Topic description and stories

3D-printed custom electrodes

Tiny ‘skyscrapers’ help bacteria convert sunlight into electricity

07 Mar 2022

Researchers have made tiny ‘skyscrapers’ for communities of bacteria, helping them to generate electricity from just sunlight and water.

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Close-up of virus molecule

Identification of viruses and bacteria could be sped up through computational methods

30 Mar 2020

A new multinational study has shown how the process of distinguishing viruses and bacteria could be accelerated through the use of computational...

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Colony of the Flavobacterium IR1

In living colour: Brightly-coloured bacteria could be used to 'grow' paints and coatings

20 Feb 2018

Researchers have unlocked the genetic code behind some of the brightest and most vibrant colours in nature. The paper , published in the journal PNAS...

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Himansha Singh, Dept of Pharmacology

Postgraduate Pioneers 2017 #1

17 Oct 2017

With our Postgraduate Open Day fast approaching (3 Nov), we introduce five PhD students who are already making waves at Cambridge.

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The bug hunters and the microbiome

21 Jun 2017

Trevor Lawley and Gordon Dougan are bug hunters, albeit not the conventional kind. The bugs they collect are invisible to the naked eye. And even...

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Global chlorophyll

Bacteria in the world’s oceans produce millions of tonnes of hydrocarbons each year

05 Oct 2015

Scientists have calculated that millions of tonnes of hydrocarbons are produced annually by photosynthetic bacteria in the world’s oceans.

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Broiler chickens

Food poisoning: the bacteria lurking in your chicken

17 Jun 2015

The Cambridge Animal Alphabet series celebrates Cambridge's connections with animals through literature, art, science and society. Here, C is for...

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This illustration depicts a three-dimensional (3D) computer-generated image of a cluster of rod-shaped drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria, the pathogen responsible for causing the disease tuberculosis (TB). The artistic recreation was based upon scanning electron micrographic imagery.

Cambridge partners with India to fight multidrug resistant TB

13 Feb 2015

The University of Cambridge has been awarded £2 million from the UK Medical Research Council and the Government of India’s Department for...

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Fluorescent E. coli turn green as they produce indole

How niffy nappies could help develop new weapons in fight against bacteria

02 Apr 2014

Bacteria 'plan ahead' by tightening their belts to help them survive looming lean periods, researchers at Cambridge have discovered.

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Home made yoghurt

Yoghurt cuts risk of type 2 diabetes

06 Feb 2014

Eating more yoghurt can reduce the risk of new-onset type 2 diabetes, researchers at Cambridge have found.

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Flagellated cell

Building ‘nanomachines’ in biological outer space

14 Nov 2013

New research reveals how bacteria construct tiny flagella ‘nanomachines’ outside the cell.

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Inspired by nature

24 Oct 2013

To maximise the efficiency of solar cells of the future, physicists are taking a leaf out of nature’s book.

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