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
DNA
NAU disease ecologist receives $2.25 million grant to study potential biological warfare agent
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
NAU entomologist launches landmark study of the desert darkling beetle
From the blue death-feigning beetle of the American Southwest to the fog-basking beetles found in the Namib Desert of southern Africa, darkling beetles inhabit deserts all over the world. More than 20,000 different species have been identified, but thousands more are still awaiting discovery. And scientists have yet to fully understand their evolutionary history.
With $879,000 in funding… Read more
New NAU study of vertebrate genomes, phenomes, populations to predict response to climate change
Professor Loren Buck, environmental physiologist and associate director of Northern Arizona University’s Center for Bioengineering Innovation (CBI), is leading a new project that has the potential to change nothing less than the way scientists understand life on earth.
Titled “Predicting vertebrate responses to a changing climate: modeling genomes to phenomes to populations (G2P2PoP),” the project is designed to tackle one… Read more