Infectious Diseases

Infectious diseases may be caused by a plethora of bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites and finding the culprit is key to treatment and resolution. In this infographic, we explore how infectious diseases are diagnosed and the assays used to achieve this.

Being able to differentiate bacterial species is important for a host of reasons. While molecular techniques can determine the specific species, even without getting into the molecular nitty gritty, there are phenotypic differences between groups of bacteria that can be used to differentiate them. One such useful classification – if a bacterium is Gram positive or Gram negative - is based on the structure of bacterial cell walls.

“An outbreak of this”, “epidemic of that”, “protect yourself against a potential pandemic of some horrible sounding disease”. Whether discussing disease in humans or animals, all are terms we hear on the news frequently, but do you know what the differences are between them? In this article, we take a look at the terminology used by epidemiologists and scientists to describe the occurrence and spread of disease.

In this article, we discuss organoids in the context of personalized medicine and infectious disease and explore how they provide a new window into disease and fuel the discovery of new therapeutics.