Latest Microbiological culture Stories

The microbial population in the air of the New York City subway system is nearly identical to that of ambient air on the city streets. This research, published ahead of print in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology, establishes an important baseline, should it become necessary to monitor the subway's air for dispersal of potentially dangerous microbes. Also, the combination of new methodologies in the study, including fast collection of aerosols and rapid sequencing technology,...

San Diego Zoo Global Wildlife Conservancy scientists have taken a tremendous leap forward in banking viable amphibian cells. This was achieved through the first successful establishment of cell cultures from frozen biopsy specimens of the critically endangered Mississippi gopher frog. A method called "tissue piecing" and immediate freezing in liquid nitrogen allows field biologists to collect samples that can later be processed in a laboratory. "With amphibians we have found that we can...

Device can be used for medical diagnostics, to image cell growth continuously The cameras in our cell phones have dramatically changed the way we share the special moments in our lives, making photographs instantly available to friends and family. Now, the imaging sensor chips that form the heart of these built-in cameras are helping engineers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) transform the way cell cultures are imaged by serving as the platform for a "smart" petri dish....

The new technique yields 3-D cells that more closely resemble those inside the body and could led to improvements in early drug screeningsCells in the human body live in amazingly complex, three-dimensional environments that are crucial for the cells' proper function. The lung, for example, consists of layers of different kinds of cells that work together to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide between the air and the blood.The way these cells work together, and the chemicals that they express...

Startup Nano3D Bio's system based on Rice-M.D. Anderson techThe film "Avatar" isn't the only 3-D blockbuster making a splash this winter. A team of scientists from Houston's Texas Medical Center this week unveiled a new technique for growing 3-D cell cultures, a technological leap from the flat petri dish that could save millions of dollars in drug-testing costs. The research is reported in Nature Nanotechnology.The 3-D technique is easy enough for most labs to set up immediately....

Nano3D Bio's system uses magnetic levitation based on Rice-M. D. Anderson technologyHOUSTON - The film "Avatar" isn't the only 3-D blockbuster making a splash this winter. A team of Houston scientists this week unveiled a new technique for growing 3-D cell cultures, a technological leap from the flat petri dish that could save millions of dollars in drug-testing costs. The research is reported in Nature Nanotechnology.The 3-dimensional technique is easy enough for most labs to set...

Stacks of filter paper provide a realistic, easy-to-use medium for growing cellsAn insight from the labs of Harvard chemist George Whitesides and cell biologist Don Ingber is likely to make a fundamental shift in how biologists grow and study cells "“ and it's as cheap and simple as reaching for a paper towel.Ratmir Derda, a postdoctoral student co-mentored by Whitesides and Ingber at Harvard's new Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, has realized that by growing cells on...

Test results to establish Group B Strep colonization of pregnant women and help clinicians guide antibiotic therapy to prevent infections in newborns GBS PNA FISH shown to detect up to 42% more positive results than conventional culture methods (1) WOBURN, Mass. and VEDBAEK, Denmark, May 15 /PRNewswire/ -- AdvanDx today announced it received FDA 510(k) clearance for GBS PNA FISH(R) for detection of Streptococcus agalactiae, aka Group B Strep, from turbid Lim Broths inoculated with vaginal...

Report calls for accelerated research on microorganisms that shape our worldHumans live in the midst of a seething, breathing microbial world. Microorganisms populate every conceivable habitat, both familiar and exotic, from the surface of the human skin, to rainforest floors, to hydrothermal vents in the ocean floors. Despite the powerful and pervasive role of microbes in sustaining life, most of the microbial world remains a mystery. This is the subject of The Uncharted Microbial World:...

A method for identifying Bacillus anthracis, the causative agent of anthrax, has been cleared for diagnostic use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The test, known as the Gamma Phage Assay, was modified by scientists at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) to improve its performance and reliability when used with clinical specimens. The original form of the Gamma Phage Assay was first developed by the Centers for Disease Control and...