Microbiology and Immunology

Hi guys! The following question was asked as part of a finals exam in immunology. We have two human populations inhabiting two different geographical areas. Which genes would we expect to find to be more 'conserved' between the two populations. The ones that code for the TCR chains or the genes that code for the MHCs and why? Any help would be highly appreciated.

Hi everybody, I'm looking for advice about the plausibility of a claim someone has made. The claim is that there can at any time be a number of possible infections, both viral and bacterial, located throughout the body and that somehow, the immune system has become tolerant to these infections, which results in a number of possible chronic inflammatory conditions. Further to this claim is that it is possible to identify these infections via blood assays (probably via lymphocyte counts) and, once identified, introduce antigen specific vaccines to eliminate the infections completely. The person making these claims informs me there are 28 possible infections that c…

Hello, I am curious as to exactly what the difference is between the Lennox and Miller modifications of Lysogeny Broth are? Is it just a difference in salt concentration? Also, I saw on Phytotechnology Laboratories' website that they offer an "ADP-Free" version of the Lennox modification. I assume this means "animal-derived-product-free" as that is what I see on the website. However, what is the advantage to using ADP-free LB to regular LB, or when would it be appropriate to use ADP-Free LB as opposed to the normal formulation? If anyone needs any clarification as to what I am looking at/talking about, see here: http://www.phytotechlab.com/Detail.aspx?ID=999 …

Im just curious because I got food poisoning last year 2 times in 1 month from eating frozen pizza. My life basically got ruined so i want to know what organism caused this.

Hi everyone, I am trying to phase reverse Salmonella Locarno (z29:z42). The phase that I want is z29. I've already tried passing the bacterium through semisolid agar containing antiserum with z42. I've increased the concentration per pass. The little bugger is swimming fine, but when I test for both phases...phase 42 is still present. Any idea why this is? I'm surprised since z29 is the first phase, and I'm having a tough time getting it. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Hi, I have been working on a project in Microbiology where we are given an unknown bacteria and I have to perform tests to determine the type of bacteria it is. My bacteria has a pink pigment, and so far I have concluded that my bacteria is gram variable, has no motility, and has no glucose acid production. Could you please help me figure out what bacteria I have?

Hi, I'm not sure if this is the right place and apologies in advance if I posted this in wrong forum. I am from ME and wish to join a master immunology program in USA. I have MD degree and currently work in a primary health care center. I tried to apply for immunology programs but they requested a lab experience which is not feasible to me . Is there a program which is good but dose not require either GRE nor lab background?

Is it possible to have Hypoglycemia and not realize it? I think I might as I have most of the symptoms. I also always been rather slim for most of my life. I was told its not possible as I would have had some severe signs like seizures and stuff at this point if I did have it and it was never diagnosed. Though from what I read most of the symptoms include cravings, sweating, vision issues such as blurry vision, passing out, sensitivity to sunlight. Is it possible to have it and never have it diagnosed during Childhood?

Antibiotic inhibits flagella movemet and iron uptake (by same pathway) in a bacteria species. Bacteria is grown with NaNO3 and no aeration and this restores bacteria's motility and iron uptake ability (Sidereophore). Also, a high dosage of antibiotic is bateriostatic. So how does this antibiotic function? Also what's the significance of the NaNO3 and the dosage? So far, I've figured out the antibiotic probably functions by inhibiting PMF. But I don't know how exactly it can do that. I say PMF is the key because both flagelle motility and iron uptake systems need it to work. Any help will be much appreciated. Need answers/possible solutions/ideas by Sunday ni…

I'm teaching a senior level immunology course and having to brush up on my Immunology. I have stumbled across a few questions that I've struggled to find answers to. If anyone knows and can connect me with some websites or publications regarding the following topics I'd appreciate it. 1) Why are NK cells classified as agranular leukocytes if they have cytoplasmic granules? 2) A text book I have says that a cytotoxic T cell can only be activated if it binds to Antigen on MHC from a professional APC (macrophage, dendritic cell or B cell). I was under the impression that any nucleated cell expressing MHC class I could present antigen to a Cytotoxic T cell to activ…

I think I have contracted strep throats. I have the symptoms and been feeling terrible for the past 3 days. It said online that you treat it with Antibiotics but strep throat goes away with or without antibiotics if you get treatment or not in 3-7 days. So does it matter if you treat it or not?

