Bugs as Drugs

Bugs as Drugs

Author: Robert A. Britton

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2020-07-02

Total Pages: 514

ISBN-13: 1555819702

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Examining the enormous potential of microbiome manipulation to improve health Associations between the composition of the intestinal microbiome and many human diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease, cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorders, and cancer, have been elegantly described in the past decade. Now, whole-genome sequencing, bioinformatics, and precision gene-editing techniques are being combined with centuries-old therapies, such as fecal microbiota transplantation, to translate current research into new diagnostics and therapeutics to treat complex diseases. Bugs as Drugs provides a much-needed overview of microbes in therapies and will serve as an excellent resource for scientists and clinicians as they carry out research and clinical studies on investigating the roles the microbiota plays in health and disease. In Bugs as Drugs, editors Robert A. Britton and Patrice D. Cani have assembled a fascinating collection of reviews that chart the history, current efforts, and future prospects of using microorganisms to fight disease and improve health. Sections cover traditional uses of probiotics, next-generation microbial therapeutics, controlling infectious diseases, and indirect strategies for manipulating the host microbiome. Topics presented include: How well-established probiotics support and improve host health by improving the composition of the intestinal microbiota of the host and by modulating the host immune response. The use of gene editing and recombinant DNA techniques to create tailored probiotics and to characterize next-generation beneficial microbes. For example, engineering that improves the anti-inflammatory profile of probiotics can reduce the number of colonic polyps formed, and lactobacilli can be transformed into targeted delivery systems carrying therapeutic proteins or bioengineered bacteriophage. The association of specific microbiota composition with colorectal cancer, liver diseases, osteoporosis, and inflammatory bowel disease. The gut microbiota has been proposed to serve as an organ involved in regulation of inflammation, immune function, and energy homeostasis. Fecal microbiota transplantation as a promising treatment for numerous diseases beyond C. difficile infection. Practical considerations for using fecal microbiota transplantation are provided, while it is acknowledged that more high-quality evidence is needed to ascertain the importance of strain specificity in positive treatment outcomes. Because systems biology approaches and synthetic engineering of microbes are now high-throughput and cost-effective, a much wider range of therapeutic possibilities can be explored and vetted.


Microbes and Climate Change -- Science, People & Impacts

Microbes and Climate Change -- Science, People & Impacts

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 2022

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

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Climate change is unarguably a critical existential threat to humanity in the 21st century. As the most abundant organisms on Earth, microorganisms make considerable contributions to and are greatly affected by a changing climate. Microbes are major drivers of elemental cycles (such are carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus), important producers and consumers of greenhouse gases, and pertinent pathogens of humans, animals, and plants. While the threat of climate change looms large, conversations about the relationship between it and microorganisms are still rare outside of the microbial sciences community. To understand fully how our climate may change in the future, it is important to learn how a changing climate will impact microbes and their relationships with humans and their environment, as well as incorporate microbial processes into climate models. This report is based on the deliberations of experts who participated in a colloquium on 5 November 2021 organized by the American Academy of Microbiology, the honorific leadership group and think tank within the American Society for Microbiology. These experts came from diverse disciplines and sectors and provided multifaceted perspectives and insights. Over the course of the discussion, the group made several major recommendations for academic, policy, and market partners to promote innovation for microbe-driven climate change solutions that support human well-being.


Scientific Integrity

Scientific Integrity

Author: Francis L. Macrina

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2014-07-22

Total Pages: 576

ISBN-13: 1555816614

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This widely adopted textbook provides the essential content and skill-building tools for teaching the responsible conduct of scientific research. Scientific Integrity covers the breadth of concerns faced by scientists: protection of animal and human experimental subjects, scientific publication, intellectual property, conflict of interest, collaboration, record keeping, mentoring, and the social and ethical responsibilities of scientists. Learning activities and resources designed to elucidate the principles of Scientific Integrity include Dozens of highly relevant, interactive case studies for discussion in class or online Numerous print and online resources covering the newest research guidelines, regulations, mandates and policies Discussion questions, role-playing exercises, and survey tools to promote critical thought Documents including published rules of conduct, sample experimentation protocols, and patent applications The new edition of Scientific Integrity responds to significant recent changes—new mandates, policies, laws, and other developments—in the field of responsible conduct of research. Dr. Macrina plants the seeds of awareness of existing, changing, and emerging standards in scientific conduct and provides the tools to promote critical thinking in the use of that information. Scientific Integrity is the original turnkey text to guide the next generations of scientists as well as practicing researchers in the essential skills and approaches for the responsible conduct of science.


