from Timothy L. Tellinghuisen writing in Hepatitis C: Antiviral Drug Discovery and Development : The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a significant public health problem of international scope. HCV is capable of establishing chronic infections in the majority of those infected, resulting in progressive liver damage and a host of extra-hepatic disorders. Current drug therapies are ineffective in clearing infections from the majority of patients, highlighting the need for better anti-viral drugs. Recent developments in HCV genetic systems have led read more ...

The new book on Alphaherpesviruses: Molecular Virology edited by Sandra K. Weller has been delivered to our distributors and is available for immediate read more ...

I am pleased to provide the following excerpt from a book review of Pathogenic Fungi: Insights in Molecular Biology : "the authors have done a good job in bringing together disparate references pertaining to a fascinating but technically involved area of study" from Australian Journal of Medical Science November (2010) 31: read more ...

from Kai Lin writing in Hepatitis C: Antiviral Drug Discovery and Development : HCV drug discovery efforts have been mainly focusing on two viral targets, NS3 protease and NS5B polymerase, which are essential for viral replication. However, due to the high heterogeneity and high replication and mutation rates of the virus, resistance emerges quickly in patients treated with specific inhibitors of these viral enzymes. A complementary strategy is to target cellular proteins that are required for viral replication, which may have the advantage read more ...

I am pleased to provide the following excerpt from a book review of Vaccine Design: Innovative Approaches and Novel Strategies : "The authors share their expertise so other scientists can build on their work ... valuable information on current vaccines and the development of new vaccines, including technologies to identify and generate antigens for new vaccines" from Rebecca T. Horvat (University of Kansas Medical Center) writing in Doodys Suggested reading: Vaccine Design: Innovative Approaches and Novel read more ...

I am pleased to provide the following excerpt from a book review of Environmental Microbiology: Current Technology and Water Applications : "For researchers and graduate students in environmental microbiology, related scientists, and regulators ... The mix of conventional and novel techniques should be very helpful to researchers." from SciTech Book read more ...

I am pleased to provide the following excerpt from a book review of Bifidobacteria: Genomics and Molecular Aspects : "Leading scientists in the field present reviews that cover their specialist research topic. Well-written chapters cover topics ranging from ecology, phylogeny, genetics, genomics, metabolism, as well as the antibiotic and probiotic facets of Bifidobacteria ... the editors have done an excellent job in ensuring that the book is a good and enjoyable read. This work will be of general interest to microbiologists, immunologists as read more ...

Alita A. Miller and Paul F. Miller (Antibacterials Research Unit, Pfizer Worldwide, Groton, USA) present a new book on Emerging Trends in Antibacterial Discovery: Answering the Call to Arms In this book, respected international experts summarize the most important concepts and pioneering strategies currently being used to develop novel antibacterials. The book opens with chapters on cellular processes that could be used as novel antibacterial targets. Examples include cell division, efflux pumps, metabolite-sensing riboswitches and bacterial read more ...

Jeffrey M. Craig and Nicholas C. Wong (Developmental Epigenetics Group, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Victoria, Australia) present a new book on Epigenetics The editors of this book have assembled top-quality scientists from diverse fields of epigenetics to produce a major new volume. Comprehensive and cutting-edge, the 26 chapters in this book constitute a key reference manual for everyone involved in epigenetics, DNA methylation, cancer epigenetics and related fields. Topics include: early life environment, DNA methylation and read more ...

Diana Marco (Microbiology Department, Estacion Experimental del Zaidin (CSIC), Granada, Spain) presents a new book on Metagenomics: Current Innovations and Future Trends This book covers the most innovative and recent advances in theoretical, methodological and applied areas of metagenomics. Topics covered include metagenomics integration with complementary technologies, bacterial genealogy, viral metagenomics, the regulation of prokaryotic communities, functional metagenomics, systems biology, next-generation sequencing, stable isotope read more ...

James W. B. Moir (Department of Biology, University of York, UK) presents a new book on Nitrogen Cycling in Bacteria: Molecular Analysis This timely book aims to provide comprehensive reviews of current nitrogen cycle research and to give a broader perspective on the state of our understanding of this key biogeochemical cycle. With contributions from expert authors from around the world, topics covered include: the archaean N-cycle; redox complexes N-cycle; organisation of respiratory chains in N-cycle processes; Mo-nitrogenase; nitrogen read more ...

Siba K. Samal (University of Maryland, USA) presents a new book on The Biology of Paramyxoviruses This book provides a timely and comprehensive review of current knowledge of all paramyxoviruses and is written by renowned scientists who have made seminal contributions in their respective paramyxovirus fields of expertise. Topics include: mumps virus, simian virus 5, parainfluenza viruses, Newcastle disease and related avian paramyxoviruses, Sendai virus, Hendra virus, Nipah virus, measles virus, canine distemper virus, rinderpest virus, peste read more ...

