In this blog from the team at Pro-Lab Diagnostics, we share exciting news and stories from the ever-evolving Microbiology world in May 2025.
Malaria has long been a serious, and often deadly, infection. In 2023, malaria was responsible for 597,000 deaths across 83 countries. For decades, scientists around the globe have worked to prevent and treat malaria.
For years, nets treated with long-lasting insecticides have been used to prevent malaria, however, this has led to widespread insecticide resistance.
Thankfully, a recent discovery brings new hope! Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University, with the backing of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, have discovered a promising type of chemical compound.
When applied to insecticide-treated bed nets, the compound appears to kill the malaria-causing parasite in mosquitoes. Tests showed that mosquitoes that landed on the treated nets were cured of the malaria infection.
There is hope that this new discovery may have the potential to evolve and become a key player in eradicating malaria around the world.
A famous clinical trial carried out over a decade ago by UK researchers discovered that children exposed to peanuts in the early months of life had a lower risk of developing a peanut allergy later in life. More recently, researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer may have discovered why that is… and the answer is Thetis Cells.
The study found that Thetis cells, which are a class of immune cells, likely play a crucial and previously unknown role in suppressing inflammatory responses to foods.
Plus, the research highlighted a critical window in the early months of life that is ideal for “oral intolerance” – the practice of training the immune system not to overreact to food allergens.
The team of researchers believe that this new mechanistic understanding of food tolerance in early childhood may open the door for new therapeutic possibilities.
Glycopeptide saarvienin A was discovered by an international team of researchers led by the University of Vienna.
It is thought that the unique structure, which does not bind the typical bacterial target involved in cell wall synthesis, could pave the way for antibiotics that bacteria have never encountered before.
The rise of antibiotic-resistant infections poses a range of problems for global health, including the risk of common viruses and diseases becoming deadly.
So far, the newly discovered compound has demonstrated remarkable activity against vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). And this is only the beginning! The team behind the discovery are now looking to refine the compound into a drug candidate that may be suitable for clinical use.
Despite the BCG vaccine being used widely across several countries to prevent TB, the contagious disease is still one of the world’s top infectious killers. The World Health Organisation reports that TB kills 1.5 million people per year, and causes illness in as many as 10 million people around the globe.
However, a new study from researchers at the University of Surrey and the University of Oxford have discovered that TB-causing bacteria may have an “on-off switch” allowing growth to pause and restart. This molecular switch may contribute to TB being able to hide from the immune response and resist antibiotics.
Researchers believe the discovery could be the key to better understanding TB’s persistence and, subsequently, could make the bacteria easier to eliminate.
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