Multidisciplinary team will apply quantitative stable isotope probing (qSIP), a technology widely used in environmental microbiome sciences
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a type of dementia that affects memory, thinking and behavior. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, an estimated 6.2 million Americans are living with this progressive neurologic disorder, and it is the sixth-leading… Read more
Just a few bacterial taxa found in ecosystems across the planet are responsible for more than half of carbon cycling in soils. These new findings, made by researchers at Northern Arizona University and published in Nature Communications this week, suggest that despite the diversity of microbial taxa found in wild soils… Read more
Study solves a long-term mystery, providing a plausible explanation for how Francisella tularensis can overwinter in the environment outside of a host
Although it is not spread through human contact, Francisella tularensis is one of the most infectious pathogenic bacteria known to science—so virulent, in fact, that it is considered… Read more
Predatory bacteria—bacteria that eat other bacteria—grow faster and consume more resources than non-predators in the same soil, according to a new study from Northern Arizona University. These active predators, which use wolfpack-like behavior, enzymes, and cytoskeletal “fangs” to hunt and feast on other bacteria, wield important power in determining where… Read more
The American population is aging, and conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease are on the rise. With those factors in place, the medical community has growing concerns about wound treatment. According to the American Professional Wound Care Association, about 15 percent of Medicare recipients suffer chronic, nonhealing wounds… Read more
Francisella tularensis is one of the most infectious pathogenic bacteria known to science—so virulent, in fact, that it is considered a serious potential bioterrorist threat. Humans can contract respiratory tularemia—a rare and deadly disease—by inhaling as few as 10 airborne organisms.
Northern Arizona University professor David Wagner, director of the Pathogen and Microbiome Institute’s (PMI) Biodefense and… Read more