Upper-level inter-disciplinary microbiology CUREs increase student's scientific self-efficacy, scientific identity, and self-assessed skills.

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) provide opportunities for undergraduate students to engage in authentic research and generally increase the participation rate of students in research. Students' participation in research has a positive impact on their science identity and self-efficacy, both of which can predict integration of students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM), especially for underrepresented students. The main goal of this study was to investigate instructor-initiated CUREs implemented as upper-level elective courses in the Biomedical Sciences major.

A Career Preparation Course for Biomedical Science Majors Focused on Skills for Diverse Career Paths.

Training in career preparation is vital for biomedical science, microbiology, and related life science undergraduates to know the types of careers available in the field, to obtain employment after graduation, and to be successful in these careers. This is especially critical for historically marginalized students who have lower science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) retention and lower STEM employment rates. Thus, we developed a career preparation course aimed for second- and third-year students in biomedical science, microbiology, biology, and related majors.

Galbut Virus Infection Minimally Influences Fitness Traits in a Strain and Sex-Dependent Manner.

Galbut virus (family ) infects and can be transmitted vertically from infected mothers or infected fathers with near perfect efficiency. This form of super-Mendelian inheritance should drive infection to 100% prevalence, and indeed, galbut virus is ubiquitous in wild populations. However, on average, only about 60% of individual flies are infected.

Disruption of c-di-GMP Signaling Networks Unlocks Cryptic Expression of Secondary Metabolites during Biofilm Growth in .

The regulation and production of secondary metabolites during biofilm growth of spp. is not well understood. To learn more about the crucial role and regulatory control of cryptic molecules produced during biofilm growth, we disrupted c-di-GMP signaling in Burkholderia pseudomallei, a soilborne bacterial saprophyte and the etiologic agent of melioidosis.

Complete Genome Sequences of Eight Streptococcus equi subsp. Strains Isolated from Mares in Estrus with Endometritis.

Eight isolates of Streptococcus equi subsp. were isolated from mares with clinical cases of endometritis. S.

Burkholderia pseudomallei as an Enteric Pathogen: Identification of Virulence Factors Mediating Gastrointestinal Infection.

is a Gram-negative bacterium and the causative agent of melioidosis. Despite advances in our understanding of the disease, poses a significant health risk, especially in regions of endemicity, where treatment requires prolonged antibiotic therapy. Even though the respiratory and percutaneous routes are well documented and considered the main ways to acquire the pathogen, the gastrointestinal tract is believed to be an underreported and underrecognized route of infection.

Busting biofilms: free-living amoebae disrupt preformed methicillin-resistant (MRSA) and biofilms.

Biofilm-associated infections are difficult to eradicate because of their ability to tolerate antibiotics and evade host immune responses. Amoebae and/or their secreted products may provide alternative strategies to inhibit and disperse biofilms on biotic and abiotic surfaces. We evaluated the potential of five predatory amoebae - , , , and - and their cell-free secretions to disrupt biofilms formed by methicillin-resistant (MRSA) and .

Pseudomonas aeruginosa variants obtained from veterinary clinical samples reveal a role for cyclic di-GMP in biofilm formation and colony morphology.

Overuse of antibiotics is contributing to an emerging antimicrobial resistance crisis. To better understand how bacteria adapt tolerance and resist antibiotic treatment, Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates obtained from infection sites sampled from companion animals were collected and evaluated for phenotypic differences. Selected pairs of clonal isolates were obtained from individual infection samples and were assessed for antibiotic susceptibility, cyclic di-GMP levels, biofilm production, motility and genetic-relatedness.

Model of Chronic Equine Endometritis Involving a Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilm.

Bacteria in a biofilm community have increased tolerance to antimicrobial therapy. To characterize the role of biofilms in equine endometritis, six mares were inoculated with -engineered strains isolated from equine uterine infections. Following establishment of infection, the horses were euthanized and the endometrial surfaces were imaged for luminescence to localize adherent -labeled bacteria.

Cyclic di-GMP-Responsive Transcriptional Reporter Bioassays in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

3',5'-cyclic diguanosine monophosphate (cyclic di-GMP) is a bacterial secondary messenger molecule that regulates many important cellular activities and behaviors, such as motility and biofilm formation. While mass spectrometry protocols for quantitative analyses of intracellular cyclic di-GMP concentrations have been developed, they are time intensive, expensive, low-throughput, and incapable of directly monitoring dynamic changes in vivo. In this protocol, we provide a Pseudomonas aeruginosa-specific detailed methodology to assay the intracellular levels of cyclic di-GMP using biological reporters.

Genome-scale analysis of the genes that contribute to Burkholderia pseudomallei biofilm formation identifies a crucial exopolysaccharide biosynthesis gene cluster.

Burkholderia pseudomallei, the causative agent of melioidosis, is an important public health threat due to limited therapeutic options for treatment. Efforts to improve therapeutics for B. pseudomallei infections are dependent on the need to understand the role of B.

In Vitro Efficacy of Nonantibiotic Treatments on Biofilm Disruption of Gram-Negative Pathogens and an In Vivo Model of Infectious Endometritis Utilizing Isolates from the Equine Uterus.

In this study, we evaluated the ability of the equine clinical treatments N-acetylcysteine, EDTA, and hydrogen peroxide to disrupt in vitro biofilms and kill equine reproductive pathogens (Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, or Klebsiella pneumoniae) isolated from clinical cases. N-acetylcysteine (3.3%) decreased biofilm biomass and killed bacteria within the biofilms of E.

Rapid two-temperature formalin fixation.

Formalin fixation is a mainstay of modern histopathologic analysis, yet the practice is poorly standardized and a significant potential source of preanalytical errors. Concerns of workflow and turnaround time drive interest in developing shorter fixation protocols, but rapid protocols can lead to poor histomorphology or inadequate downstream assay results. Additionally, assays such as immunohistochemistry for phosphorylated epitopes have historically been challenging in the context of formalin-fixed tissue, indicating that there may be room for improvement in this process that is fundamental to the practice of anatomic pathology.

Multiplex immunoassays of peptide hormones extracted from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue accurately subclassify pituitary adenomas.

Background: The current gold standard for diagnostic classification of many solid-tissue neoplasms is immunohistochemistry (IHC) performed on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue. Although IHC is commonly used, there remain important issues related to preanalytic variability, nonstandard methods, and operator bias that may contribute to clinically significant error. To increase the quantitative accuracy and reliability of FFPE tissue-based diagnosis, we sought to develop a clinical proteomic method to characterize protein expression in pathologic tissue samples rapidly and quantitatively.