Global Health

Hot? Cold? Now bacteria have their own thermostats to help treat disease

Christian LaVallee prepares solutions for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests at the Health Protection Agency in north London March 9, 2011. For decades scientists have managed to develop new medicines to stay at least one step ahead of the ever-mutating enemy, bacteria. Now, though, we may be running out of road. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, commonly known as MRSA, alone is estimated to kill around 19,000 people every year in the United States -- far more than HIV and AIDS -- and a similar number in Europe, and other drug-resistant superbugs are spreading. Picture taken March 9, 2011. To match Special Report ANTIBIOTICS/       REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett (BRITAIN - Tags: HEALTH SCI TECH) - RTR2KMWN

Doctors might one day regulate therapeutic microbes. Image: REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett

Whitney Clavin
Science communicator, Caltech
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 The glowing images in this animation were drawn on petri-dish plates with bacteria. The bacteria were engineered to respond to temperature changes. The bacteria seen in the tree express green fluorescent protein at temperatures above 36 degrees Celsius. Bacteria seen in the sun express a red fluorescent protein above 40 degrees Celsius. Bacteria in the lawn have both the green and red thermal switches, and thus turn yellow at the higher temperatures. (Image credit: Shapiro Lab/Caltech)
Image: Caltech
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