A lizard-like creature whose ancestors once roamed the Earth with dinosaurs and today is known to live for longer than 100 years may hold clues to a host of questions about the past and the future.
In a study published Aug. 5 in Nature, an interdisciplinary, international team of researchers, in partnership with Māori tribe Ngātiwai, sequenced, assembled and analyzed the complete genome of the Sphenodon punctatus, or the tuatara, a… Read more
With the ongoing challenges associated with large-scale testing for COVID-19—including test kit shortages, stringent testing criteria and the inherent limitations of current tracking systems on mildly symptomatic and asymptomatic populations, scientists are looking for alternate methods to boost testing in order to predict the spread of the disease. Crystal Hepp, an assistant professor in NAU’s School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber… Read more
Even as NAU associate professor Greg Caporaso and his team were putting the final touches on their QIIME 2™ paper, published earlier this year, he was already planning several major enhancements to this open source and free bioinformatics software that enables scientists to perform microbiome analysis from increasingly large amounts… Read more
More than 700 million people worldwide suffer from some degree of hearing loss, including an estimated 20 percent of Americans over the age of 12, according to medical experts. In fact, the World Health Organization predicts that more than 1 billion teenagers and young adults are at risk of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) by using personal listening devices at hazardous volume levels.
Treating and preventing NIHL is complicated,… Read more
Over the last 20 years, rapid advances in DNA sequencing and bioinformatics technologies have significantly improved scientists’ understanding of the microbial world. Examples include increased knowledge about the vast diversity of microorganisms; how microbiota and microbiomes impact disease and medical treatment; how microorganisms impact the health of our planet; and the potential for… 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 Disease… Read more