3D Study Of Vitamins May Help Combat Malaria
A three-dimensional study of how enzymes in the malaria parasite Plasmodium synthesize essential vitamins, could help develop new drugs to combat the disease. Using electron microscopy, a team of scientists from Germany and the UK studied how the enzymes synthesize Vitamin B6, which has already been proposed as a target for new drugs. Dr Ivo Tews, a Lecturer in Structural Biology at the University of Southampton, and colleagues, write about their findings in a paper published online in the journal Structure on 11 January.
How Cholera Bacterium Gains A Foothold In The Gut
A team of biologists at the University of York has made an important advance in our understanding of the way cholera attacks the body. The discovery could help scientists target treatments for the globally significant intestinal disease which kills more than 100, 000 people every year. The disease is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, which is able to colonise the intestine usually after consumption of contaminated water or food. Once infection is established, the bacterium secretes a toxin that causes watery diarrhoea and ultimately death if not treated rapidly.
Decision Of Researchers To Temporarily Halt Research On H5N1 Applauded By Georgetown Professor
A Georgetown University Medical Center professor says the voluntary action taken by two research teams to temporarily halt work involving the highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 is "laudable." In the researchers' statement, published by Science and Nature, the authors stated that they "recognize that we and the rest of the scientific community need to clearly explain the benefits of this important research and the measures taken to minimize its possible risks." The statement comes in the wake of a debate following the U.