Microbial Evolution

Microbial Evolution

Author: Howard Ochman

Publisher:

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781621820376

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Bacteria have been the dominant forms of life on Earth for the past 3.5 billion years. They rapidly evolve, constantly changing their genetic architecture through horizontal DNA transfer and other mechanisms. Consequently, it can be difficult to define individual species and determine how they are related. Written and edited by experts in the field, this collection from Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology examines how bacteria and other microbes evolve, focusing on insights from genomics-based studies. Contributors discuss the origins of new microbial populations, the evolutionary and ecological mechanisms that keep species separate once they have diverged, and the challenges of constructing phylogenetic trees that accurately reflect their relationships. They describe the organization of microbial genomes, the various mutations that occur, including the birth of new genes de novo and by duplication, and how natural selection acts on those changes. The role of horizontal gene transfer as a strong driver of microbial evolution is emphasized throughout. The authors also explore the geologic evidence for early microbial evolution and describe the use of microbial evolution experiments to examine phenomena like natural selection. This volume will thus be essential reading for all microbial ecologists, population geneticists, and evolutionary biologists.


Fostering Integrity in Research

Fostering Integrity in Research

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2018-01-13

Total Pages: 327

ISBN-13: 0309391253

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The integrity of knowledge that emerges from research is based on individual and collective adherence to core values of objectivity, honesty, openness, fairness, accountability, and stewardship. Integrity in science means that the organizations in which research is conducted encourage those involved to exemplify these values in every step of the research process. Understanding the dynamics that support â€" or distort â€" practices that uphold the integrity of research by all participants ensures that the research enterprise advances knowledge. The 1992 report Responsible Science: Ensuring the Integrity of the Research Process evaluated issues related to scientific responsibility and the conduct of research. It provided a valuable service in describing and analyzing a very complicated set of issues, and has served as a crucial basis for thinking about research integrity for more than two decades. However, as experience has accumulated with various forms of research misconduct, detrimental research practices, and other forms of misconduct, as subsequent empirical research has revealed more about the nature of scientific misconduct, and because technological and social changes have altered the environment in which science is conducted, it is clear that the framework established more than two decades ago needs to be updated. Responsible Science served as a valuable benchmark to set the context for this most recent analysis and to help guide the committee's thought process. Fostering Integrity in Research identifies best practices in research and recommends practical options for discouraging and addressing research misconduct and detrimental research practices.


Systems Microbiology

Systems Microbiology

Author: Brian Douglas Robertson

Publisher:

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781912530458

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This volume contains cutting-edge reviews by world-leading experts on the systems biology of microorganisms. As well as covering theoretical approaches and mathematical modelling this book includes case studies on single microbial species of bacteria and archaea, and explores the systems analysis of microbial phenomena such as chemotaxis and phagocytosis. Topics covered include mathematical models for systems biology, systems biology of Escherichia coli metabolism, bacterial chemotaxis, systems biology of infection, host-microbe interactions, phagocytosis, system-level study of metabolism in M.


Scholarship Reconsidered

Scholarship Reconsidered

Author: Ernest L. Boyer

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2015-10-06

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 1119005868

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Shifting faculty roles in a changing landscape Ernest L. Boyer's landmark book Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate challenged the publish-or-perish status quo that dominated the academic landscape for generations. His powerful and enduring argument for a new approach to faculty roles and rewards continues to play a significant part of the national conversation on scholarship in the academy. Though steeped in tradition, the role of faculty in the academic world has shifted significantly in recent decades. The rise of the non-tenure-track class of professors is well documented. If the historic rule of promotion and tenure is waning, what role can scholarship play in a fragmented, unbundled academy? Boyer offers a still much-needed approach. He calls for a broadened view of scholarship, audaciously refocusing its gaze from the tenure file and to a wider community. This expanded edition offers, in addition to the original text, a critical introduction that explores the impact of Boyer's views, a call to action for applying Boyer's message to the changing nature of faculty work, and a discussion guide to help readers start a new conversation about how Scholarship Reconsidered applies today.