Latest news
Portable test detects Zika and hepatitis C without a laboratory
Researchers have developed a portable test that can detect RNA viruses such as Zika and hepatitis C directly from whole blood without conventional laboratory purification. Using only a small heater and a handheld fluorescence reader, the method could bring sensitive molecular testing closer to patients in resource-limited settings.
Modified biochar improves antibiotic removal but reshapes soil microbiomes
Modified biochar can improve the removal of antibiotic residues from agricultural soils, but its effects depend strongly on soil type. Researchers found that better sulfamethoxazole removal was accompanied by major shifts in bacterial communities, showing that remediation benefits can come with ecological trade-offs.
Native bacterial SynCom improves acidic soil and boosts lettuce growth
A synthetic community of two native soil bacteria helped reduce acidity and strongly boost lettuce growth in greenhouse experiments. Delivered on a sugarcane-processing residue, the microbes also increased nutrient availability and reshaped root-zone microbial activity.
Hidden microbial ecosystems of leatherback turtles offer new insights for Caribbean marine conservation
Scientists studying leatherback sea turtles in Puerto Rico have uncovered distinct microbial communities on the animals, their eggs, and the sand surrounding their nests.
Viral inflammation may disrupt the uterine lining and impair placental development
Viral infections early in pregnancy may disrupt the way the uterine lining prepares for implantation, with effects that can persist throughout pregnancy. In cell, mouse and 3D uterine models, researchers found that inflammation reduced decidualization and was linked to abnormal placental development and smaller fetuses.
Industrialisation may be reshaping the evolution of our gut bacteria
Gut bacteria living in industrialised societies appear to be evolving differently from those in non-industrialised populations. Researchers found that strains from industrialised hosts had recently acquired more genes, mostly through horizontal gene transfer, suggesting that modern lifestyles may be reshaping microbial evolution inside us.
Portable test detects Zika and hepatitis C without a laboratory
Researchers have developed a portable test that can detect RNA viruses such as Zika and hepatitis C directly from whole blood without conventional laboratory purification. Using only a small heater and a handheld fluorescence reader, the method could bring sensitive molecular testing closer to patients in resource-limited settings.
Modified biochar improves antibiotic removal but reshapes soil microbiomes
Modified biochar can improve the removal of antibiotic residues from agricultural soils, but its effects depend strongly on soil type. Researchers found that better sulfamethoxazole removal was accompanied by major shifts in bacterial communities, showing that remediation benefits can come with ecological trade-offs.
Native bacterial SynCom improves acidic soil and boosts lettuce growth
A synthetic community of two native soil bacteria helped reduce acidity and strongly boost lettuce growth in greenhouse experiments. Delivered on a sugarcane-processing residue, the microbes also increased nutrient availability and reshaped root-zone microbial activity.
Perpetual Next signs agreement to accelerate the roll-out of standardized biomethanol plants
Perpetual Next have signed a License and Engineering Agreement with Air Liquide Engineering and Technologies for the supply of syngas-to-methanol technology for Perpetual Next’s first biomethanol facility, with an option to extend across other biomethanol sites.
AFYREN and Terrial renew their partnership for French-manufactured potash fertilizers
AFYREN and Terrial today announce the renewal of their strategic partnership with the signing of a new multi-year fertilizer supply contract, worth several tens of millions of euros This long-term contract strengthens both companies’ commitment to making French agriculture more sustainable and less dependent on international fertilizer markets.
New CRISPR proteins expand editing access to heart disease genes
A researcher has used his AI-supported Sequence Display technology to expand the targeting abilities of CRISPR/Cas9, evolving several variants of a compact Cas9 that could efficiently target stretches of DNA previously inaccessible for editing. The evolved Cas9s were successfully used to edit two genes found in coronary heart disease.
Simulator predicts jumping genes’ roles in changing genome size
Researchers have created a new computational tool that works from an inferred ancestral point and evolves forward to the modern-day genome to trace the insertion and deletion dynamics of these ’jumping genes’, known as transposable elements.
New AI tool helps scientists identify bacteria hidden in soil
A handful of soil holds a crowded world of bacteria, fungi and other organisms. Scientists can collect their DNA, but much of it remains difficult to identify. Now, researchers have developed an artificial intelligence tool that recognizes bacterial DNA in tiny genetic fragments, making it faster and easier to study the complex communities living in soil.
New AI method spots outbreak signals in sparse and noisy data
A new early-warning method could help detect disease outbreaks even when case data are sparse, delayed or incomplete. By using topological data analysis to capture the underlying shape of epidemic time series, the system remained accurate even when up to half of the surveillance data were missing.
CARB‑X–supported trivalent Salmonella vaccine advances to Phase 2 clinical trials
Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator (CARB-X) today announced that GSK’s global health vaccine program for a combined invasive nontyphoidal Salmonella and typhoid fever (iNTS‑TCV) has advanced into a Phase 2 clinical trial.
Horizon Awards 2026: Professor James Ebdon named as winner of John Snow Prize
Environmental microbiologist Professor James Ebdon, from the University of Brighton, UK, has been named as the winner of the John Snow Public Health Innovation Prize, which recognises outstanding achievements in applied microbiology that deliver measurable improvements in public health and environmental health outcomes.