EMBL and the Swedish Science for Life Laboratory sign agreement to build new collaborative links EMBL and the Swedish Science for Life Laboratory (SciLifeLab) have signed a memorandum of understanding to face global challenges and find effective solutions to improve planetary and human health together. Image credit: Arina Rybina/EMBL
Data science and medical genomics, human and microbial ecosystems, infection biology and planetary biology – these topics are at the core of a memorandum of understanding that has recently been signed between EMBL and the Swedish Science for Life Laboratory (SciLifeLab).
“The remarkable alignment between the research interests and long term goals of EMBL and SciLifeLab indicates how valuable this formalised collaboration will be,” says EMBL Director General Edith Heard. “Some of the most pressing challenges we face today are global, and effective solutions to improve planetary and human health require scientists to work together across count
Key protein in cholera-causing bacteria enables them to adapt to temperature changes
Scientists have discovered an essential protein in cholera-causing bacteria that allows them to adapt to changes in temperature, according to a study published today in eLife.
The protein, BipA, is conserved across bacterial species, which suggests it could hold the key to how other types of bacteria change their biology and growth to survive at suboptimal temperatures.
Vibrio cholerae (V. cholerae) is the bacteria responsible for the severe diarrhoeal disease cholera. As with other species, V. cholerae forms biofilms - communities of bacteria enclosed in a structure made up of sugars and proteins - to protect against predators and stress conditions. V. cholerae forms these biofilms both in their aquatic environment and in the human intestine. There is evidence to suggest that biofilm formation is crucial to V. cholerae s ability to colonise in the intestine and might enhance its infectivity.