Emerging viral infections—from bird flu to Ebola to Zika infections—pose major threats to global public health, and understanding their origins can help investigators design defensive strategies against future outbreaks. A new study provides important insights on the potential origins of the most recent outbreak of viral pneumonia in China, whichRead More →

Promoting the signalling pathway of reelin –an essential extracellular protein for the neuronal migration and synaptic plasticity- could be an effective therapeutical strategy to counterbalance the main cognitive, biochemical and behavioural alterations seen in Alzheimer’s and other pathologies associated with Tau protein, as shown in a new study with animalRead More →

Certain bacteria can override a defence mechanism of the immune system, so-called programmed cell death, through inhibition of death effector molecules by their outer membranes components. Shigella bacteria, which cause diarrhoea, use lipopolysaccharides (LPS) on their surface to block the effector caspases. Lipopolysaccharides are a component of the bacterial outerRead More →

Mycoplasma is an atypical bacterial genus which main characteristic is that naturally lacks cells walls and are the smallest and simplest self-replicating bacteria. The presence of sterols in the plasma membrane helps in regulation of membrane fluidity and protects from osmotic lysis so they don’t need a wall. Some mycoplasma species are pathogenic inRead More →