Blog listing

April 22, 2020

Each year, the Microbiology Society awards five Prize Lectures in recognition of significant contributions to microbiology. The awards celebrate the outstanding applications of microbiology to research, education and translation and all members are invited to nominate an outstanding microbiologist for a Microbiology Society Prize. We got in touch with former Peter Wildy Prize winner Dr Tansy Hammarton, University of Glasgow to ask her a few questions about her award and how this has impacted her research and engagement work since.

November 8, 2018

Using mosquitoes infected with bacteria sounds like a strange way to prevent the spread of disease, but that is exactly how scientists have been making headlines in Australia, Florida and Brazil. In an effort to combat dengue fever and Zika virus, thousands of mosquitoes are being intentionally infected with a bacterium called Wolbachia and released around the world.

May 24, 2017

The world of parasites can sometimes be extremely gruesome. Take, for example, the charming female jewel wasp, which uses a cockroach as a living incubator for its larvae. The wasp stings the roach in the brain, and leads the much bigger host by its antennae into a burrow before laying an egg inside its abdomen. The cockroach, being completely under the jewel wasp’s spell, doesn’t protest. Once the egg hatches, the larva consumes the cockroach from the inside out. Lovely.

April 29, 2016

Can parasitic worms treat inflammatory diseases?

March 23, 2016

Today at the Society’s Annual Conference, Dr Ellen Nisbet talked about the malaria parasite Plasmodium, and how a remnant from its evolutionary past may one day provide a target for new drugs…

October 19, 2015

This summer, many people living in Lancashire were forced to boil their drinking and cooking water, after an outbreak of a parasite that can cause a nasty bout of stomach cramps and diarrhoea.

April 25, 2015

Today is World Malaria Day 2015, which highlights the continued fight against a disease that affects millions of people across the world. In this post, we’ve pulled together some facts and information from sources across the web.

December 23, 2014

It’s almost time for us to say goodbye to 2014 and wave a big hello to 2015. Before we do, it seems like the right moment to reflect on the amazing year we’ve had here on Microbe Post. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading the articles and listening to the podcasts and are as excited as we are for next year – it’s going to be a big one for us!