Two Nordic foundations support a network in Cryo-EM, a Nobel Prize–winning technology

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Created: Tuesday, 23 January 2018 13:18

A new Swedish-Danish research alliance wants to advance understanding of how biological molecules look and behave. With support from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation and the Novo Nordisk Foundation, scientists at four universities in Sweden and Denmark will join forces to create a Nordic network in cryoelectron microscopy, whose developers were awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

The CryoNet network will bring together experts in cryoelectron microscopy at universities in Aarhus, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Umeå. A Swedish- Danish partnership between the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation and the Novo Nordisk Foundation will fund the network. Each foundation has awarded a grant of €1 million over 4 years for CryoNet.

Read more: Two Nordic foundations support a network in Cryo-EM, a Nobel Prize–winning technology

Welcome to the UCMR DAY 2018, 11 January!

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Created: Friday, 01 December 2017 17:30

Get an update on research within UCMR and core facilities and National infrastructures!

All scientists and staff members within UCMR (Umeå Centre for Microbial Research) research groups, collaboration partners and researchers with an interest in microbial research and/or infection biology are invited to a day of inspiring research presentations and an excellent opportunity for networking and initiation of multidisciplinary collaborations. The programme will include invited speakers and networking in round table discussion on topics relevant for infection biology research.

Place: Major and Minor Groove, Building 6L, NUS

The Final Programme is now online!

Read more: Welcome to the UCMR DAY 2018, 11 January!

1st Arctic Meeting on Clinical Tuberculosis, Umeå 25-26 January, 2018

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Created: Sunday, 03 December 2017 04:33

Welcome to the 1st Arctic Meeting on Clinical Tuberculosis, Umeå
The first Arctic Meeting on Clinical Tuberculosis will take place at Norrland University Hospital and is organized by researchers at Umeå University, Infection Clinic / TB Centrum Norr and TBnet.
Venue: Bärnstensalen, Norrland University Hospital

Registration (deadline 20 January 2018)
Registration form

Read more: 1st Arctic Meeting on Clinical Tuberculosis, Umeå 25-26 January, 2018

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