Cell Biologist

  The new platform combines the bacteria's tendency to find and attack tumors with the virus's natural preference for infecting and killing cancerous cells. Tal Danino , an associate professor of biomedical engineering at Columbia Engineering, led the team's effort to create the system, which is called CAPPSID (short for Coordinated Activity of Prokaryote and Picornavirus for Safe Intracellular Delivery). Charles M. Rice, an expert in virology at The Rockefeller University, collaborated with the Columbia team. "We aimed to enhance bacterial cancer therapy by enabling the bacteria to deliver and activate a therapeutic virus directly inside tumor cells, while engineering safeguards to limit viral spread outside the tumor," says co-lead author Jonathan Pabón, an MD/PhD candidate at Columbia. The researchers believe that this technology -- validated in mice -- represents the first example of directly engineered cooperation between bacteria and cancer-targeting viruses...

  The United States recently confirmed its first human case of New World screwworm infestation. The case involved a traveller from El Salvador and was identified in early August 2025. Authorities say the risk to public health remains low. This event marks the potential reemergence of a parasite once eradicated from the region. What Is New World Screwworm? New World screwworms are blue-grey blowflies native to South America and the Caribbean. Female flies lay eggs on open wounds or natural body openings of warm-blooded animals and rarely humans. Each female can lay up to 3,000 eggs during her lifespan of 10 to 30 days. The eggs hatch into larvae, also called maggots, which burrow into living flesh, feeding on tissue. The larvae later drop to the soil and mature into adult flies. The name “screwworm” comes from the larvae’s screw-like burrowing action. Symptoms and Effects Infestation causes painful wounds that often worsen over time. Symptoms include non-healing sores, bleeding, mo...

  Bloom Syndrome is a rare genetic disorder with fewer than 300 cases reported worldwide. Recently, a 12-year-old girl in Chennai underwent a bone marrow transplant using stem cells from her younger brother, marking medical intervention in India. This disorder affects DNA repair mechanisms, leading to multiple health challenges and a high risk of cancer. Genetic Basis and Inheritance Bloom Syndrome is caused by mutations in the BLM gene. This gene produces a protein essential for maintaining DNA structure during replication and repair. When mutated, cells lose the ability to fix damaged DNA, causing abnormal cell growth. The condition is inherited in an autosomal recessive pattern. Both parents must carry the mutation for a child to be affected. It is most common among the Ashkenazi Jewish population but occurs worldwide. Signs and Symptoms Symptoms vary widely but often include poor growth before and after birth. Affected individuals typically have below-average height and head s...

  New research from Michigan State University finds that microbes play an important role in shaping early brain development, specifically in a key brain region that controls stress, social behavior, and vital body functions. The study, published in Hormones and Behavior, used a mouse model to highlight how natural microbial exposure not only impacts brain structure immediately after birth but may even begin influencing development while still in the womb. A mouse model was chosen because mice share significant biological and behavioral similarities with humans and there are no other alternatives to study the role of microbes on brain development. This work is of significance because modern obstetric practices, like peripartum antibiotic use and Cesarean delivery, disrupt maternal microbes. In the United States alone, 40% of women receive antibiotics around childbirth and one-third of all births occur via Cesarean section. "At birth, a newborn body is colonized by microbes as it ...

  Recent research has uncovered that the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa exhibits bistable gene expression , a phenomenon where identical cells show different levels of gene activity. This discovery sheds light on how this deadly pathogen adapts and survives in hostile environments such as hospitals. The study focuses on the glpD gene, which shows variable expression linked to the bacterium’s ability to cause infections. Understanding this mechanism is crucial because P. aeruginosa is a major cause of hospital-acquired infections and is often resistant to antibiotics. Bistability in Microorganisms Bistability refers to the existence of two distinct expression states of the same gene within genetically identical cells. This variation can be inherited by daughter cells, a process called epigenetic inheritance. It allows bacteria to diversify their behaviour and adapt to changing environments. In Pseudomonas aeruginosa, bistability may help the pathogen survive immune responses and a...

  Artificial intelligence (AI) has recently enabled scientists to create two new antibiotics capable of killing drug-resistant bacteria such as gonorrhoea and MRSA. This breakthrough comes amid a global health crisis caused by antimicrobial resistance, which leads to over one million deaths annually. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) used generative AI algorithms to rapidly screen thousands of molecules. The AI predicted which compounds could act as effective antibiotics while avoiding harmful or redundant chemical structures. These newly discovered antibiotics successfully eliminated bacterial strains resistant to existing drugs, signalling a promising advance in medicine. AI in Antibiotic Discovery Scientists employed generative AI to scan large molecular libraries. The AI predicted antibiotic potential based on chemical properties and biological activity. It also filtered out molecules likely to cause human toxicity or mimic existing drugs. This a...

