researchers have discovered that a group of viruses known to infect an agriculturally important plant pathogen has remained genetically stable for an astonishing four decades.

14 Jul 2026

Intermicrobial Antagonism Controls Essential Bacteria Populations in Human Guts

Mougous, John F. Enders Professor of Microbial Pathogenesis at Yale School of Medicine (YSM), studies bacterial warfare, or how different microbes defend their ecological niches against other species.

14 Jul 2026

Using Bacteriophages to Treat Inflammatory Bowel Disease

A research team at McMaster University has developed a targeted approach to treating inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) using bacteriophages, viruses that infect specific bacteria, to disarm harmful microbes without disrupting the broader gut ecosystem.

9 Jul 2026

Gut Microbiome Signatures Correlate With Clinical Efficacy in Immunotherapy Outcomes

Cancer remains notoriously difficult to treat, partly because tumors co‑opt their surrounding environment, including the resident microbiota, to evade immune surveillance and resist conventional therapies.

9 Jul 2026

Gut Bacteria Actively Manage Vitamin A Delivery for T Cell Maturation

Scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center have discovered that gut bacteria help regulate the development of the body's immune system by directing the movement of vitamin A through a previously unrecognized cellular network.

8 Jul 2026

Dying Bacterial Communities Eject Cells Just Like Sci-Fi Escape Pods

Popular science fiction is no stranger to escape pod scenarios, typically featuring characters who narrowly avoid their demise by jettisoning from a spaceship - think R2-D2 and C-3PO shooting away from a rebel spaceship in the opening of Star Wars: A New Hope.

7 Jul 2026

New Study Explains How Blood Cancer Cells Invade the Lungs

Led by NYU Langone Health researchers, a new study shows how blood cancer cells enter the lungs, damage tissue, and cause severe breathing problems.

30 Jun 2026

Antibiotics Trigger Accelerated Protein Sharing Among Genetically Identical Bacterial Populations

When bacteria are under antibiotic attack, it is not 'every man for himself.' Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and colleagues from collaborating institutions have discovered that bacterial populations work as a team to survive antibiotics.

26 Jun 2026

Real-Time Molecular Tool Observes Complex Immune System Changes

A lot of things need to go right on a molecular level for immune cells to launch an adaptive response to an infection.

24 Jun 2026

Penn Study Uses AI to Discover Prion-Based Antibiotics

New antibiotic candidates for drug-resistant bacteria may reside inside prions, mis-folded protein in the brain best known for rare and fatal degenerative brain diseases.

22 Jun 2026

New Study Reveals How Introns Jump Between Species Without Viral Help

Jumping genes are parasites in the genetic material of bacteria, plants, animals and humans. They are released into the cell as small RNA molecules from ribonucleic acid (RNA) and possess complex mechanisms for inserting themselves into other parts of the genetic material within the cell, thereby often conferring new properties on the cell and thus accelerating evolution. There are also jumping genes that free themselves from the RNA using an RNA enzyme. These ribozymes or self-splicing introns are a special group of jumping genes.

22 Jun 2026

Mouse Models Show Neutrophils Decrease Success Rates of Cancer Immunotherapy

A type of white blood cell in the immune system, known as neutrophils, can make cancer immunotherapy less effective.

16 Jun 2026

Scientists Discover Genetic Root of Rare Childhood Inflammatory Skin Disorder

An international team of researchers has identified a genetic cause for a rare inflammatory skin condition.

15 Jun 2026

Phage Surface Proteins Act as Molecular Anchors to Attach Cells

Bacteriophages, or phages, are viruses that infect bacteria and are not considered human pathogens. Yet researchers at the Translational Microbiology Laboratory of the Institute of Biochemistry, HUN-REN Biological Research Centre, Szeged, have shown that some gut phages can also physically interact with human cells.

13 Jun 2026

New Internal Cellular Process Creates Cysteine When Primary Systems Fail

A molecular geneticist at Montana State University has discovered a cellular process once believed impossible by scientists – the creation of the amino acid cysteine within a living cell when the cell's primary systems to do so fail.

13 Jun 2026