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 »
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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 »
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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 »
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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 »
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