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Fluorescent image of red cells with high and low levels of parasitic infection in green
Parasite Drove Natural Selection in Amazonian Indigenous Groups
The findings could help researchers understand why some individuals are more vulnerable to deadly Chagas disease.
Parasite Drove Natural Selection in Amazonian Indigenous Groups
Parasite Drove Natural Selection in Amazonian Indigenous Groups

The findings could help researchers understand why some individuals are more vulnerable to deadly Chagas disease.

The findings could help researchers understand why some individuals are more vulnerable to deadly Chagas disease.

infectious disease
A fruit bat in the hands of a researcher
How an Early Warning Radar Could Prevent Future Pandemics
Amos Zeeberg, Undark | Feb 27, 2023 | 8 min read
Metagenomic sequencing can help detect unknown pathogens, but its widespread use faces challenges.
A cluster of spiral-shaped Treponema pallidum bacteria, the causative agent of syphilis.
Science Falls Behind as Syphilis Stages Another Comeback
Bhargavi Duvvuri, Undark | Feb 21, 2023 | 6 min read
Syphilis is among the oldest known sexually-transmitted infections. Scientists still struggle to detect and treat it.
What Could Cause the Next Pandemic?
What Could Cause the Next Pandemic?
The Scientist’s Creative Services Team | 2 min read
Scientists prepare for the future by filling in the research gaps between zoonotic viral reservoirs, emerging viruses, and human immune defenses.
RSV vaccine design concept art
RSV Vaccines That Work?
Rachael Moeller Gorman | Feb 16, 2023 | 10+ min read
Multiple candidates are in Phase 3 clinical trials for older adults and pregnant women, with some getting close to approval in the United States.
Artist’s rendering of various orange and pink colored bacteria
Q&A: What if Immune Cells Don’t Actually Detect Viruses and Bacteria?
Dan Robitzski | Feb 3, 2023 | 10+ min read
The Scientist spoke with Jonathan Kagan about his idea that immune cells respond to “errors” made by unsuccessful pathogens, not the pathogens themselves.
3D image of monkeypox virus.
Monkeypox Virus Has Potential to Be Sexually Transmitted
Jennifer Zieba, PhD | 4 min read
Researchers discovered monkeypox virus in primate testicular tissues.
a newly hatched mosquito sits on top of water, with its discarded cocoon floating below
In Vitro Malaria Sporozoite Production May Lead to Cheaper Vaccines
Katherine Irving | Jan 20, 2023 | 4 min read
A method for culturing the infectious stage of the Plasmodium lifecycle could increase malaria vaccine production efficiency by tenfold, study authors say.
A black-and-white photo of a person’s hands holding a black-and-white barred chicken. The feathers of its breast have been pulled back to reveal a large tumor.
Transmissible Tumors, 1909
Katherine Irving | Jan 2, 2023 | 2 min read
Pathologist Peyton Rous made a groundbreaking discovery in the early 20th century, but his work wasn’t widely recognized until more than 40 years later. 
3D medical illustration of peripheral blood cells: a lymphocyte (left) and a monocyte (right) surrounded by red blood cells.
PBMCs: Mononucleated and Multipurposed
Deanna MacNeil, PhD | 4 min read
Researchers employ peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in clinical and academic applications related to the immune system and regenerative medicine.
Rendered image of <em>Chlamydia</em>
How Chlamydia Guards Itself Against the Immune System
Natalia Mesa, PhD | Jan 2, 2023 | 4 min read
The bacterium produces a particular protein that allows it to sneak past the human immune system even while triggering inflammation.
<em>Chlamydia</em> invades a host cell, forms a membrane-bound vacuole, or inclusion, and then modifies the protein composition of the structure&rsquo;s membrane. If immune cells detect <em>Chlamydia</em> before it forms the inclusion, they trigger T cells to produce interferon-&gamma; (IFN-&gamma;), a powerful cytokine. IFN-&gamma; activates the protein mysterin (also called RFN213), which attaches ubiquitin to the inclusion membrane, signaling the cell to destroy the inclusion&rsquo;s contents by dumping them into a lysosome (left). C. trachomatis produces GarD, a protein that integrates into the inclusion membrane itself and somehow prevents mysterin from attaching ubiquitin, allowing the bacterium to evade immune destruction while continuing to multiply and eventually bursting from the cell (right).
Infographic: How Chlamydia Evades Immune Detection
Natalia Mesa, PhD | Jan 2, 2023 | 2 min read
Chlamydia trachomatis, the bacterium that causes chlamydia, hides from the immune system by cloaking itself in the host cell’s membrane then modifying the membrane’s protein composition.
VAI
Exposed: Environmental Echoes in Health - A Special Podcast Series
The Scientist’s Creative Services Team and Van Andel Institute | 2 min read
Epigenetic experts discuss how environment and diet leave lasting impressions on the human genome.
Smartphone open Twitter application
Notable Science Quotes
The Scientist Staff | Dec 14, 2022 | 2 min read
Leaving Twitter, improving science communication, understanding the dangers of avian flu, and more
Illustration of viruses represented with different colors overlapping each other.
What Happens When You Catch More than One Virus?
Alejandra Manjarrez, PhD | Dec 7, 2022 | 8 min read
The “tripledemic” shines a spotlight on viral interference, in which one infection can block another.
iStock
The Scientist Speaks - Rising From the Dead: How Antibiotic Resistance Genes Travel Between Current and Past Bacteria
Nele Haelterman, PhD | 1 min read
Heather Kittredge and Sarah Evans discuss the environmental conditions that facilitate natural transformation in bacteria’s native habitat.  
A woman wearing a gray sweater and a bright orange scarf and hat blows her nose vaguely in the direction of the camera. A snowy landscape can be seen behind her.
How Cold Weather May Help You Catch a Cold
Dan Robitzski | Dec 6, 2022 | 3 min read
Warm nasal cells mount stronger defenses against cold-causing coronaviruses and rhinoviruses than those exposed to cooler temperatures, an in vitro experiment finds.
Cross section of an organic cell with intracellular organelles
How Intracellular Bacteria Hijack Your Cells
Catherine Offord | Dec 1, 2022 | 10+ min read
Scientists studying pathogens such as Chlamydia, Legionella, and Listeria get a master class in how to control the internal workings of mammalian cells.
Long COVID: The Knowns and Unknowns
Long COVID: The Knowns and Unknowns
The Scientist’s Creative Services Team | 1 min read
Manali Mukherjee and Grace Lam discuss the presentation and implications of chronic, long-term COVID-19 infections.
Illustration showing how some intracellular bacteria, such as <em >Legionella pneumophila</em>, manipulate the cell&#39;s membranes for their own good
Infographic: Intracellular Bacteria’s Tricks for Host Manipulation 
Catherine Offord | Dec 1, 2022 | 2 min read
Various microbes, including several human pathogens, hijack the cell’s skeleton, membranes, and protein-making machinery to make themselves at home.
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