Monthly Archives: April 2014

Mammalian meat allergy caused by tick bites

Galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose.svg

People are suffering severe allergic reactions (including anaphylaxis) to meat products as tick bites cause the human body to mount an immune response against the mammalian carbohydrate “alpha-gal”. This unusual condition has so far been identified in Australia and in the United States, however, the numbers of those affected is substantial and appears to be… Read more »

Biology
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Congratulations to Research Award winner Guido Favia

res-award-trophy

The BioMed Central Research awards – presented annually – recognises the outstanding research published in all its journals. Awards are presented to the best research in ten subject categories. I am delighted to announce that Guido Favia and his colleagues are the winners of the ‘Microbiology, Immunology, Infection and Inflammation’ category award for their recent… Read more »

Biology
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Butterflies behaving like cuckoos

Maculinea alcon_13479W

The beautiful and rare Alcon Blue butterfly, Maculina alcon, has a surprising life cycle; for about nine months of the year it behaves like a cuckoo. It belongs to a large family of butterflies, the Lycaenidae, many of whom have a special relationship with ants.  Its lays its eggs on the flower buds of the… Read more »

Biology
2

Throwing the switch: gametocytogenesis in malaria parasites

P. falciparum gametocytes

This is a guest blog article by Paul Horrocks and Catherine Merrick, Centre for Applied Entomology and Parasitology, Keele University. Plasmodium, the parasite that causes malaria, has a famously complicated lifecycle.  To be transmitted from human to human, it must cease asexual replication in the erythrocytes of the human host and commit to formation of… Read more »

Biology
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