Chris Suspect

The Meet The Scientist (MTS) podcast is moving to a new website. MTS can now be found on MicrobeWorl - Chris Suspect

Stanley Plotkin is Professor Emeritus at the Wistar Institute and the University of Pennsylvania, Ph - Chris Suspect

Christine Biron is the chair of the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at Brown Uni - Chris Suspect

The Food and Drug Administration warned consumers Monday not to use skin products made by Clarcon because of high levels of disease-causing bacteria found during a recent inspection. Clarcon Biological Chemistry Laboratory Inc. of Roy, Utah, issued a voluntary recall of some skin sanitizers and skin protectants marketed under several different brand names, the FDA said in a statement. - Chris Suspect

Scientists at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, the South African National Institute for Communicable Diseases of National Health Laboratory Service (NICD-NHLS), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Roche's 454 Life Sciences Corporation have discovered the new virus responsible for a highly fatal hemorrhagic fever outbreak in Zambia and South Africa in late 2008. It is the first new hemorrhagic fever-associated arenavirus from Africa identified in nearly four decades. - Chris Suspect

A promising antimicrobial agent already known to kill bacteria can also kill viruses and stimulate the innate immune system, according to researchers at National Jewish Health. In a paper appearing online June 4 in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, Michael Howell, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, and his colleagues demonstrated that the synthetic compound CSA-13 can kill vaccinia virus in cell cultures and in mice. Additionally, they showed that CSA-13 stimulates cells to produce their own antimicrobial proteins. - Chris Suspect

Probiotic supplements are of no use to healthy people and may harm people who have impaired immune systems, a British microbiologist said. British consumers spend tens of millions of dollars a year on unregulated probiotic supplements because of some "instinctive sense" it will make them healthier, said Michael Wilson, a microbiologist at London's University College. Diarrhea caused by antibiotics can be reduced by "topping up on good bacteria" found in probiotics, such as yogurts, Wilson said. Overall, however, evidence regarding probiotics is "shaky" and needs thorough investigation, Wilson told The Daily Telegraph in a story published Saturday. - Chris Suspect

A species of bacteria, isolated from sediments deep under the Pacific Ocean, could provide a powerful clean-up tool for heavy metal pollution. Writing in the current issue of the journal, Microbiology, Professor Gejiao Wang and his colleagues from Huazhong Agricultural University in Wuhan, PR China describe how a particular strain of Brachybacterium, strain Mn32, proved to be highly effective in removing manganese from solutions, converting it into insoluble manganese oxides. - Chris Suspect

The sea floor is strewn with raw materials that could be very important in the future: Manganese and iron, but also rarer and more precious elements such as cobalt, copper, zinc and nickel, are present in great quantities in the form of deep-sea nodules and crusts. The depositions of such materials from seawater and sediment is the result of a process known as biomineralization. - Chris Suspect

Exposure to estrogen reduces production of immune-related proteins in fish. This suggests that certain compounds, known as endocrine disruptors, may make fish more susceptible to disease. - Chris Suspect

Exposure to estrogen reduces production of immune-related proteins in fish. This suggests that certain compounds, known as endocrine disruptors, may make fish more susceptible to disease. The research may provide new clues for why intersex fish, fish kills and fish lesions often occur together in the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers. The tests were conducted in a lab by scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey. The study, led by USGS genomics researcher Dr. Laura Robertson, revealed that largemouth bass injected with estrogen produced lowered levels of hepcidin, an important iron-regulating hormone in mammals that is also found in fish and amphibians. This is the first published study demonstrating control of hepcidin by estrogen in any animal. - Chris Suspect

Hands wring and teeth gnash over the loss of endangered species like the panda or the polar bear. But what happens to the parasites hosted by endangered species? And although most people would side with the panda over the parasite, which group should we worry about more? - Chris Suspect

A mineral found at health food stores could be the key to developing a new line of antibiotics for bacteria that commonly cause diarrhea, tooth decay and, in some severe cases, death. The trace mineral selenium is found in a number of proteins in both bacterial cells and human cells called selenoproteins. University of Central Florida Associate Professor William Self's research shows that interrupting the way selenoproteins are made can halt the growth of the super bug Clostridium difficile and Treponema denticola, a major contributor to gum disease. - Chris Suspect

Joseph DeRisi is a Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California, San Fra - Chris Suspect