  Recent advances in synthetic biology and bioelectrochemistry have led to the development of self-powered chemical sensors using genetically engineered bacteria Researchers from Imperial College London and Zhejiang University have created living biosensors that convert chemical signals into electrical outputs. These devices promise low-cost, portable, and programmable bioelectronic applications. Limitations of Traditional Biosensors Conventional biosensors often rely on enzymes. They tend to be fragile and expensive. Their response times can be slow, especially in complex environments. Optical signals from whole-cell biosensors are difficult to integrate with portable electronics. These issues limit their practical use in field conditions. Engineering Bacteria for Electrical Signal Output Researchers used Escherichia coli bacteria as biological platforms. The bacteria were genetically modified to include three modules – sensing, information processing, and output. The sensing mod...

  The new platform combines the bacteria's tendency to find and attack tumors with the virus's natural preference for infecting and killing cancerous cells. Tal Danino, an associate professor of biomedical engineering at Columbia Engineering, led the team's effort to create the system, which is called CAPPSID (short for Coordinated Activity of Prokaryote and Picornavirus for Safe Intracellular Delivery). Charles M. Rice, an expert in virology at The Rockefeller University, collaborated with the Columbia team. "We aimed to enhance bacterial cancer therapy by enabling the bacteria to deliver and activate a therapeutic virus directly inside tumor cells, while engineering safeguards to limit viral spread outside the tumor," says co-lead author Jonathan Pabón, an MD/PhD candidate at Columbia. The researchers believe that this technology -- validated in mice -- represents the first example of directly engineered cooperation between bacteria and cancer-targeting viruses ...

  Scientists have uncovered a surprisingly simple “ tissue code ”: five rules that choreograph when, where, and how cells divide, move, and die, allowing organs like the colon to remain flawlessly organized even as they renew every few days. Mathematical models showed that manipulating just these parameters faithfully recreates real tissue architecture, hinting that the same code may govern skin, brain, and more. The discovery offers a fresh way to understand healing, birth defects, and cancer, and could supercharge initiatives such as the Human Cell Atlas by turning static cell maps into dynamic predictions. This research is the product of more than 15 years of collaboration between mathematicians and cancer biologists to unlock the rules that govern tissue structure and cellular behavior. "This may be the biological version of a blueprint," said Bruce Boman, M.D., Ph.D., senior research scientist at ChristianaCare's Cawley Center for Translational Cancer Research and fa...

  "This is like giving evolution a fast-forward button," says co-senior author Pete Schultz, the President and CEO of Scripps Research, where he also holds the L.S. "Sam" Skaggs Presidential Chair. "You can now evolve proteins continuously and precisely inside cells without damaging the cell's genome or requiring labor-intensive steps." Directed evolution is a laboratory process that involves introducing mutations and selecting variants with improved function over multiple cycles. It's used to tailor proteins with desired properties, such as highly selective, high-affinity antibodies, enzymes with new specificities or catalytic properties, or to investigate the emergence of resistance mutations in drug targets. However, traditional methods often require repeated rounds of DNA manipulation and testing with each round taking a week or more. Systems for continuous evolution -- where proteins evolve inside living cells without manual intervention -- a...

  The team includes experts at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Universidad Regional Amazónica Ikiam in Ecuador, Universidade Estadual de Campinas in Brazil, the University of Cambridge, and others. The research, published on July 28 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), starts to uncover new insights about these butterflies as well as factors involved in the rapid diversification of species and why some species are more capable of this. The findings help experts to understand more about how has life evolved until now and possibly suggest how it might change in the future. For example, researchers found that in glasswing butterflies, even the most closely related species produce different pheromones, indicating that they can smell others of the same species. Given that all of these butterflies look the same to teach birds that they are all toxic, this allows the butterflies to find a compatible mate. By untangling the taxonomy of these butterflies, the team p...

  Published on July 23 in Nature, this landmark study maps the global distribution and evolutionary relationships of brittle stars (Ophiuroidea), the ancient, spiny animals found from shallow coastal waters to the deepest abyssal plains, and from the equator to the poles. By analyzing the DNA of thousands of specimens collected on hundreds of research voyages and preserved in natural history museums around the world, scientists have uncovered how these deep-sea invertebrates have quietly migrated across entire oceans over millions of years, linking ecosystems from Iceland to Tasmania. This unprecedented dataset offers powerful new insights into how marine life has evolved and dispersed across the oceans over the past 100 million years. "You might think of the deep sea as remote and isolated, but for many animals on the seafloor, it's actually a connected superhighway," said Dr Tim O'Hara, Senior Curator of Marine Invertebrates at Museums Victoria Research Institute a...

  The Pacific coast has witnessed a catastrophic decline in sea star populations since 2013. Over 5 billion sea stars have perished due to a wasting disease that causes rapid deterioration and death. Scientists have now identified the cause, marking a breakthrough in marine ecology and conservation efforts. Outbreak and Symptoms The epidemic began in 2013, affecting sea stars from Mexico to Alaska. Infected animals developed white lesions. Their arms twisted and detached. Within days, their bodies turned to mush. The sunflower sea star (Pycnopodia helianthoides) suffered the worst, with 90–94% population loss in five years. California alone lost 99% of its sunflower sea stars. Identification of the Cause A recent study identified the bacterium Vibrio pectenicida as the cause. This bacterium was found in high amounts in the coelomic fluid of sick sea stars but absent in healthy ones. Earlier research had missed this by focusing on dead tissue. Vibrio pectenicida is known to infect ...

