News

New Waterloo Centre for Microbial Research Director Announcement

Shannon Majowicz, member of the WCMR and professor at the school of Public Health and Public Health Systems, University of Waterloo, has been awarded funding by the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) to study the economic and health risks associated with foodborne diseases.

Scientists have discovered a new type of Botox.

A new source of the botulinum neurotoxin was discovered by Canadian and American scientists including WCMR member Andrew Doxey in a strain of animal gut bacteria known as Enterococcus faecium. The neurotoxic protein is known for its paradoxical ability to remove wrinkles yet cause botulism, a potentially fatal illness associated with food poisoning.

WCMR members, Kirsten Müller and Josh Neufeld, in collaboration with other researchers have discovered the uniqueness of certain microbial communities among the class Mammalia.