Antimicrobial and antifungal resistance, which describe the ability of bacteria and other pathogens to resist the effects of drugs to which they were once sensitive, is a major public health problem worldwide. A study published recently in the journal Nature Communications suggests that the solution may come from the tiny bodies of insects, or more accurately, from the microbiota that they host.

All the genome sequences of organisms known throughout the world are stored in a database belonging to the National Center for Biotechnology Information in the United States. As of today, the database has an additional entry: Caulobacter ethensis-2.0. It is the world's first fully computer-generated genome of a living organism, developed by scientists at ETH Zurich.

The plant that adds flavor, color and bitterness to beer also produces a primary compound that thwarts cancer cells, and two important derivatives of the compound do as well, new research at Oregon State University shows. Unlike the primary compound, xanthohumol, known as XN, the derivatives don't metabolize into phytoestrogens.

Restriction or inhalation of common sugar could one day treat a range of respiratory diseases, according to new research led by University of Manchester biologists. The study in mice reveals how the ability of cells to use glucose helps to regulate the immune system during lung inflammation.

A phase I clinical trial that set out to assess the safety of a new combination therapy for a type of aggressive brain tumour has found the treatment to be well tolerated in patients. The trial used a treatment combination of ADI-PEG20, pemetrexed and cisplatin, which showed encouraging efficacy in patients with recurrent high-grade gliomas (HGGs), a disease for which little progress has been made over the last few decades.

An experimental combination drug therapy attacking the DNA integrity of cancer cells is showing promise for a possible new cancer therapy in the future. Scientists at the University of Alberta used two drugs together to enhance DNA damage to human breast cancer cells in mice and reduce their capacity to repair themselves. By doing so, the researchers were able to dramatically shrink tumours and prevent metastasis in the mice.

Effective protein engineering can give us control over the generated products inside a cell. However, for many of the biochemical reactions responsible for these products, we don't we don't know the specific protein- or enzyme-producing gene responsible. These reactions are called "orphan" and have become a big problem for protein engineers.