A selection of health news from the University of Chicago and around the globe curated just for you.
Microbes living in the tons of plastics in the oceans
Jessica Mark Welch and colleagues at UChicago’s Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, MA, aim their new microscopy technique at microplastic samples from the ocean to characterize the extensive biofilms on ocean plastic. (Agro Ecology Innovations)
Staph vaccines likely to work better if administered earlier
Research by former UChicago faculty member Julian Bubeck-Wardenburg, now at Washington University in St. Louis, suggests that vaccinating infants before their first encounter staph, either just after birth or via their mothers during pregnancy, would likely generate a stronger immune response. (Futurity)
Microbial inequity
To the host of ways people experience inequity, add the microbiome: A University of Maine scientist argues that access to fibrous foods, parks, good air quality, other infrastructure affect the development of a healthy microbiome. (The Conversation)
UChicago faculty lauded yet again
Thomas Gajewski, MD, PhD, Abbvie Foundation Professor of Cancer Immunotherapy, is honored with the 2019 Award for Immuno-Oncology from the European Society for Medical Oncology (Healio)
Gut neurons are anti-salmonella warriors
Research from Harvard Medical School have found that nerves in the gut not only regulate the cellular gates that admit microorganisms, but actively boost the number of protective microbes there. (ScienceBlog)
