Lessons from bacteria: Novel antimicrobial strategies based on interspecies metabolic cooperation
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.
[171015] Karolinska Institutet informed today that the Ebba-Christina Hagberg Foundation decided to award Anna Överby Wernstedt with the foundation's award for 2017 for her biochemical studies of viral infections. 
[2017-09-27] The Albany Medical College awarded today during an awards ceremony in Albany, N.Y., Emmanuelle Charpentier together with Jennifer Doudna, Luciano Marraffini, Francisco J.M. Mojica, and Feng Zhang with the "America's most distinguished prize in medicine", as the Albany Medical College says on its website.
[2017-09-22] Bacteria release membrane-derived vesicles (MVs), which are small particles that can transport virulence factors to neighbouring bacteria or to the cells of a mammalian host. This special MV-based system for delivering toxic proteins and nucleic acids in a protected manner to the target cells may have different specific functions depending on whether the bacterium acts as an extracellular or intracellular pathogen. This is according to a doctoral thesis from MIMS-PhD studen Svitlana Vdovikova, Umeå University.
Professor Bernt Eric Uhlin, Director of MIMS, will replace Professor Kjetil Taskén, Director of NCMM. The Nordic EMBL Partnership for Molecular Medicine is delighted to announce that Professor Bernt Eric Uhlin has been named as the Partnership’s new Speaker.
[2017-05-02] The Spanish Society for Microbiology (SEM) awarded MIMS group leader Felipe Cava as best microbiologist in Spain for 2017. The Jaime Ferran Prize is the most prestigious recognition to a microbiologist in Spain, and is awarded to young scientists for their outstanding achievements in microbiology. The Federal European Microbiological Societies (FEMS) highlighted the awardee in a Spotlight interview on the 28 April 2017.
