Category Archives: History of Science

Has TB had its time?

Posted on September 26, 2018 by

In 19th century Europe, the Industrial Revolution brought on a new age of technological advancement. Cities saw an explosion in population growth. But with this came something more sinister – a mysterious disease which killed as many as one in four … Continue reading →

Posted in Clinical and Medical Microbiology, History of Science | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

A history of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA14

Posted on August 6, 2018 by

This month, the first paper describing Pseudomonas aeruginosa UCBPP-PA14 has been re-printed in the Journal of Medical Microbiology. Pseudomonas aeruginosa UCBPP-PA14 is a unique strain. It can cause severe disease in both plants and animals. Because of this, it is … Continue reading →

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Keeping up with virus taxonomy

Posted on July 16, 2018 by

As sequencing technologies continue to become more efficient, more and more viruses are being discovered. Until recently, classification of these new viruses still relied upon information about physical properties. The ICTV has since embraced metagenomics, using sequence data to infer biological … Continue reading →

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Archaea and the Tree of Life

Posted on May 9, 2016 by

As part of the latest issue of Microbiology Today, called ‘What is life?’ (published online 10 May), we explore the Archaea. These are microbes that have been around since the beginnings of life on Earth, but were only discovered in the last 40 years. … Continue reading →

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Vaccines: From the cowshed to the clinic

Posted on April 14, 2016 by

Vaccines are an essential component of public health, keeping people safe against disease. But how do they work, how are they manufactured and what are the challenges involved? We spoke to Dr Sarah Gilbert from the Jenner Institute to find … Continue reading →

Posted in Clinical and Medical Microbiology, History of Science, Virology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Revisiting the Ancientbiotics project

Posted on March 22, 2016 by

It was this time last year at the Annual Conference that Dr Freya Harrison from the University of Nottingham gave a talk about the rediscovery she and her colleagues made of a 1,000-year-old Anglo-Saxon treatment for eye infections. A year … Continue reading →

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Microbe Talk Extra: Culture Collections

Posted on July 7, 2015 by

Private Ernest Cable was a WW1 soldier who died on 13 March 1915 and his body now lies in a communal cemetery in Wimereux, France. Records suggest that Cable was the first British soldier in WW1 to die from dysentery … Continue reading →

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Microbe Talk: September 2014

Posted on September 25, 2014 by

The Reverend Dr William H Dallinger, is probably not a name you’re familiar with. However, he was an important figure in the history of early microbiology. We sent Ben to the Royal Society, to learn more about Dallinger’s life. Also … Continue reading →

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Thinking about science like Louis Pasteur: Lessons from History

Posted on September 24, 2014 by

Scientific discoveries and achievements from centuries past are often portrayed as a set of fully-fledged concepts and perfect results. The exacting trial-and-error processes and frequent setbacks we know from modern-day science are rarely mentioned. Why could this be – was … Continue reading →

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Opinion: Putting learned societies at the centre of the ‘policy community’

Posted on February 13, 2014 by

In our latest blog post, William Burns and Nancy Mendoza give us their thoughts on the importance of collaboration between learned societies. This post was originally published on the Campaign for Science and Engineering (CaSE) blog. 2013 marked the 30th … Continue reading →

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