Research

A team of undergraduate students from the University of Waterloo have designed a synthetic organism that may one day help doctors treat MRSA, an antibiotic-resistant superbug.

The synthetic bacterium, Staphylocide, essentially turns off the antibiotic-resistance gene in MRSA, making it responsive to treatment again. MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, is at the core of many skin infections that spread easily and can cause serious, untreatable infections for hospital patients.

Waterloo students have designed a synthetic organism that may one day help doctors treat MRSA, an antibiotic-resistant superbug.

The synthetic bacterium, Staphylocide, “turns off” the antibiotic-resistance gene in MRSA, making it sensitive again to antibiotics and easier for doctors to treat. MRSA - methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus - is a superbug at the core of many skin infections that spread easily and can cause serious, untreatable infections for hospital patients.

“The Government of Ontario should be applauded for regulating e-cigarettes. While they have potential to help people quit smoking, there is also risk in re-normalizing use of nicotine. Regulating sales and restricting the places people can use e-cigarettes will limit potential harms,” he said.

Vitamin D, known as the “sunshine vitamin,” is essential to human health and now a team of Waterloo entrepreneurs want to give you a way to test for it in the comfort of your home.

Vitameter, a startup founded by three University of Waterloo nanotechnology engineering students, is developing an at-home testing device that will give you results in minutes rather than going to a lab and waiting days.

A Waterloo historian is leading a team of researchers to unearth the remains of a lost medieval village in the south of England, hoping to find lessons about climate change.

Professor Jason Thistlethwaite, a researcher in the Faculty of Environment and director of the Climate Change Adaptation Project at the University of Waterloo, is available to comment on the snow emergency in Western New York.

Professor Thistlethwaite, who teaches in the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development at Waterloo, can also speak to this weather's effect on the economy.

The University of Waterloo will host the event at the Kitchener Public Library.

Radicalization and Security: What do we know? What do we need to know?

Date: Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Time: 7 to 8:30 p.m.

Location: Kitchener Public Library, 85 Queen St N Kitchener

Two researchers from the University of Waterloo working on potential ways to target and kill cancer cells and a new understanding of gravity won prestigious Polanyi Prizes today.