Hello Everyone I am asking for a word of advice. I am supposed to be doing fermentations soon. My problem is I never really had much experiences with these. I need to run 3 fermentations like this. 1- Yeast DSM 1333 s cerevisiae 2- Yeast + Gram positive contaminant (Lactobacillus fermentum) 3- Yeast + Gram negative contaminant (E.coli) I decided to use these conditions for 3 fermentations Broth= Water 1L, yeast extract 10g/L, glucose 20g/L, peptone 20g/L pH = 6 temperature 30C 160rpm For starter cultures and yeast i used hemocytometer and the formula initial concentration x volume i want to know = final concentration (start f…

Hello everyone, I was involved in a recent study where we found a new form of social motility or swarming-like behavior in the archaeal species Haloferax volcanii. If you are not familiar with the idea of swarming in microbes, it is very interesting and something good to know about! We usually think about swarming in insects, or similar behaviors in animals like schools of fish, herds of buffalo, etc.. But microbes undergo similar activities as well. One well known example is the soil species Myxococcus xanthus that is able to prey upon nearby colonies of other bacteria. M. xanthus cells form waves or ripples of cells (like wolf-packs) that travel through and lyse…

Dear all, We had faced a problem in MHT test? We could not able to get good results in MHT by using known carbapenemase resistant strains? we checked to all possible ways like inoculum concentration, MHA, ATCC strains.. We could not sort out the issue... Please share your ideas and views about trouble shooting procedrue for MHT. Many thanks in advance for your views... Dr. R. Vijaya KUmar

I found some microbes that apparently are some type of bacteria and now i cant find protozoans What are those things? Someone know the specie? Why the Protozoans are dying? those things appeared in the water example and later all the protozoans died

Which test would I use to identify B. cereus? Enterotube II, Oxi/Ferm Tube II, or API Staph? It's gram positive and oxidase negative. Would any of these tests even work?

Hello, I am doing an Independent Research project for my Microbio class. I am wondering where specifically to find M. Luteus? I found that it's found in the normal flora of the skin and in soil, but not any specifics. Any help? I need to get it as isolated as possible too.

For a science project, I was looking for a bacteria that would last on surfaces for a long time, in low humidity, relatively lower temperatures (20-40 degrees Fahrenheit), low pressure (5000 feet elevation), and less oxygen. Do you know of any bacteria that will survive and thrive under conditions similar the the ones aforementioned?

Greetings to everybody, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Rodrigo, im from Peru, im currently going through my fourth year of medicine career. I have taken a microbiology course in which I have learned a lot of methods with agar plates to differentiate a wide range of microorganisms. Since i find this truly interesting, i was questioning myself what kind of investigations could i possibly do with this materials at my disposal. For example, having made some research in pubmed, i have found that usually they try to evaluate bacterial resistant to antibiotics with lets say disc difussion methods, etc. Nonetheless, i was wondering if you guys knew about some ot…

This is a simple experiment that you need: Lettuce Iodine (or something that have iodine) Water from river or rain Microscope 1. Place water and small pieces of lettuce in a bottle and wait a lot of days. 2. If you can see some paramecium in the water (obviously using the microscope) make a slide of the water and the iodine 3. The hardest part is finding the paramecium that creates crystals around it (not really are crystals) the crystals are protecting the paramecium and making a cool effect remeber posting if the experiment worked (it can fail sometimes)

I have some thoughts about a treatment for ebola. I know that the treatment it self will be able to be carried out, it is based on well known medical practice. I have been a blood donor for meany years, and also got salt water as transfusion. So the procedure ar well known and is in daily use on all hospitals. So if you can fill up a blod bag from the patient, and outsid of the body treat it with het, light or any of the other treatments that could make the virus unharmful then just give it back as a ordinary blood transfusion. If it is possible to find the ultimate treatment for the blod in the transparent bag, then we will be able to transfer back the blood …

I know nearly nothing important about the subject. Fever is a body defensive mechanism to kill germs AFAIK. Heard something around 43C = 110F being fatal. ¿? Read Saharan nomads live in it, daily. Heard the brain is damaged first. Which are the next organs in danger by overtemperature ? IF other organs can cope with -say 50C = 122F for at least some hours, like my attic in July. If the brain was somehow kept cool by potent external neck-carothids and head cooling apparatus, say at ~35C = 95F and the rest of body in a 50C = 122F chamber... Could that kill ebola virus ? Or, reverse. Cooling the body artificially to a survivable near-limit ?

-Saccharomyces cerevisiae(yeast) -Bacillus cerreus (gram positive rod) -Seratia marscescens(gram negative rod) -Staphylococcus aureus(gram positive coccus) I'm taking microbiology and studying for a lab exam. this question will more than likely be on the exa.

Hi, I have found a haze zone around antibiotic disk when testing via disk diffusion. Would you class this antibiotic active or inactive? Regards

Hi all, I have a question regarding acterial isolate. Several days ago we recieved a sawb from a patient with an eye infection. After a period of 24h incubation on Chocolate and TSBA agar I have noticed stange looking colonies. The colonies were small, white and creamy and resembeled coagulase negative Staphylococci (e.g; S. epidermidis), which were also present on the agars. So I Gram-stained the bacteria and in parallel prepared a sample for Maldi-tof MS. The Gram staining revealed Corynebacterium spp., and the MS analysis was Corynebacterium pseudodiphtheriticum. My question is whether this bacterium is known to cause eye infections, or is it a part of the normal …