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Asymptomatic Bacteriuria: Microbiome and Metaproteome
Clinical dogma is that healthy urine is sterile and the presence of bacteria with an inflammatory response is indicative of urinary tract infection (UTI). Asymptomatic bacteriuria (ABU) represents the state in which bacteria are present but the inflammatory response is negligible. Differentiating ABU from UTI is diagnostically challenging, but critical because overtreatment of ABU can perpetuate antimicrobial resistance while undertreatment of UTI can result in increased morbidity and...
Genome sequences of the human body louse and its primary endosymbiont provide insights into the permanent parasitic lifestyle.
As an obligatory parasite of humans, the body louse (Pediculus humanus humanus) is an important vector for human diseases, including epidemic typhus, relapsing fever, and trench fever. Here, we present genome sequences of the body louse and its primary bacterial endosymbiont Candidatus Riesia pediculicola. The body louse has the smallest known insect genome, spanning 108 Mb. Despite its status as an obligate parasite, it retains a remarkably complete basal insect repertoire of 10,773...
Comprehensive Genome Sequencing of Pathogenic Escherichia Coli and Shigella
Goals The complete genomes of four well-defined E. coli / Shigella strains are being sequenced to closure, in addition to eight genomes at draft coverage, totaling 12 genomes. This work significantly expands and complements the E. coli / Shigella genome projects that are completed or underway worldwide. The number of diseases that the members of these genera can cause underscores their diversity. We are addressing the breadth of this...
Montgomery County Companies, Organizations Provide Hands-On Science and Medical Education to Middle School Students
Rockville, MD — October 1, 2009 — Montgomery county middle school students will get a rare opportunity on Oct. 9 to learn first-hand about exciting career opportunities in medicine and science during the Frontiers in Science and Medicine Day at the Shady Grove Life Sciences Center. The event grew out of a collaboration among health-care providers, biotech companies, universities and research organizations that sit on the Rockville campus and is designed to help increase...
Unique Antibody Pattern Discovered in COVID-19 ICU Patients May Be Key to Predicting Severe Outcomes
While news of promising COVID-19 vaccine trials is heartening, the fight to control infection rates and develop effective treatments will be an ongoing challenge for science for years to come. Gene Tan, PhD and his collaborators are working on identifying testing models and tools that will allow more labs to safely work on the disease, identifying varying inflammatory responses to the disease for more targeted testing and treatment plans, and identifying...
About Nacyra Assad-Garcia
Nacyra Assad-Garcia is a Staff Scientist who joined the JCVI in 2002 from Celera. For the past 15 years she has been a microbiologist specializing in Mycoplasma genomics. She is an integral member of the synthetic biology team with expertise in manipulating and transplanting mycoplasma genomes (up to 1.1 Mb). This technology enables the changing of one mycoplasma species into another and is essential for the creation of synthetic and minimized cells.
Antibiotic Resistance in Plague
March 20, 2007 ROCKVILLE, MD — A small piece of DNA that helps bacteria commonly found in US meat and poultry resist several antibiotics has also been found in the plague bacillus Yersinia pestis, gene sequence researchers report. The ability to resist many of the antibiotics used against plague has been found so far in only a single case of the disease in Madagascar . But because the same ability is present in other kinds of bacteria from a broad range of livestock, antibiotic...
Bacterial Translocation and Changes in the Intestinal Microbiome in Mouse Models of Liver Disease
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, mortality associated with chronic liver disease ranks as the 12th most common cause of death in the U.S., but may be as high as 8th if obesity-related fatty liver disease, viral hepatitis, and liver cancer are included in the equation. Patients with later stages of chronic liver disease (e.g. fibrosis, cirrhosis) have bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine, and translocation of gut bacteria and their...
The Great Blizzard Sample of Lake Redon!
May15th 2010 We decided to do the 3 lakes in the Banyoles area first because the weather in the Pyrenees was so bad that we wouldn't have been able to get up the mountain to sample Lake Redon. Lake Redon is a pristine Alpine lake that is sampled weekly by Spanish researchers. On Tuesday May 11th the weather prediction for the next few days in the Pyrenees said clear skies, so we loaded up the van and Chris, Emilio, Maria and myself took off on the 341 kilometer (211 miles) drive....
Scientists set a path for field trials of gene drive organisms
The modern rise of gene drive research, accelerated by CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology, has led to transformational waves rippling across science. Gene drive organisms (GDOs), developed with select traits that are genetically engineered to spread through a population, have the power to dramatically alter the way society develops solutions to a range of daunting health and environmental challenges, from controlling dengue fever and malaria to protecting crops against plant pests....