Category Archives: Animal Microbiology

Does the cattle gut microbiome affect methane output?

Posted on November 28, 2018 by

I am a second year Walsh Fellowship PhD student based in Teagasc Grange and registered at University College Dublin. The title of my project is Understanding of the role of diet, host feed efficiency and genetics on the rumen microbiome … Continue reading →

Posted in Animal Microbiology, Environmental Microbiology, Microbiome | Leave a comment

Wolbachia: The mosquito manipulator

Posted on November 8, 2018 by

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Animal Microbiology | 2 Comments

Could the gut microbiome influence livestock growth?

Posted on October 24, 2018 by

Dr Stafford Vigors is a researcher at Teagasc, a Food Research Centre in Ashtown, Dublin. At the 2018 Microbes and Mucosal Surfaces Focused Meeting, Stafford presented his research ‘Analysis of the intestinal microbiome of pigs divergent in feed efficiency.’ Here, … Continue reading →

Posted in Animal Microbiology, Clinical and Medical Microbiology, Food Microbiology, Microbiome | Leave a comment

A summer of prizes: Dr Samantha Ellis

Posted on October 9, 2018 by

This year, the Journal of General Virology (JGV) has sponsored four poster prizes at conferences and meetings around the world. Over this week, we will be getting to know a little more about the winners and their research. Dr Samantha Ellis was … Continue reading →

Posted in Animal Microbiology, Events, Professional Development, Publishing | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Young Microbiologist of the Year Finalists: Cathy Abberton

Posted on August 23, 2018 by

The Sir Howard Dalton Young Microbiologist of the Year Prize is awarded by the society each year. The prize recognises and rewards excellence in science communication by a Microbiology Society Member who is a postgraduate student or postdoctoral researcher, having … Continue reading →

Posted in Animal Microbiology, Events, Professional Development | 5 Comments

Using animals in biomedical research: Why education holds the key

Posted on June 13, 2018 by

Animal (or in vivo) experiments play an important role in biomedical research. They are essential to support the development of innovative medicines which can ultimately improve human and animal health. But for these studies to be scientifically valid, laboratory animals … Continue reading →

Posted in Animal Microbiology, Clinical and Medical Microbiology | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Protecting penguins from avian malaria

Posted on September 5, 2017 by

In 2016, a colony of penguins living in Exmoor Zoo in the UK suddenly died after an outbreak of avian malaria, a parasitic disease spread by the bites of infected mosquitoes. Sadly, this isn’t the only time that avian malaria … Continue reading →

Posted in Animal Microbiology, Parasitology, Video | Tagged , | 3 Comments

A killer snake fungus has been found in wild British snakes for the first time

Posted on July 20, 2017 by

Back in April 2016, we wrote about an emerging disease that’s been killing wild snake populations in North America. Snake fungal disease, or SFD, is an infection that leads to blisters and lesions on snakes’ skin, turning scales yellow and … Continue reading →

Posted in Animal Microbiology, Emerging Diseases | Tagged | 3 Comments

Researchers are hunting for viruses that could cause the next pandemic

Posted on July 13, 2017 by

Scientists around the world are looking for the next SARS or MERS virus in wildlife from disease emergence ‘hotspots’. giulia/Flickr/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 In late 2002, a new kind of lung infection began to emerge in the Guandong province of southern … Continue reading →

Posted in Animal Microbiology, Emerging Diseases, On the Horizon, Virology | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

The fungus that makes ‘zombie ants’ could use biological clocks to control their minds

Posted on May 24, 2017 by

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Animal Microbiology, Mycology | Tagged , | 1 Comment