Catching the blood cell bus gives fatal yeast infection a clean getaway
Yeast fungus cells that kill thousands of AIDS patients every year escape detection by our bodies' defences by hiding inside our own defence cells, and hitch a ride through our systems before attacking and spreading, scientists heard today (Tuesday 9 September 2008) at the Society for General Microbiology's Autumn meeting being held this week at... view more... (2008-09-09)
Catching a killer one spore at a time
A workshop at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama has dramatically improved the ability of conservationists and regulatory agencies to monitor the spread of chytridiomycosis-one of the deadliest frog diseases on Earth. view more (2009-10-20)
GM Breakthrough Could Help Dutch Elm Disease Fight
A team of scientists from the University of Abertay Dundee has grown the world's first genetically modified elm trees. The breakthrough could lead to the reintroduction into their natural habitat of elm trees resistant to the Dutch elm disease (DED) fungus. Since 1970, more than 20 million elms in the UK have fallen victim to the environmentally... view more... (2001-08-24)
Growing green gold
A new way to make gold form inside the cells of a micro-organism is published today in the Institute of Physics journal Nanotechnology. Researchers from the National Chemical Laboratory and the Armed Forces Medical College, both in Pune, India, have been using “green chemistry” to develop an eco-friendly way to make tiny gold particles... view more... (2003-06-06)
Dying frogs sign of a biodiversity crisis
Devastating declines of amphibian species around the world are a sign of a biodiversity disaster larger than just frogs, salamanders and their ilk, according to researchers from the University of California, Berkeley. view more (2008-08-13)
Genetic analysis finds greater threat in frog-killing fungus
A deadly fungus that has decimated populations of mountain yellow-legged frogs in the Sierra Nevada can likely be spread by sexual reproduction, seriously complicating efforts to save the frogs from extinction. view more (2007-08-07)
DOE JGI sequences, releases genome of symbiotic tree fungus
The DNA sequence of Laccaria bicolor, a fungus that forms a beneficial symbiosis with trees and inhabits one of the most ecologically and commercially important microbial niches in North American and Eurasian forests, has been determined by the U.S. Department of Energy DOE Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI). view more (2006-07-25)
Iowa State researchers use fungus to improve corn-to-ethanol process
Growing a fungus in some of the leftovers from ethanol production can save energy, recycle more water and improve the livestock feed that's a co-product of fuel production. view more (2008-05-28)
Fungal factories may save hemlock forests
Reaching into a box glowing with fluorescent light, Stacie Grassano pulls out a tube. "This is a great one," she says, holding the clear plastic up to her face. Inside, a tree branch is speckled with white fluff. "It's growing really well," she says, handing it to Scott Costa. view more (2007-01-29)
Mounting a multi-layered attack on fungal infections
Unravelling a microbe's multilayer defence mechanisms could lead to effective new treatments for potentially lethal fungal infections in cancer patients and others whose natural immunity is weakened. view more (2009-09-08)
Probiotic bacteria protect endangered frogs from lethal skin disease
Laboratory tests and field studies conducted by James Madison University (JMU) researchers continue to show promise that probiotic bacteria can be used to help amphibian populations, including the endangered yellow-legged frog, fend off lethal skin diseases. view more (2008-06-05)
The Hsp90-Antifungal Combo, please: Compromising fungi in the immunocompromised
Even the most drug-resistant fungi can be eradicated in multiple in vitro and in vivo models using a lethal combination of an antifungal agent and inhibition of the heat shock protein Hsp90, according to a new study by Whitehead Institute and University of Toronto researchers. view more (2009-02-10)
Montana State University researchers find gene that regulates mold's resistance to drugs
Montana State University scientists concerned about lethal mold infections have found a gene that regulates the mold's resistance to drugs. view more (2008-11-07)
WPI Researchers Take Aim at Hard-to-Treat Fungal Infections
A team of researchers at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center at Gateway Park has developed a new model system to study fungal infections. view more (2009-11-20)
New method enables gene disruption in destructive fungal pathogen
Researchers at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) at Virginia Tech, Colorado State University, and Duke University Medical Center have developed a new method to determine gene function on a genome-wide scale in the fungal pathogen Alternaria brassicicola. view more (2006-02-03)
UGA study reveals ecosystem-level consequences of frog extinctions
Streams that once sang with the croaks, chirps and ribbits of dozens of frog species have gone silent. They're victims of a fungus that's decimating amphibian populations worldwide. view more (2008-10-17)
Advances in the characterisation of the oyster mushroom genes
The oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus), apart from reducing cholesterol and having anticancerogenic properties, is characterised for its capacity for breaking down cellulose. Finding out which genes are responsible for this activity - the reason why the fungus is sometimes used as a decontaminating agent, was the aim of the PhD thesis by... view more... (2005-03-15)
Awards for young life sciences researchers
Three junior scientists have earned the Hugo Geiger Prize for their thesis papers this year: Frank Meinecke dealt with the separation of neural signals. Jochen Schwenk identified proteins in a fungus whereas Michaela Harz worked on a new biochemical sensor. view more (2004-11-09)
Fungus Foot Baths Could Save Bees
One of the biggest world wide threats to honey bees, the varroa mite, could soon be about to meet its nemesis. Researchers at the University of Warwick are examining naturally occurring fungi that kill the varroa mite. They are also exploring a range of ways to deliver the killer fungus throughout the hives from bee fungal foot baths to powder... view more... (2008-07-29)
Over time, an invasive plant loses its toxic edge
Like most invasive plants introduced to the U.S. from Europe and other places, garlic mustard first found it easy to dominate the natives. A new study indicates that eventually, however, its primary weapon - a fungus-killing toxin injected into the soil - becomes less potent. view more (2009-09-01)
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