University of Otago microbiologist Dr Peter Fineran is having an unusually good month, having just gained two research awards, including a Rutherford Discovery Fellowship, which comes with $800,000 in research funding.

Dr Fineran (32), who is a senior lecturer in the Otago microbiology and immunology department, spent most of last month overseas, attending two scientific meetings in the United States and visiting a laboratory in the Netherlands.

Since his return to Dunedin, the Royal Society of New Zealand has announced Dr Fineran is the only Otago scientist among ten top researchers throughout the country to gain a Rutherford Discovery Fellowship. This will provide him with $800,000 over five years…Read more

Pall Corporation, a leading provider of separation systems and single-use filtration and purification technologies to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to support faster development of new drugs and vaccines, has introduced the new compact, easy-to-use Sentino microbiology pump for microbial analysis of aqueous samples using the Membrane Filter (MF) technique. The Sentino pump simplifies filtration while improving contamination control in pharmaceutical, beverage, and environmental water quality monitoring applications.

The Sentino pump streamlines analysis by replacing the traditional vacuum filtration system with a small peristaltic-action pump that draws aqueous samples through a membrane filter. Filtrate is channeled directly to drain or waste collection. The unit’s compact design makes it easy to use in confined spaces and frees valuable benchtop space. It also provides flexibility in arranging workspace for optimal efficiency and workflow.

A soft-touch keypad featuring simple on/off and pulse functions makes it easy to operate, with no complicated programming to validate. Operating parameters are preset and fixed to meet the published requirements for MF Technique as described in US EPA, ISO, and ASTM methods, thereby eliminating the need for extensive validations…Read more

Poor sanitation, lack of water and outbreaks of diseases are making the lives of the residents of slums in Karachi even harder.

“The lack of water and improper waste disposal are a big threat to lives due to the risk of waterborne diseases,” Adnan Khan, resident of Frontier Colony in Banaras and assistant professor of microbiology at Karachi University, told The News.

The threat of typhoid, cholera and other diseases from poor sanitation was real, he added.

He further said that the water pipes used in their area were of very low quality with virtually no maintenance. He observed that 30 percent of areas of Karachi had no proper sanitation system. He said that broken sewerage lines running in various slums had made life miserable…Read more

TORRANCE, Calif., Sept. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — As worry over global contagions increases and is dramatized in a new block-buster movie, “Contagion,” researchers say the best long-term defense against the spread of germs is to stop them first with better hand hygiene.

Graphically depicted in the upcoming film, “Contagion,” the average person touches their face three to five times a minute, unknowingly spreading germs. According to the CDC, “germs are often spread when people touch something that is contaminated and then touch their eyes, nose or mouth. Germs can live a long time (some can live for two hours or more) on surfaces like doorknobs, desks and tables”….Read more

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Sept. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Microban recently conducted in vitro testing designed to simulate planktonic and biofilm growth on High Consistency Rubber (HCR) silicone, which is commonly used in the manufacture of urinary catheters. Urinary infections are a costly source of Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs) and current technologies have had limited success in reducing infection rates. The new Microban® silver antimicrobial technology developed for HCR silicone by Microban Medical is engineered to meet stricter FDA guidelines. The FDA guidelines are aimed at encouraging manufacturers to adopt tougher efficacy requirements that will better correlate with decreases in patient infection rates…Read more

Expert team from Kozhikode Medical College will visit Vandur region on Thursday to study the rare parasitic disease Schistosomiasis. The outbreak of the disease has been reported for the first time in the district. Following the, reported first time in the district., , to study the rare disease in detail, on Thursday.

The team which will comprise doctors from departments of microbiology, pediatrics, and community medicine, will examine the samples collected from a boy, who has been admitted to a private hospital in Manjeri with the symptoms of the disease. The parasitic disease caused by Trematode Flatworms of the genus ‘Schistosoma’, is a very rare disease in the country. It is commonly seen in sub-Sahara areas of Africa and the Gulf countries…Read more

Andrea Endimiani, M.D., Ph.D., Institute of Veterinary Bacteriology, University of Bern, Switzerland, has been chosen by the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) to receive a 2011 ICAAC Young Investigator Award for combining basic microbiology, epidemiology, pharmacology, biochemistry, and molecular biology to investigate the impact of drug resistance traits on the outcome of infections caused by Gram-negative bacteria. Sponsored by the ASM, this award recognizes an early career scientist for research excellence in microbiology and infectious diseases.

His nominator, Roberto Bonomo, American Academy of Microbiology Fellow from Case Western Reserve University and the Veterans Administration Medical Center, describes some of his achievements, “Dr. Endimiani has undertaken a series of insightful studies examining the prevalence of KPC-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae in multiple cities across the United States. He was the first to describe the coexistence of the blaKPC with the plasmid mediated qnr genes.”…Read more

EMLab P&K is pleased to announce the publication of a peer reviewed article authored by Gregorio Delgado, a microbiologist from EMLab P&K’s Ft. Lauderdale laboratory in Mycotaxon. The article presents the history of mycology in Nicaragua.

This paper assembles a checklist of hyphomycetes (anamorphic fungi) known to be found in Nicaragua. Mr. Delgado’s research also includes the recording of 14 genera, 19 species and one forma that had not previously been found in Nicaragua. The article centralizes this wealth of knowledge on the mycology in Nicaragua into one source for use by researchers and educational facilities throughout the region…Read more

Pall Corporation today introduced the new compact, easy-to-use Sentino Microbiology Pump for microbial analysis of aqueous samples using the Membrane Filter (MF) Technique. The Sentino Pump simplifies filtration while improving contamination control in pharmaceutical, beverage, and environmental water quality monitoring applications.

The Sentino Pump streamlines analysis by replacing the traditional vacuum filtration system with a small peristaltic-action pump that draws aqueous samples through a membrane filter. Filtrate is channeled directly to drain or waste collection. The unit’s compact design makes it easy to use in confined spaces and frees valuable benchtop space. It also provides flexibility in arranging workspace for optimal efficiency and workflow…Read more