Bacteria are masters of survival. Pathogens, for example, produce a range of molecules enabling them to infect their hosts and to evade the immune defense. The entero-pathogenic bacterium Salmonella enterica Typhimurium uses…

No matter where you go, you always find someone there already. This is true for many living creatures but especially for bacteria. In order to be able to stand their ground and eliminate unwanted rivals, many bacteria rely…

Millions of tiny microbes on leaves, stones or our skin jostle for space. And almost everywhere they have to compete for resources and nutrients. In the course of evolution, some bacteria have therefore developed a weapon to…

The origin of every cell of our body is a single cell, the fertilized egg. On the way to become a specialized cell, whether blood, heart or nerve cells, its descendants follow a genetic program. This program determines the…

The bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the most common and dangerous pathogens in hospitals causing severe infections in patients, such as wound infections, pneumonia or meningitis. During the first stage of…

The W. Alden Spencer Award is presented annually by the Department of Neuroscience and the Kavli Institute for Brain Science at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, in recognition of outstanding…

Bacteria are becoming increasingly resistant to common antibiotics. Often, resistance is mediated by resistance genes, which can simply jump from one bacterial population to the next. It’s a common assumption that the…

In the human body’s fight against bacterial pathogens, white blood cells are in the front line. They identify and ingest the invaders, and render them harmless using highly toxic substances. It is important that these…

The frequent and sometimes careless use of antibiotics leads to an increasingly rapid spread of resistance. Hospitals are a particular hot spot for this. Patients not only introduce a wide variety of pathogens, which may…

Proteins perform various jobs in cells, they catalyze thousands of biochemical reactions, relay signals and are required for building cellular structures and transport processes. Within every single cell of our body vast…