Horizon Awards 2026: Professor Stephen Obaro named as winner of Christiana Figueres Award
Professor Stephen Obaro, Professor of Pediatrics and Senior Scientist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA , has been named as the winner of the Christiana Figueres Policy to Practice Award.
- Previous
- Next
Buried in the Himalayas: What wetland soil Is telling us about climate change
High up in the Indian Himalayan Region lie wetlands that most of us will never see. New research suggests these quiet, high-altitude wetlands are playing a far bigger, and far more substantial, role in the planet’s carbon budget than anyone expected, say Shweta Kadam and Dr Om Prakash Sharma who sits on AMI’s Climate Action Advisory Group.
Read story
Faster results, harder decisions: interpreting syndromic panels in microbiological clinical practice
Every generation in diagnostic microbiology has tried to answer the same questions more quickly. Is an infection present? What is causing it? What should happen next? What has changed dramatically is how rapidly, and how broadly, laboratories can now search for answers to these questions.
Tracking the invisible: monitoring microbial processes in freshwater ecosystems using fluorescence sensing
Rivers are dynamic ecosystems driven by microbial processes that regulate carbon and nutrient cycling, organic matter decomposition, and oxygen consumption. Despite their central role in river health, microbial processes remain mostly invisible in routine water quality monitoring programmes, which continue to focus primarily on physicochemical parameters.
How indigenous microbes could rescue the Niger Delta
Benzene contamination from decades of oil exploitation has turned the Niger Delta’s groundwater into a slow-acting poison for millions of people. Yet the solution may already be living in the contaminated sediment itself, if only the political will exists to deploy it.
Under the Lens video series
The Microbiologist: Under the Lens | Episode 4
The microscopic organisms living around plant roots may hold the key to reducing agriculture’s reliance on chemical fertilisers and other non-renewable inputs, according to plant microbiome researcher Dr Davide Bulgarelli.
The Microbiologist: Under the Lens | Episode 3
Is raw milk safe to drink? Prof Emmanuel Adukwu is joined by Prof Nicola Holden and Dr Gil Domingue for a conversation on the societal, scientific, and health implications of this pertinent question.
The Microbiologist: Under the Lens | Episode 2
In our second episode, Dr Callum Cooper joins Professor Emmanuel Adukwu to talk about all things bacteriophage, from alternatives to antibiotics, social impact, and regulation.
The Microbiologist: Under the Lens | Episode 1
In our first episode, Professor Raquel Peixoto joins Professor Jack Gilbert for a deep dive into coral reefs, microbes, and the future of our planet.
The Microbiologist: Under the Lens | Episode 4
The Microbiologist: Under the Lens | Episode 3
The Microbiologist: Under the Lens | Episode 2
The Microbiologist: Under the Lens | Episode 1
Get unlimited access to The Microbiologist
The Microbiologist provides detailed information on the latest research, topics, reviews, events and news on a wide variety of microbiological topics.
Members of Applied Microbiology International get unlimited access as a benefit. Find out more about AMI Membership
Maybe Vitamin C isn’t just expensive urine after all
“Expensive urine” has become a convenient way of dismissing vitamin supplements taken in doses beyond what our bodies have an immediate need for. But if some unabsorbed vitamin C remains in the gastrointestinal tract, it raises an interesting question about how it could be interacting with the gut microbiome.
Shigella: A phenotypic genus in a genomic era
In an era where evolutionary relationships can be resolved down to the single-nucleotide level, Shigella stands out as a relic of phenotype-based classification: a label built on lost traits rather than shared ancestry. Yet the genus persists, defended by appeals to clinical utility, says Georgina Donovan.
Menopause may have a link to fungal skin infections
For decades, skin concerns associated with menopause, like dry skin, itching, and redness, have often been dismissed as superficial cosmetic concerns inherent to biological ageing. But these changes may reflect the underlying shifts in skin biology.
From evidence to action: how to bridge the gap between scientists and decision-makers to solve global One Health challenges
Reflections from the AMI Policy Team’s recent workshop at the 9th World One Health Congress.
Food and innovation: Reflections from FOODMicro 2026
AMI Food Security Advisory Group member Professor Marciane Magnani, a Full Professor of Food Science at the Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB), Brazil, reflects on her experiences of FOODMICRO 2026 in Slovenia.
Horizon Award winners one year on: What are they up to?
The nominations for the Horizon Awards are in - and the judges are making their decisions. While we await the big announcement, we’ve been catching up with the superstars who won in 2025.
Ebola preparedness needs to move beyond a single virus species
Decades of Ebola preparedness have produced vaccines, diagnostics and treatments, but many were built primarily around Zaire ebolavirus. A new perspective argues that future preparedness should span the wider ebolavirus genus, combining broader diagnostics, multivalent vaccines, conserved therapeutic targets and continuous genomic surveillance.
Regular coffee drinking linked to changes in gut bacteria and intestinal function
If you drink coffee regularly, it appears to alter not only your gut bacteria but also the physiology of the gut itself. That is the conclusion of a study from the University of Copenhagen, which may help point the way towards better treatments for constipation.
Scientists image bacterial poles at molecular resolution for the first time
Researchers have imaged the ends of live rod-shaped bacteria at molecular resolution for the first time. The technique revealed structural differences between species and changes linked to cell division, offering a new way to study bacterial surfaces and potentially uncover weaknesses in drug-resistant pathogens.
Food security
Viral spillover underwater: review maps how aquatic viruses leap between species and how to catch the next jump early
When pathogens leap between species, the textbook cases are terrestrial: influenza from birds, Ebola from wildlife, SARS-CoV-2 at a market. A review argues that equal attention should go to water, the world’s fastest-growing food production sector and where viruses move readily among fish, amphibians, reptiles and crustaceans.
Clean Water
Viral spillover underwater: review maps how aquatic viruses leap between species and how to catch the next jump early
When pathogens leap between species, the textbook cases are terrestrial: influenza from birds, Ebola from wildlife, SARS-CoV-2 at a market. A review argues that equal attention should go to water, the world’s fastest-growing food production sector and where viruses move readily among fish, amphibians, reptiles and crustaceans.
Eels transmit a virus through biting: a discovery that changes our understanding of viral infections in fish
Contrary to what was previously believed, viruses infecting fish are not transmitted exclusively through water acting as an abiotic vector. A team of researchers has demonstrated that a virus affecting European eels can spread very efficiently through biting during aggressive interactions between individuals.
