Sunday, May 24, 2015

Five Reasons Why Scientists and Non-Scientists Should be on Twitter

Twitter has certainly remained one of the social media giants, along with Facebook, Instagram, etc. But unlike Facebook and the other social media sites, I have found Twitter to be a great place to improve my science. I know, I know, I'm that guy now who thinks Twitter is just sooOOoo cool. But there is actually a lot of good that comes out of this website, and I want to dedicate this post to discussing why I think you should be on Twitter, especially if you are a scientist.

Sunday, May 17, 2015

A Look Into The Viruses That Control Your Stomach Bacterial Infections (Including Probiotics)

Microscopy image of Enterococcus. <SOURCE>
Biofilms continue to be hugely significant problems when treating bacterial infections. Biofilms are groups of bacteria that stick together and to a surface while surrounding themselves in a thick extracellular matrix. You can think of this as the collective bacteria sticking to a surface like a slimy ball of goo. These are very serious infections because the bacteria adhere very tightly to the surface (which could be your bone, a catheter, or your wounded tissue), and antibiotics often have a difficult time penetrating the thick mucous matrix. This means the bacteria are particularly hard to kill.

Sunday, May 10, 2015

Helping Your Skin Get Healthier Every Year: The SID 2015 Meeting

Logo for the SID. <SOURCE>
This past week I attended the annual meeting of the Society for Investigative Dermatology (SID). The SID is the premier organization for promoting dermatological research, and they meet ever year to discuss recent advances in all sciences related to the skin. Since I was lucky enough to attend the meeting this year, I wanted to share my experience with you, the reader. I will talk about my impressions of the conference, but I am going to refrain from discussing the research presented because the focus was on unpublished research and this was a closed meeting.

Sunday, May 3, 2015

Recent Advances: Phage Therapy for Antibiotic Resistant Staph Infections

MRSA is an antibiotic resistant form of
Staphylococcus aureus, and a big problem
for hospitals. <SOURCE>

Introduction

Most of us have experienced, know someone who experienced, or have at least heard of Staph infections. As their name implies, these infections are caused by Staph (short for the bacterial genus Staphylococcus), occur on the skin, are often acquired in hospitals, and are an increasing problem as the bacteria become increasingly antibiotic resistant. One of the most famous of these bacteria is Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which is resistant to many of the antibiotics normally used to treat Staph infections. As antibiotic resistance continues to be a problem, researchers and clinicians are looking to new antibiotics, as well as antibiotic alternatives. One of these alternatives is phage therapy.