Bacteria

Pragma Bio is searching for cancer treatments hidden in our microbiome

The natural world has produced many of our most important medicines, but instead of looking under a leaf or rock for the next big cancer drug, Pragma Bio is searching within the human body — its swa

Persephone puts poop to work to explore and heal your gut microbiome

What goes on in that gastrointestinal tract of yours? Well, we have a general idea, but evidence is mounting that the gut and the microbes that live there play an important role in a huge variety of h

IBM Research develops new macromolecule that could counter antibiotic resistance

There are other persistent, grave health crises brewing besides the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic: Antibiotic resistance is one, and the troubling trend is that it’s on the rise, leading to an incre

Karius raises $165 million for its liquid biopsy technology identifying diseases with a blood draw

“What Karius is good at is identifying those novel microbes before they become an outbreak like coronavirus,” says Mickey Kertesz, a chief executive whose life sciences startup just hauled

Biome Makers closes $4M to assess the quality of the ‘gut bacteria’ of a farm’s soil

The agriculture industry faces huge problems of sustainability. The world’s population is increasing, leading to higher food demand, but this then threatens increasing deforestation, pesticide u

Sequoia-backed Whole Biome wants to heal your gut with medical-grade probiotics

Whole Biome has pulled in $35 million in Series B financing from a list of investing titans, including Sequoia, Khosla, True Ventures, the Mayo Foundation and AME Ventues — just to name a few. T

As researchers pursue links between bacteria and human health, startups stand to benefit

In 2009, the National Institutes of Health launched a five-year, $150 million project to stimulate research into a new field of medicine examining the connections between the millions of bacteria livi

uBiome launches an at-home women’s health test for HPV, STI’s and bacterial vaginosis

SmartJane is a new women’s health test out from uBiome today that promises to check for 23 vaginal flora as well as 19 strains of the human papilloma virus and a string of sexually transmitted d

Olfaguard is an electronic nose for smelling pathogens in food factories

Mitigating risk of food-borne illnesses can be a costly and time-consuming business for food manufacturers -- but one that is necessary. With what it calls an electronic "sniffer," Olfaguard, a new To

Google’s life sciences unit is releasing 20 million bacteria-infected mosquitoes in Fresno

Verily, the life science's arm of Google's parent company Alphabet, has hatched a plan to release about 20 million lab-made, bacteria-infected mosquitoes upon Fresno, California -- and that's a good t

Biem is the first virtual sexual health service

Talking about sexual health makes folks squeamish. While sexuality and dating have, for the most part, been taken care of by technology there isn’t much talk of sexual health online. Until Biem.

Oxford study shows how tiny bacteria ‘wind farms’ could power electronics

A team of scientists from Oxford University used a virtual prototype to demonstrate how the natural movement of bacteria could be harnessed to turn cylindrical rotors and provide a steady power sourc