Targeted Gene Modification in Animal Pathogenic Chlamydia

[2019-11-07] Researchers at Umeå University (Sweden), in collaboration with researchers at the University of Maryland and Duke University (USA), now for the first time successfully performed targeted gene mutation in the zoonotic pathogen Chlamydia caviae.

The human pathogenic bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis is the most common sexually transmitted bacterial pathogen worldwide. It is estimated to infect more than 100 million people each year and is a frequent cause of infertility. Moreover, Chlamydia trachomatis also causes eye infections and represents the most frequent infectious cause of blindness in developing areas of the world.

Less widely known is that Chlamydia affects not only humans, but also animals. By causing disease in farm animals, such as in cows, sheep, pigs and chicken, Chlamydia can cause significant economic damage. Moreover, Chlamydia also infects pet animals, such as cats, guinea pigs, and parrots. While the Chlamydia species that infect animals are biologically different from the human pathogen Chlamydia trachomatis, some animal pathogenic Chlamydia can occasionally also infect humans. These zoonotic infections in which the bacteria are transmitted from an infected animal to a human can be severe and life-threatening.

In a collaborative study published in the journal PLOS ONE, researchers from the University of Maryland Baltimore (USA), Duke University (USA), and Umeå University (Sweden), joined forces to adapt a novel genetic tool for zoonotic Chlamydia.

Read more: Targeted Gene Modification in Animal Pathogenic Chlamydia

Welcome to the UCMR DAY 2020!

Get an update on research within the university's Linnaeus Centre of Excellence in life sciences, The Umeå Centre for Microbial Research (UCMR)!

All scientists and staff members within UCMR, collaboration partners and researchers with an interest in life sciences are invited to a day of inspiring research presentations and an excellent opportunity for networking and initiation of multidisciplinary collaborations.

Date: Thursday 23^rd of January 2020

Venue: Aula Nordica
More information and Programme will be found on:

www.ucmr.umu.se

IMPORTANT: To encourage interactions and provide an overview of the broad spectrum of research activities within UCMR the majority of the talks will be selected from the submitted abstracts.

Link to the registration form!

For questions concerning the organisation of the UCMR Day, please contact the organising committee:

Teresa Frisan, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Constantin Urban, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Yaowen Wu, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Congratulations! Swedish Research Council Funding to UCMR/MIMS Scientists!

[2019-10-25] Congratulations to six UCMR/MIMS PIs who will receive funding from the Swedish Research Council!

Within the funding areas Medicine and Health, the Vetenskapsrådet granted SEK 71,9 Million to Umeå University. More than 36% of the funding to Umeå will UCMR /MIMS PIs receive for the following projects:

• Niklas Arnberg, SEK 7.6 million for his project "Viral gastroenteritis: Models, molecules and mechanisms" (funding period 2020-2023)
• Gemma Atkinson, SEK 3.6 million for her project "Molecular evolution, epidemiology and mechanism of ABCF-mediated antibiotic resistance" (funding period 2020-2022)
• Jonas Barandun, SEK 6.6 million starting grant for his project "A molecular movie of ribosome biogenesis in Mycobacteria" (funding period 2020-2023)
  
• Anders Hofer, SEK 2.4 million for his project "Drug development against human pathogens, which are dependent on nucleotides from the host organism" (pfunding period 2020-2022)
• Vicky Shingler, SEK 3.6 million for her project "Control and disarming of the Type VI Nano Machine" (funding period 2020-2022)
• Bernt Eric Uhlin, SEK 3.6 million for his project "Bacterial fitness mechanisms of the versatile pathogenic variants of Escherichia coli and the emerging opportunistic pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii" (funding period 2020-2022)

In total the Swedish Research council funded 254 projects with in total almost SEK 1.1 billion.

For more information, read the Grant Decision for Medicine and Health 2019 on the website of the Swedish Research Council.

A miniaturized version of the eukaryotic ribosome found in microsporidia

A research team lead by MIMS/SciLifeLab research group leader Jonas Barandun uses cryo-electron microscopy to provide near atomic details of the smallest known eukaryotic cytoplasmic protein synthesis machine, the microsporidian ribosome.

150 years ago, the European silk industry was threatened by an unknown epidemic killing the silkworms. At that time, Louis Pasteur was able to identify the source of infection and made important suggestions for treatment. The silk production in Europe survived. Today, a microsporidian parasite is known as the cause of this epidemic and silk worm diseases still cause more than 100 million USD losses to the Chinese silk industry every year. Microsporidiosis is not restricted to silk worms. The diverse phylum of the microsporidia contains thousands of different species with parasites for essentially every animal. At least 14 of them can infect humans. Particularly challenged by microsporidia are not only aquacultures, sericultures and honey bee populations in which infections can wipe out entire hives, but also immunocompromised patients. Microsporidia are a risk for the environment, agriculture and human health and the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently added the parasitic fungi to the list of emerging pathogens of high priority. Even if microsporidia infections are among the most common parasitic diseases in all animals, relatively little is known about their fascinating molecular life which is shaped by an accelerated evolutionary rate and extreme genome compaction.

Together with researchers from The Rockefeller University and Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, Jonas Barandun, new group leader at The Laboratory for Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS), publishes the cryo-electron microscopy structure of the microsporidian ribosome which visualizes the effect of extreme genome compaction on an essential molecular machine (Nature Microbiology, 22 July 2019).

Read more: A miniaturized version of the eukaryotic ribosome found in microsporidia

10 years of MIMS celebration

[2019-06-24] It was a big surprise for both Bernt Eric Uhlin, founding director of MIMS, and the audience attending the “10 years of MIMS symposium”, when Emmanuelle Charpentier – one of the first group leaders who started a lab at MIMS -  entered the podium and gave a speech to honor Bernt Eric and MIMS.

"When people ask me what attracted me in Umea, I reply that MIMS could offer me what I was looking for",  said Emmanuelle Charpentier and described the MIMS environment as follows: "an innovative model for a new research institution; freedom of research; an understanding for risky projects and an understanding that more unconventional research projects need time and focus; respect for young students and scientists; a world-class scientific education for the junior scientists; an interactive and relaxed environment where scientific discussions are always a priority; and an enjoyable community of colleagues always ready to challenge novel scientific questions".

Read more: 10 years of MIMS celebration