News from the NRP Strategic Alliances and NRP research partners

Evolutionary genomics of anthroponosis in Cryptosporidium

March 27, 2019 9:43: am | by Sarah Clarke

Generalist pathogens can infect multiple host species. In the case of anthroponotic infectious diseases, the spread is from humans to animals, whereas zoonotic diseases spread from animals to humans. Many Cryptosporidium species can infect multiple hosts, and these infections tend to result in severe diarrhoea. Diarrhoeal pathogens cause more mortality than malaria, measles, and AIDS [Continue reading»]

ELSA PhD student success at Microbes in Norwich

March 4, 2019 4:18: pm | by Sarah Clarke

Over 230 Microbiologists from across the Norwich Research Park came together to enjoy an excellent day of exciting science at Microbes in Norwich 2019. This Biennial event showcases the depth and breadth of microbiology research across the NRP. In addition to 10 research talks from newly established microbiologists on the NRP and a super Plenary [Continue reading»]

Microbes in Norwich 2019

March 4, 2019 4:13: pm | by Sarah Clarke

The Organising Committee for Microbes in Norwich 2019 would like to acknowledge support from the International Society for Microbial Ecology, Nature Microbiology and the Microbiology Society and in particular for their sponsorship of Poster Prizes for Early Career Researchers. The Poster Awards Committee chaired by Jon Todd (UEA) had a difficult job in selecting just [Continue reading»]

Blue Haze and Bacteria

February 14, 2019 10:22: am | by Sarah Clarke

Have you ever wondered what causes the blue haze over the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia in the USA or the Blue Mountains in Australia? It is caused by a volatile organic compound called isoprene that is released in huge amounts by trees. Isoprene is an interesting trace gas in the atmosphere as it can [Continue reading»]

Microbial Interactions across the Norwich Research Park

November 19, 2018 3:15: pm | by Sarah Clarke

Over 100 Early Career Researchers from across the Norwich Research Park came together for a One-Day Workshop on Microbial Interactions organised by the Microbes in Norwich Team and ELSA. The line-up features speakers from UEA, the Earlham Institute, Quadrum Institute of Biosciences, the John Innes Centre and an excellent, diverse range of topics were covered. [Continue reading»]

Dr Laura Lehtovirta-Morley joins Editorial Board of The ISME Journal

September 27, 2018 10:58: am | by Sarah Clarke

Dr Laura Lehtovirta-Morley, our new Dorothy Hodgkin Royal Society Research Fellow in the ELSA lab at UEA has just accepted an invitation to join the Editorial Board of The ISME Journal. The ISME Journal is the premier journal in the field of microbial ecology with an Impact Factor of 9.5 and has recently celebrated 10 [Continue reading»]

Eternal flames and gas seeps in New York State harbour natural gas eaters

September 26, 2018 3:19: pm | by Sarah Clarke

A recent survey of natural gas seeps in New York State, which are sometimes known as “Eternal Flames,” has shown that nutritionally diverse, facultative methane oxidising bacteria are highly abundant at these environments. The lead author of this study, recently published in Microbiome, Dr Farhan Ul-Haque has shown that the ability to grow on methane [Continue reading»]

FSBI 2018 conference at the UEA

July 23, 2018 12:29: pm | by Sarah Clarke

The Fisheries Society of the British Isles (FSBI) held its yearly conference at the UEA in July 2018. The theme was “Sustainable Use and Exploitation of Fishes”, and one of the presenters was Ryan S. Mohammed from the University of the West Indies (UWI) who presented research co-funded by ELSA. Using a host-parasite model system, [Continue reading»]

Royal Society Funding for Research into Global Nitrogen and Carbon Cycling

March 26, 2018 3:45: pm | by Sarah Clarke

Congratulations to our new Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellow, Laura Lehtovirta-Morley who has just secured funding from the Royal Society for funding of two projects entitled “Crosstalk between global biogeochemical cycles and its impact on climate change” and “Resolving a missing biochemical link in the global nitrogen cycle”. These exciting new projects will involve use of [Continue reading»]

Novel allele advantage in guppies

March 6, 2018 9:59: am | by Sarah Clarke

How do the vertebrate immune genes of the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) maintain such extraordinary levels of genetic polymorphisms? This question dates back from the 1970s, and one of the earliest hypotheses suggested a mechanism called “novel allele advantage”. Novel alleles of hosts from distant populations are thought to be better at recognising parasites because [Continue reading»]