Tuberculosis News and Research

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Tuberculosis (TB) is a bacterial infection caused by a germ called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The bacteria usually attack the lungs, but they can also damage other parts of the body. TB spreads through the air when a person with TB of the lungs or throat coughs, sneezes or talks. If you think you have been exposed, you should go to your doctor for tests as soon as possible. You are more likely to get TB if you have a weak immune system.

Ancient Ice Cave Bacteria Show Modern Antibiotic Resistance

Bacteria have evolved to adapt to all of Earth's most extreme conditions, from scorching heat to temperatures well below zero.

18 Feb 2026

Chemical Tweaks Boost Peptide Stability and Antimicrobial Power

Antibiotic treatments are losing effectiveness against a range of common bacterial pathogens, including E. coli, K. pneumoniae, Salmonella and Acinetobacter, according to a warning issued by the World Health Organization last October.

16 Feb 2026

New Technique Measures How Effectively Antibiotics Kill Bacteria

Drugs that act against bacteria are mainly assessed based on how well they inhibit bacterial growth under laboratory conditions.

12 Jan 2026

Single-Donor Lung-on-Chip Enables Personalized TB Research

Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute and AlveoliX have developed the first human 'lung-on-chip' model using stem cells taken from only one person.

2 Jan 2026

Pitt-Led Team Creates Fully Synthetic Bacteriophages, Speeding Up Discovery

A team led by University of Pittsburgh's Graham Hatfull has developed a method to construct bacteriophages with entirely synthetic genetic material, allowing researchers to add and subtract genes at will. The findings open the field to new pathways for understanding how these bacteria-killing viruses work, and for potential therapy of bacterial infections.

11 Nov 2025

Rare Spacecraft Bacterium Could Possibly Evade Detection by Entering Dormancy

A rare microorganism found in an unexpected environment may be evading detection by "playing dead," according to microbiologists at the University of Houston.

10 Oct 2025

RfaH Identified as Key to Bacterial Survival in Hostile Environments

Researchers at Umeå University have identified a key molecular player that helps bacteria survive the hostile environment inside the body.

10 Oct 2025

Metagenomic Study Examines Combined Effects of Global Change on Soil Microbes

Metagenomic analysis shows that combined global change factors reshape soil microbial composition and function, highlighting limits of single-stressor studies.

12 Jun 2025

Exploring the Flexible Structure of Sulfite Reductase Enzyme

Visualization of sulfite reductase's structure offers insights into sulfur chemistry, aiding in drug development and understanding bacterial energy sources.

28 May 2025

Broad Spectrum Pathogen Detection Achieved Through Metagenomic Sequencing

A recent study on the application of Metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) found that mNGS can achieve early detection of pathogens and accelerate the development of targeted anti-infection treatment plans, thereby improving treatment outcomes and patient prognosis.

24 May 2025

Reversible DNA Modification Controls Replication and Gene Activity

Study uncovers ADP-ribosylation's role in Mycobacterium tuberculosis, showing how DNA modification controls replication and gene expression for survival.

23 May 2025

Study Reveals How Tuberculosis Bacteria Survive Airborne Journey

Tuberculosis bacteria rely on a family of genes that help them survive the challenging journey from one person's lungs to another person's during coughing, sneezing or talking, according to researchers from Weill Cornell Medicine and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

12 Mar 2025

Researchers Develop Mycobacteria Strains with Kill Switches for Safer TB Vaccines

Working toward more effective tuberculosis (TB) vaccines, researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine have developed two strains of mycobacteria with "kill switches" that can be triggered to stop the bacteria after they activate an immune response.

26 Feb 2025

Is it possible to predict a pathogen’s next move? Novel tool for detecting pathogen fitness says yes!

Phylowave reveals evolutionary dynamics in pathogens, identifying fitness-linked lineages and mutations, essential for effective public health interventions.

13 Jan 2025

Genetic Sequencing Breakthrough Reveals Rapid Spread of New Pathogens

Researchers have come up with a new way to identify more infectious variants of viruses or bacteria that start spreading in humans - including those causing flu, COVID, whooping cough and tuberculosis.

2 Jan 2025

Peat Bog Fungi as a Reservoir of Anti-Tuberculosis Compounds

An analysis of fungi collected from peat bogs has revealed several species that produce substances toxic to the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis in humans.

4 Dec 2024

Bacteria Alter Ribosomes to Resist Common Antibiotics

Bacteria modify their ribosomes when exposed to widely used antibiotics, according to research published today in Nature Communications.

2 Dec 2024

How CRISPRi is Helping Combat Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis

Findings on isoniazid-resistant M. tuberculosis reveal key vulnerabilities, suggesting new avenues for treatment strategies against drug-resistant tuberculosis.

20 Nov 2024

Unveiling the Mechanisms of Phenotypic Heterogeneity in M. tuberculosis

The only single-celled organism ever found to sustain a steady growth rate throughout its life cycle is the rod-shaped tuberculosis (TB) bacterium, which the World Health Organization has once again named the leading infectious disease killer worldwide.

18 Nov 2024

MIT Engineers Develop Model to Decode Complex Biological Systems

Over the past two decades, new technologies have helped scientists generate a vast amount of biological data. Large-scale experiments in genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and cytometry can produce enormous quantities of data from a given cellular or multicellular system.

6 Nov 2024