World Antibiotics Awareness Week, 13-19 November 2017

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Created: Monday, 13 November 2017 16:02

WHO campaign 2017: Antibiotics: Handle with care

World Antibiotic Awareness Week (WAAW) aims to increase awareness of global antibiotic resistance and to encourage best practices among the general public, health workers and policy-makers to avoid the further emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance.

Researchers (ca 50 research groups) at MIMS and UCMR work on the understanding of molecular mechanisms of microbial infections. The knowledge could be used to develop new antimicrobial strategies for future treatment of infections and to avoid antibotic resistance.

More information on the WHO's Campaign website "World Antibiotic Awareness Week", 13-19 November 2017

MIMS Deputy Director Maria Fällman will give a popular science lecture in Swedish language in the series of popular science lectures "lärande luncher" organised by the Norrland University Hospital.
Title: "Nya vapen mot seglivade bakterier"

Place: Frälsningsarméen, Umeå, Kungsgatan 47, 90326 Umeå
Date: 14 November, 12:15

Lessons from bacteria: Novel antimicrobial strategies based on interspecies metabolic cooperation

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Created: Wednesday, 25 October 2017 21:37

MIMS- scientist publish in the high-impact Journal of the International Society for Microbial Ecology, ISME.

An important survival strategy in bacteria is the release of toxic substances, which can attack and kill cells and other bacteria. One of these substances are D-amino acids, which are secreted to the environment at high concentrations by very diverse bacteria. D-amino acids interfere with the growth of neighboring competitors thereby improving the chances of producer species to colonize an specific niche. Felipe Cava's research group at The Laboratory for Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS) studied the biological effects caused by distinct D-amino acids released by the causative agent of cholera, Vibrio cholerae. The study was performed in collaboration with Miguel A de Pedro, a former visiting professor at Umeå University and investigator at the Centro de Biología Molecular ‘Severo Ochoa’, CSIC in Madrid, Spain.

The scientists found that D-Arginine is a very potent and very broad growth inhibitor of many diverse bacterial species, including pathogenic ones such as Burkholderias, well known for their implication in pulmonary infections and their broad antibiotic resistance.

"We found that D-Arginine is a key environmental factor that controls both fitness and survival of bacterial subpopulations and therefore can modulate the existing biodiversity within an ecological niche" explains Laura Alvarez, postdoctoral researcher who conducted the study.

Alvarez and colleagues found, too, that although all the members of the Vibrionaceae family were resistant to D-arginine, not all of them produce this effector. This behavior suggests that a few vibrios may have evolved to help members of the family in an altruistic cooperation to facilitate prevalence of the entire vibrio in a particular ambient.

Read more: Lessons from bacteria: Novel antimicrobial strategies based on interspecies metabolic cooperation

Exploring the Complexity of Life by Cryo-Electronmicroscopy

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Created: Saturday, 04 February 2017 19:20

[2017-02-01] Major technical advances has enabled cryo-EM to become a mainstream technique in visualization of macromolecules, which provides the most definitive way to describe their mechanisms of action. The first international cryo-EM symposium in Sweden will take place in Stockholm and Umeå, and present the developments that are shaping this scientific breakthrough. Topics covered include central discoveries in cryo-EM, the most recent methodological developments and applications to central biological questions.

Note: the 1st day of the Symposium takes place on 8^th of May 2017 at SciLifeLab, Stockholm.

Everybody is welcome!

Registration form to the Umeå Symposium 9^th May 2017

Read more: Exploring the Complexity of Life by Cryo-Electronmicroscopy

Infection Research to Meet Current and Future Challenges

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Created: Tuesday, 31 January 2017 16:22

Jubilee symposium to celebrate Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation's 100 years anniversary

To celebrate 100 years in support of excellent Swedish research and education, the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation arranges, in collaboration with the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Swedish universities, a series of symposia in areas where the Foundation has provided substantial financial support throughout the years.

The six symposia have different focus and are organised in Lund (4 April), Umeå (June 19), Linköping (13 September), Stockholm (15 September), Uppsala (21 September), and Gothenburg (28 September).

The symposium in Umeå "Infection Research to Meet current and Future Challenges" will take place on:

19 June 2017, 08.45 - 17.20

Aula Nordica, Umeå (->map)

Programme

Read more on the website of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

UCMR DAY 2017

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Created: Friday, 20 January 2017 00:19

More than 140 scientists started the new year with the UCMR DAY 2017, on 12th of January. In lively discussions the microbiologists spent the day not only with talks but also with mingling at the posters, during coffee and lunch breaks, updating themselves and guests about ongoing research projects.

Per Sunnerhagen, CARe Therapeutics, University of Gothenburg, and Linus Sandegren, Uppsala Antibiotics Center (UAC), presented the organisation an focus of their new Antibiotics Centres.

Read more: UCMR DAY 2017