News by Subject Biology

Bordenstein's team studied Nasonia parasitic wasps, which are about the size of a sesame seed, and they serve as one of the best models to dissect and characterize the evolution of insect genomes.

Researchers at the University of Bristol have revealed new details on how the animal disease Nagana is spread by tsetse flies in Africa.

Mosquito saliva alone -- even in the absence of any pathogens -- contains hundreds of proteins. Now, researchers reporting in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases have discovered that the interaction of these proteins with the human immune system causes an immune response that can be detected for days after a mosquito bite.

Green blood is one of the most unusual characteristics in the animal kingdom, but it's the hallmark of a group of lizards in New Guinea. The muscles, bones and tongues of these lizards appear bright, lime-green due to high levels of biliverdin, or a green bile pigment, which is toxic and causes jaundice. Surprisingly, these lizards remain healthy with levels of green bile that are 40 times higher than the lethal concentration in humans.

ETH researchers have discovered odor profiles typical of people infected with acute or asymptomatic malaria. This is a first promising step towards a low-cost diagnostic test that can be used in the field in developing countries.

Recent studies in the journal Molecular & Cellular Proteomics have shed light on pathogenic mechanisms of the sexually-transmitted parasite Trichomonas vaginalis and the HIV-associated opportunistic lung fungus Aspergillus.