Using new genetic techniques, scientists are unlocking the secrets of how E coli bacteria contaminate food and make people sick.

Biochemists in Japan are reporting development of a long-sought direct test for identifying the presence E. coli bacteria that get into water and food as a result of fecal contamination.

Using enzymes from E. coli bacteria, Duke University chemists and engineers have introduced a hundred-fold improvement in the precision of features imprinted to create microdevices such as labs-on-a-chip.

The state Department of Health issued a boil water advisory Thursday for residents served by the town of Springdale’s public water system after E. coli bacteria was confirmed in the water during routine testing.

A team of Cornell University scientists have discovered that a novel group of E. coli bacteria – containing genes similar to those described in uropathogenic and avian pathogenic E. coli and enteropathogenic bacteria such as salmonella, cholera, bubonic plague – is associated with intestinal inflammation in patients with Crohn’s disease in their research paper published July 12 by “The ISME Journal: Multidisciplinary Journal of Microbial Ecology.”

Forthcoming in Physiological and Biochemical Zoology, a fascinating new selection of papers collects leading experimental research in evolution and artificial selection, providing insight into how organisms adapt to changing environmental conditions and fluctuations.

New evidence implicating beach sand as a reservoir for E. coli - the bacterium that is used as an indicator that water has been contaminated by fecal material - has been reported by scientists at the University of Minnesota.

In genetic engineering's version of the Pied Piper, chemists have programmed E. coli bacteria to move toward new chemical signals - an advance they say could enable the production of bacteria with important uses in medicine, environmental clean-ups, and other fields.