All Microbiological Methods articles
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NewsScientists unbolt gateway to sharper CRISPR gene editing
Identifying the passwords for a certain CRISPR tool is a major stumbling block in discovering and characterising the CRISPR tool - but a team of scientists has cracked the code.
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NewsToxoplasmosis: how the pathogen exploits its own envelope
Researchers have developed a novel imaging technique that allows reliable visualization of the process of endocytosis in Toxoplasma for the first time. The material enters the pathogen through a micropore in its cell membrane.
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NewsProtein condensates determine a cell’s fate, yeast study reveals
To ensure they have all the information they need, molecules from throughout a cell gather and form aggregates that can have different consistencies: regions called “condensates”. Researchers have discovered how condensates contribute to cellular information exchange in yeast cells.
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NewsCould slime mold microbes be a source of potent antimicrobials?
The cellular slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum is a soil microbe that produces diverse natural products with potential antibiotic activity. In this study, researchers optimized lab culture conditions of Dictyostelium cells to boost the levels of low-abundance chlorinated compounds and to characterize their antimicrobial properties.
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NewsExperimental mapping of bacterial growth reveals evolutionary and ecological patterns
A research team has proposed a new approach to reveal ecological niches (positions within ecosystems) and evolutionary relationships in nature through large-scale growth analysis of bacteria in strictly regulated laboratory settings.
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NewsScientists explore how viruses replicate and infect
Herpes viruses cultivated using one kind of host cell – known as a producer cell – exhibited differences from the same virus cultivated with a different producer cell.
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NewsStartling images show how antibiotic pierces bacteria’s armor
Researchers have shown for the first time how life-saving antibiotics called polymyxins pierce the armour of harmful bacteria. They showed how Polymyxin B rapidly caused bumps and bulges to break out on the surface of an E. coli cell, followed by the bacterium shedding its outer armour.
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NewsWorld’s first discovery of a mysterious tubular structure in citrus pest symbionts
A multinational research team has discovered a mysterious tubular structure — previously unknown in any organism — within Profftella, a symbiotic bacterium associated with a major global citrus pest.
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NewsJie Xiao to receive 2026 Carolyn Cohen Innovation Award from The Biophysical Society
The Biophysical Society has announced that Jie Xiao, of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, USA, will receive the 2026 Carolyn Cohen Innovation Award.
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NewsNew genome editing method inspired by bacteria’s defense strategies
Researchers have developed a new method for precisely editing DNA. Their aim was to make genetic changes in bacteria, plants, and human cells even more accurate and gentle.
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NewsHPV integration: Moving from carcinogenesis mechanisms to clinical applications
The clinical significance of HPV integration into the host genome is substantial, particularly in cervical cancer screening programs. Integration testing has emerged as a valuable triage tool for detecting high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN III+).
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NewsResearchers find a more precise way to edit the genome
A genome-editing technique known as prime editing holds potential for treating many diseases. However, the process carries a small chance of inserting errors that could be harmful - but researchers have now found a way to dramatically lower the error rate.
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NewsAI-powered CRISPR could lead to faster gene therapies, study finds
A new AI tool can help scientists better plan gene-editing experiments. CRISPR-GPT acts as a gene-editing “copilot” supported by AI to help researchers — even those unfamiliar with gene editing — generate designs, analyze data and troubleshoot design flaws.
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NewsMethod probing dark matter uncovers hundreds of new bacteria, and two potential antibiotics
A new approach to exploring untapped soil resources circumvents the need to grow bacteria in the lab by extracting very large DNA fragments directly from soil to piece together the genomes of previously hidden microbes, and then mines resulting genomes for bioactive molecules.
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NewsScientists report the first use of CRISPR activation to treat a cardiac disease in mice
Researchers have demonstrated for the first time that CRISPR-based gene activation (CRISPRa) can be used to treat genetic heart disease in vivo. The study paves the way for novel targeted therapies for patients with genetic cardiac disorders.
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NewsResearchers capture new antibiotic resistance mechanisms with trace amounts of DNA
Scientists have developed a method to isolate genes from amounts of microbial DNA so tiny that it would take 20,000 samples to weigh as much as a single grain of sugar.
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NewsResearchers develop first-of-its-kind RNA tool to advance cancer and infectious disease research and treatment
Scientists have developed a powerful tool capable of scanning thousands of biological samples to detect transfer ribonucleic acid (tRNA) modifications — tiny chemical changes to RNA molecules that help control how cells grow, adapt to stress and respond to diseases such as cancer and antibiotic‑resistant infections.
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NewsChronic wound infection model is much closer to real life - and cuts back on animal testing
Thousands of lab animals are used every year to test wound treatments. But one lab in Wales is pointing the way towards a more humane model of research, with the work it is carrying out on in vitro/animal replacement models.
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NewsGut bacteria can reveal colorectal cancer
Researchers identified all human gut bacteria to a level of detail that uncovers the physiological importance of the different microbial subgroups. This inventory was then used to detect the presence of colorectal cancer according to the bacteria present in simple stool samples.
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NewsPortable spectroscopy enables detection of vaginal microbes
Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy can rapidly and noninvasively detect specific bacterial species in vaginal fluid, enabling early identification of microbiome imbalances.