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

Haydeh Payami helped uncover the genetic basis of Parkinson’s disease. Now, she hopes to find new ways to treat the disease by studying the gut microbiome.

Regulatory T cells in the colon travel to muscles to promote wound healing in mice, raising questions about how antibiotics may impact injury recovery.

Lyme disease–causing bacteria can outmaneuver antibiotics in vitro and manipulate the mouse immune system.

Strategies to make lab animals forget, remember, or experience false recollections probe how memory works, and may inspire treatments for neurological diseases.

Microbiological Research Author: RICKI LEWIS AND HOLLY AHERN, p.24 Microbiology has evolved from ancient art to savvy science. Yesterday's painstaking tasks of culturing and identifying microorganisms have been joined by rapid detection strategies and intricate genetic manipulations. Microbiologists may still streak specimens on agar plates and wait overnight for bacterial colonies to grow, as was done two centuries ago, but today they may also use spectrophotometers or chromatographs. Gas

The proteasome’s ability to target and degrade specific proteins is proving useful to researchers studying protein function or developing treatments for diseases.

A neural pathway between the gut and the brain led to the release of dopamine when the mice ran on a wheel or treadmill, but only in the presence of a robust microbiome. 

Scientists studying pathogens such as Chlamydia, Legionella, and Listeria get a master class in how to control the internal workings of mammalian cells.

Immunologists and parasitologists are working to revive the idea that helminths, and more specifically the molecules they secrete, could help treat allergies and autoimmune disease.