Are obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular illnesses and more the result of a “mismatch” between the meals we eat and the foods our bodies are prepared for?
The “mismatch hypothesis” argues that each of our bodies has evolved and adapted to digest the foods that our ancestors ate, and that human bodies will struggle and largely fail to metabolize a radically new set of foods.
Professor of psychology and public affairs Betsy Levy Paluck and behavioral sciences librarian Meghan Testerman were recently awarded Princeton’s Data-Driven Social Science Initiative (DDSSI) Grant for their joint proposal, “Prejudice Reduction: Creating an Open Repository of ‘What Works’ from Experimental Research.”
Researchers at Princeton University have developed a systematic approach for evaluating how the microbial community in our intestines can chemically transform, or metabolize, oral medications in ways that impact their safety and efficacy. The new methodology provides a more complete picture of how gut bacteria metabolize drugs, and could aid the development of medications that are more effective, have fewer side effects, and are personalized to an individual’s microbiome.
Poison is lethal all on its own — as are arrows — but their combination is greater than the sum of their parts. A weapon that simultaneously attacks from within and without can take down even the strongest opponents, from E. coli to MRSA (methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus).
Despite the traditional view that species do not exchange genes by hybridization, a new study led by Princeton ecologists Peter and Rosemary Grant show that gene flow between closely related species is more common than previously thought.
A team of scientists from Princeton University and Uppsala University detail their findings of how gene flow between two species of Darwin’s finches has affected their beak morphology in the May 4 issue of the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution.
It isn’t easy being a loner — someone who resists the pull of the crowd, who marches to their own drummer.
A study published in the journal Nature Microbiology identified factors that the hepatitis B virus uses when establishing long-term infection in the liver. The findings could help lead to treatment strategies for chronic HBV infection, a condition that increases the risk of developing liver cancer and is responsible for almost 900,000 deaths worldwide each year. Continue Reading on the Discovery: Research at Princeton blog →
Mohamed Abou Donia is one of 15 recipients of an award from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation as part of the Symbiosis in Aquatic Systems Initiative investigator program.
Princeton geneticist Bonnie Bassler will receive the 2020 Gruber Genetics Prize for her pioneering work on how bacteria communicate with each other. In learning about the process of intercellular bacterial communication, known as quorum sensing, Bassler has expanded our understanding of microbes and illuminated innovative approaches to promoting health and preventing disease.
In recent years, the field of microbiome research has grown rapidly, providing newfound knowledge — and newfound questions — about the microbes that inhabit human and animal bodies. A new study adds to that foundation of knowledge by using DNA analysis to examine the relationship between diet, the environment and the microbiome.