The new book on Salmonella: From Genome to Function edited by Steffen Porwollik has been delivered to our distributors and is available for immediate read more ...

from Katsunori Kimura writing in Lactic Acid Bacteria and Bifidobacteria: Current Progress in Advanced Research : Lactobacillus gasseri OLL2716 (LG21) was isolated from the feces of a healthy human. LG21 was selected as a probiotic against H. pylori infection by screening more than 200 Latobacillus strains by in vitro assays and animal studies. In clinical studies, the ingestion of yogurt containing LG21 decreased the number of H. pylori and IL-8 concentration in the gastric mucosa, and alleviated the mucosal inflammation in humans infected read more ...

The pathogenesis of periodontitis involves the interplay of microbiota present in the subgingival plaque and the host responses. Inflammation and destruction of periodontal tissues are considered to result from the response of a susceptible host to a microbial biofilm containing gram-negative pathogens. Antimicrobial peptides are important contributors to maintaining the balance between health and disease in this complex environment. These include several salivary antimicrobial peptides such as beta-defensins expressed in the epithelium and read more ...

from Lyudmila Boyanova writing in Helicobacter pylori : H. pylori infection outcomes strongly depend on the strain virulence. H. pylori displays enormous genetic diversity by frequent mutations, intra- or intergenomic recombinations and natural transformation, and additional phase variations by slipped-strand mispairing. H. pylori spiral shape, urease, motility, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and outer membrane adhesins enable the establishment of the infection. H. pylori genetic diversity and induced immunomodulation contribute to the infection read more ...

from Lyudmila Boyanova writing in Helicobacter pylori : H. pylori resistance to antibiotics emerges most often from point mutations but also from efflux mechanisms, natural transformation, altered membrane permeability and, probably, β-lactamase. The resistance especially that to clarithromycin and quinolones often causes treatment failures. For this reason, if national or regional primary resistance rates are ≥15-20% for clarithromycin and ≥40% for metronidazole, the agents should be avoided for primary therapy of the infection read more ...

from Borislav Vladimirov writing in Helicobacter pylori : Helicobacter pylori plays a main role in the development of gastritis all over the world. In addition, it is well known that H. pylori infection is associated with many nonmalignant and malignant gastrointestinal and extra-gastric diseases. H. pylori remains one of the most common causes of peptic gastro-duodenal ulcers, gastric mucosa associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma and gastric cancer. In recent years, many clinical data have been collected about the relationship between read more ...

Ex-situ Bioremediation of Contaminated Soils: From Biopiles to Slurry Phase Bioreactors from Nicolas Kalogerakis writing in Microbial Bioremediation of Non-metals: Current Research : Although in-situ bioremediation technologies for the treatment of contaminated soils are economically attractive, ex-situ approaches are more often used for surface contaminated soils (typical depths less than 5 m) since they allow a much tighter control of the bioremediation process and provide better estimates of the residual contamination at the end of the read more ...

I am pleased to provide the following excerpts from recent book reviews of Bifidobacteria: Genomics and Molecular Aspects : "This book would be useful to all scientists working on the benefits of intestinal Bifidobacteria. The review of topics will help promote additional research in academic settings as well as industrial development of products. The authors of each chapter are well-recognized scientists from many different settings such as government, academia and industry ... There are few books focused on the benefits of resident read more ...

April 4 - 5, 2011 4th Sample Prep - Sample Preparation for Pathogen Detection San Diego, CA, USA Further information Sample Prep 2011 is an internationally recognized event for experts in sample preparation for detection and identification of viruses, toxins and pathogens. This conference will address the major issues and current state-of-the-art in the technologies related to the important phases of real-world sample preparation such as: Collection; (Pre-)concentration; Lysis; Target extraction; Transfer to analytical and identification read more ...

Lyudmila Boyanova (Chair of Microbiology, Medical University of Sofia, Bulgaria) presents a new book on Helicobacter pylori This book highlights recent research and provides in a single volume an up-to-date summary of our current knowledge for microbiologists, clinicians and advanced students working with Helicobacter and for those wishing to enter the field. The authors offer an outstanding collection of reviews on many aspects of Helicobacter research including microbiology, virulence factors, immunology, vaccine research, epidemiology, read more ...

from Wittwer CT and Farrar JS (2011) in PCR Troubleshooting and Optimization dsDNA dyes are commonplace in the molecular biology laboratory. Although ethidium bromide was first used in real-time PCR, SYBR Green I is by far the most common dye in real-time PCR today. Introduced along with the LightCycler, it is more fluorescent than ethidium bromide and is easily excited at the same wavelength as fluorescein. Most real-time PCR is performed with dsDNA dyes for reasons of cost and convenience. Any PCR can be monitored with SYBR Green I. read more ...