  The Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI) has developed a groundbreaking biological solution to protect teak plantations from the destructive teak defoliator moth (Hyblaea puera). This pest has caused severe damage to teak forests for decades. The new technology uses a naturally occurring virus, Hyblaea puera Nucleopolyhedrosis Virus (HpNPV), which specifically targets and kills the pest larvae. This innovation promises a sustainable and eco-friendly alternative to chemical pesticides. Teak Defoliator The teak defoliator moth larvae feed on teak leaves, stripping trees up to six times annually. This repeated defoliation weakens trees and reduces timber growth. Trees expend energy regrowing leaves instead of increasing wood volume. The economic loss is substantial, estimated at 3 cubic metres of wood per hectare yearly. In Kerala alone, this translates to losses of ₹562.5 crore and ₹12,525 crore across India. Limitations of Chemical Control Methods Earlier efforts to control t...

  The World Health Organisation (WHO) has recently reclassified hepatitis D as a carcinogenic virus. This decision marks the urgent need to prevent viral hepatitis, which remains global health challenge. Hepatitis D virus (HDV) infection, especially when combined with hepatitis B virus (HBV), greatly increases the risk of liver cancer and severe liver disease. This reclassification is expected to boost worldwide efforts in surveillance, research, and prevention. Hepatitis Types Hepatitis refers to liver inflammation caused by viruses, toxins, or autoimmune diseases. The five main viral types are A, B, C, D, and E.Hepatitis A spreads via faecal-oral route and causes acute infection. Vaccines are available. Hepatitis B spreads through blood and bodily fluids and causes chronic infection. Vaccines exist. Hepatitis C transmits mainly through blood exposure and has no vaccine. Hepatitis D infects only those with hepatitis B and worsens outcomes. Hepatitis E spreads through contaminated...

  A new international study suggests that ancient viral DNA embedded in our genome, which were long dismissed as genetic "junk," may actually play powerful roles in regulating gene expression. Focusing on a family of sequences called MER11, researchers from Japan, China, Canada, and the US have shown that these elements have evolved to influence how genes turn on and off, particularly in early human development. Transposable elements (TEs) are repetitive DNA sequences in the genome that originated from ancient viruses. Over millions of years, they spread throughout the genome via copy-and-paste mechanisms. Today, TEs make up nearly half of the human genome. While they were once thought to serve no useful function, recent research has found that some of them act like "genetic switches," controlling the activity of nearby genes in specific cell types. However, because TEs are highly repetitive and often nearly identical in sequence, they can be difficult to study. In...

  The team includes experts at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Universidad Regional Amazónica Ikiam in Ecuador, Universidade Estadual de Campinas in Brazil, the University of Cambridge, and others. The research, published on July 28 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), starts to uncover new insights about these butterflies as well as factors involved in the rapid diversification of species and why some species are more capable of this. The findings help experts to understand more about how has life evolved until now and possibly suggest how it might change in the future. For example, researchers found that in glasswing butterflies, even the most closely related species produce different pheromones, indicating that they can smell others of the same species. Given that all of these butterflies look the same to teach birds that they are all toxic, this allows the butterflies to find a compatible mate. By untangling the taxonomy of these butterflies, the team p...

  Stevia may provide more benefits than as a zero-calorie sugar substitute. When fermented with bacteria isolated from banana leaves, stevia extract kills off pancreatic cancer cells s but doesn't harm healthy kidney cells, according to a research team at Hiroshima University. The researchers published their findings in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences. "Globally, the incidence and mortality rates of pancreatic cancer continue to rise, with a five-year survival rate of less than 10%," said co-author Narandalai Danshiitsoodol, associate professor in Department of Probiotic Science for Preventive Medicine, Graduate School of Biomedical and Health Sciences. "Pancreatic cancer is highly invasive and prone to metastasis, showing significant resistance to existing treatments, such as surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. As such, there is an urgent need to identify new and effective anticancer compounds, particularly those derived from medicinal plants....

  Recent reports from New York City reveal an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in Central Harlem. Since late July 2025, five confirmed cases have emerged. Health authorities are investigating water sources in affected areas. Residents are advised to remain vigilant and seek prompt medical care if symptoms arise. About Legionnaires’ Disease Legionnaires’ disease is a severe pneumonia caused by Legionella bacteria. The bacteria thrive in warm water environments such as cooling towers, hot tubs, and large plumbing systems. Infection occurs by inhaling contaminated water droplets. The disease is not contagious and cannot spread from person to person. Early diagnosis and antibiotic treatment are crucial for recovery. Symptoms and Risk Groups Symptoms usually develop 2 to 14 days after exposure. Common signs include high fever, persistent cough, headaches, muscle pain, and shortness of breath. Some patients may experience nausea, diarrhoea, or confusion. People aged 50 and above, smok...