Scientists have genetically modified isolated microbes for decades. Now, using CRISPR, they intend to target entire microbiomes.

Photo: Steve Bunk Dave Tinnin, field research associate in the University of New Mexico's biology department, takes blood samples and measurements of rodents caught on the research station grounds. At the end of a freeway exit near Soccoro, N.M., the hairpin turn onto a gravel road is marked by a sign that warns, "Wrong Way." But it isn't the wrong way if you want to reach the University of New Mexico's (UNM) long-term ecological research (LTER) station. The sign's subterfuge is the first indi

genome sequence will help in developing protection against the disease. Robert Walgate discovers that it might - but perhaps not in the most obvious ways.

Metagenomic sequencing can help detect unknown pathogens, but its widespread use faces challenges.

Researchers whose work requires that they draw blood from wild animals are finding unlikely collaborators in biting insects.

Reports of the infection—including one death this month—recently shook up social media. But, unlike COVID-19, plague is a disease that countries have more or less got under control.

From a rapid molecular test for COVID-19 to tools that can characterize the antibodies produced in the plasma of patients recovering from the disease, this year’s winners reflect the research community’s shared focus in a challenging year.

Although the field traditionally has branched into the study of fungi species that cause disease, mycologists say their field now encompasses molecular biology, ecology, chemical-extraction techniques, and other specialties and skills not usual for the traditional mycologist. The research emanating from laboratories studying fungi is diverse, including investigations of biological control of pest plants, production of new strains of