bacteria
Vanderbilt Team Discovers How a Gut Pathogen Thrives in Inflammation
May. 24, 2026—By Andy Flick, Evolutionary Studies scientific coordinator While someone may not often think about the bacteria living in their gut, assistant professor of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology Wenhan Zhu and his team, Luisella Spiga, Ryan Fansler, Yifan Wu, and Abigail Rose certainly do. They鈥檝e carved out a niche studying a common gut microbe, Bacteroides fragilis....
Vanderbilt Researchers Show Some Anaerobic Bacteria Have Surprisingly High Mutation Rates
Feb. 17, 2026—By Andy Flick, Evolutionary Studies scientific coordinator Ask any biologist what causes DNA mutations, and oxygen will likely make the shortlist. It is reactive, super-abundant, and has been fingered as a major culprit in genetic damage for decades. So, here is a head-scratcher: if oxygen is such a DNA troublemaker, bacteria that avoid it entirely...